My68

Does this sound like a bent frame to you. The car is a 73, repainted ( Real 1st class job but why? ) complete front end rebuilt by the last owner. ( Just got the car) Today as I was waxing it I noticed I can see the drivers front tire sticks out about a half inch more then the other side. The rims and tires are the same size. The gap between the tire and the lower part of the fender is the same on boths sides. But the side were the tire sticks out is 1 1/4 inch higher from top of the tire to the fender and its clear as day this tire sticks out about a 1/2 inch. I did check the wheelbase and it is spot on at 98inchs on both sides. Maybe the drivers tire is just tilted out?. Why can't things with old car just go nice and smooth?

RobRace10

I wouldn't jump to conclusion that your frame is bent. The body could be higher because the spring is not seated correctly in the spring pocket when it was rebuilt. That is a fairly common occurrence it seems. You also could have a week spring on the other side. If the camber setting is off the top or the bottom of the tire could stick out further.

Bottom line is there are a number of things that can cause this without it being a major frame issue.

bobs77vet

you know these are hand assembled cars and the workmanship is not all that good.....it could be just poor fitting body panels......just look at the frame you will see if it has had damange

My68

Doors, hood all close fine with no gaps... but I was not expecting this tire issue. I looked at a frame, nothing looks bented, kinked or repaired. 35 years of "playing with cars" and I'm still learning.

MotorHead

Not too many people know this but there is a bolt that attaches the front of the fenders to the rad support.

This is supposed to support the the front of fender and sometimes this bolt shears off and one side will drop down 1/2 to 1 inch at the front.

Alan 71

Hi MH,
I didn't know about this bolt you mention... is it just one bolt or is it one bolt per side?
Can you describe where it is on the radiator support?
Thanks!
Regards,
Alan

My68

Did it myself, Added a few shims on each side to the control arm. The tire was tilted out from the top. Looks/ runs great. Will have a real shop do an alignment. Got to just love the "old school' cars.

71coupe454

I found 2-3 bolts on each side of the core support that bolt the inner fender wells to the core support.

MotorHead

There is actually only one on each side that holds the fenders in place. There are other areas of support of course but if this bolt shears the fender will drop an inch or so.

There is a slim steel support that is glued to the fender for added support that the bolt goes through if I remember correctly

The other bolts are there to hold the rad support in place

bluegoosed

The radiator support bolts to the inner fenders with three bolts on each side and the inner fenders are glued to the front end and fenders. There is a bracket on the inner fender that bolts to the header bar, but never have I seen this mystery single bolt on each side that shears off and makes the front end fall down and shift.

The bracket bolts would have to shear and the bolts in the rad support would have to shear before your front end would drop or shift. If this happened the front end would only drop and not shift left to right there is not any room for it to shift from left to right.

metalkid

Because its an old car!

No robotic welders back then, and it's really apparent when you get down to the frame!

I've got a similar situation, but it was caused by a minor front end accident. The frame itself is straight, but the front bumper extension (which bolts on to the frame horns) is out of alignment, unfortunately in several ways: The bolt on supports and the bumper extension were no longer in their original position, (easiy fix, just loosen the bolts, re-align and re-tighten). The bumper extension itself suffered some bending (which is going to require a pro body shop adjustment to true it up), and the frame horns were both bent about 1 to 2 degrees to the left (but I've manage to cut, bend and re-weld these back into alignment).

All of these led to my passenger front wheel sticking out about 1 " past the fender (and the driver's side fender sticking 1" beyond the wheel).

The point of all of the above is that your frame could be straight, but your frame horns and/or your bumper extension could be bent or out of alignment and cause this problem, so check those out too.

MotorHead

Ok I made it up it didn't happen to mine. I didn't take it completely apart ( rad support etc etc ) to find out why one side of the front of my Vette was slightly lower than the other and fixed it by replacing the sheared off bolt