Need help diagnosing suspension / tire wear problem

[She loved E]

Hey Guys - haven't been around in a while but I needs help! Hopefully my description of the problem is coherent enough to lead to a fix.

Over the last month or so I've noticed the handling on my car get progressively worse. First on the freeway, and now even at low speeds my car feels really loose... I need to correct the steering whenever I hit the smallest bump or rut in the road. Its to the point where I'm afraid there's something horribly wrong/loose and I don't feel safe driving the car.

I blew a right rear tire a couple weeks ago on the freeway and when I inspected the tire afterward it looks like there's heavy wear on the inside of the tire, which leads me to believe there's an issue with the right rear suspension.

A little history on the car: I've had it since 07 and usually do my own maintenance. I did a complete suspension overhaul four years ago.... every bushing, locknut and other wear & tear item was replaced. Shocks & springs are Bilstein (purchased used) and Vogtland springs. Bushings are mostly stock with a few PU parts (like IE green subframe bushings).

The car is on jackstands in the driveway right now to see if there's anything obviously wrong but not that I can tell. All the bolts are tight and the only thing that looks remotely worn are the swaybar bushings (surface cracks). Since I replaced those, subframe bushings, RTABs, etc 4 years ago with light driving (10k/yr max) I really doubt those need to be replaced.

That leads me to believe that the most likely culprit is the shocks. Since I bought them used I have no way of knowing how many miles are on them. BUT before I drop $300+ on shocks & mounts I thought I'd see if there's anything else I should check.

The one other thing I can think of that I should check (will do it right now) is the steering guibo. I switched to an E36 rack when I did the suspension and I was reading that this can cause excessive steering feedback (like so).

So with that... any ideas?

TIA

Edit: just checked the front and one of the front sway bar bushings is completely missing (!!!). Well that's a start...

[jlevie]

Shocks won't do that, but excessive camber or insufficient toe-in will. Rear trailing arms are only slightly more stiff than cooked pasta. It takes surprisingly little force to bend one. Put the car on a four wheel alignment system and see what the numbers are all around. Given that all of the bushings have been replaced fairly recently, I'd suspect a bent rear trailing arm. But just in case, if the numbers are off what they should be for that ride height I'd replace the RTABS on the affected trailing arms and check the numbers again.

Because you aren't on stock springs camber will be higher than stock, but unless slammed it should not be so high as to cause huge problems.

[She loved E]

OK thanks for the idea. What would it take to bend a trailing arm? Just a curb/pothole hit or something more? Roads around here are pretty jacked but I've never hit anything hard enough that made me think I broke or bent something.

[Quadrajet]

How are your Balljoints and inner and outer Tie rod ends?

[She loved E]

A little late to post back but i sorted the issues :D Here's what was done...

-new steering guibo
-replaced front swaybar bushings
-alignment
-replaced rear tires

I was rolling the spare on the right rear for a while and it made a big difference in handling when I switched back w/new rubber. Thanks again for the help everybody!