Got my shocks replaced 2 weeks ago. At high speed the back end seems to drift to the right and "float" around on highway. What could be the problem or am I imagining things? First time ever replaced rear shocks at dealer.

 

Did they do alignment after doing the install?

 

No. Just replaced shocks and let me drive off.

 

need to check your alignment... your toe might me off

 

This is a subjective question of course, but how much damage serious or minor if any has been inflicted on the car for the last 2 weeks? Of course Monday Im going to have it aligned.

But what has been happening to the car all this time?

 

x2 Alignment

 

Does the rear need to be aligned even though just the shocks got replaced? ( can understand the front needing it...)

 

Yes, you need to do alignment no matter what, each time you mess with shocks/springs you have to do alignement every time.

 

alignment not necessary. check out mine after 2 weeks:

 

Why for the rears, though? Not to be difficult, just trying to understand. From the way it looks, if you take the wheel off, and unbolt the shock, what specifically gets altered and why / how?

Thanks!

My Key, how many miles did you put on the vehicle to cause that kind of damage?

 

Lets be frank here, he only replaced the rear shocks, you can blame the alignment, but if you weren't changing the ride height significantly with a spring, and were installing oem shocks, you do NOT need an alignment, that is absurd.

I'd be focusing on whether they mounted the shock properly, whether they didn't kill the lower shock bushings when you were mounting it, and if the shocks were actually faulty.

Since the G35 do not have a floating rear end, rear instability is usually caused by a bad shock, bad suspension link, or bad bushings in the rear.

Ride height changes impact the alignment in two ways, if you lower, they add negative camber and positive toe, all good things for stability, better cornering grip and better tram lining(to a certain extent ofcourse, and it'll eat tires(mainly from the toe)). The reverse happens when you raise the vehicle.

 

and ofcourse if you don't change the ride height, you don't change the alignment. Not on a G35 anyway. Multi-Link suspension ftw :P and all oem stuff is made within a 99.99% tolerance.

 

Getting an alignment after installing shocks needs to be done due to what needs to be removed for the install. If you'll get a 4 wheel alignment your drifting issues will disappear....
Gary

 

^^ This! Any time a part of the suspension is replaced (or even unbolted from each other) the alignment needs to be checked.

As for why for work on the rear: it's because the rear is adjustable on the cars and they always require a "4 wheel alignment." It's not like a truck or car with a solid rear axle on leaf springs where the rear has no alignment adaptability.

 

The problem with recommending an alignment to people all the time as a solution to every possible suspension issue is that on most older cars, especially the ones with a multi-link suspension, usually have other components that are worn out or need servicing.

Now I am not saying that an alignment may not fix your problem, it very well maybe the culprit, but likely than not it could be something else.

No components are touched during the front strut/spring removal, You literally unbolt the 3 bolts on top of the strut and the 2 bolts at the bottom, and 2 bolts that hold the brake line in.

The rear is the same. The strut just unbolts, 2 bolts top, 1 bolt bottom. Spring cup is its own bolt.

That being said, none of the bolts that are touched during a strut/spring replacement are alignment adjusting.

On the rear suspension that is done by the camber arms and lower control arms.

I've included some diagnosis sheets from the G35 service manual.