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VR Bent Z-bar, wheel pushed toward the rear of the car.

lowandslow

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Your LCA will be bent, not the Z bar. Z bar bar stops the LCA from moving forward or backward. If its copped a hit the bushes then the LCA are going to cop the force. The Z bar will be trying to stop it happening.
 

Pollushon

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If the strut is back an inch I'd be surprised if the LCA chassis mount wasn't damaged (the sheet it bolts to bends way before the LCA will), your best bet might be to take it to a suspension specialist and get it looked at so you have an idea of the damage. Also if I were replacing caster and radius bushes I'd be spending the extra bucks and doing both sides including ball joints and sway bar links or you might get a car that's hard to align well or flaps open on one side under heavy brakes. I just did both sides of mine with Nolathane and it's like a new car.

Some tips:
You'll definitely have to rip off the caliper, mount and rotor because they will get in the way of the ball joint bolt.
Getting the LCA shell out can be tough but I've found a special little chisel that makes light work of it without a vice.
You really want a 24, 30 and 19mm deep socket @ 1/2 inch with a breaker bar and some serviceable thread locker. These bolts are super tight.
Nolathane is a good replacement option because it doesn't require pressing.

This may help further: https://forums.justcommodores.com.au/threads/howto-vrvs-caster-radius-z-bar-rod-bushes.57761
 

vc commodore

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Your LCA will be bent, not the Z bar. Z bar bar stops the LCA from moving forward or backward. If its copped a hit the bushes then the LCA are going to cop the force. The Z bar will be trying to stop it happening.

The Z-bar straightens out and bends the K-frame mounting area, before the LCA bends....

That being said, it is quite possible the LCA is bent too, but very doubtful
 

LostPup

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wow my email notifications stoped working. having a poke around under the car you can see that the left front caster bush on one corner isn't flush like the other side.so for one that's why i'm thinking it's the bent Caster Rod. i have a second hand Caster Rod and LCA coming in the mail in the next few days that i picked up for cheep so i'm going to start by switching out the Zbar and see if that pulls the wheel forward any. and stops it rubbing. as long as it stops rubbing when going over bumps with left steering lock i'll be happy and get a wheel alignment done on it. i think it's just the Z-bar, my friend with a VP had the same problem and it was just the bar being a bit bent back. hopefully it's and easy fix.

also the Caster bushes are allready Nolathane bushes so they should be fine and i'll have the second control arm if it just the bar doesn't fix it.

Thank you for all the replys guys
 
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