http://andyz28.com/3rdGen/article/BodyIntegrity.htm

im scared, when im going real slow, and i cut my wheel all the way in one direction to make a tight turn or park, i hear REALLY loud groaning of metal in my 87 iroc.....i always figured it was my steering or tierods or something...but that crap scares me, my doors sag a little, my windows don't seal because the doors hang. should i be worried? i dont' leak water at all, but i definately suffer from these problems, so SFCs help? anyway to protect the front subframe or must i avoid turning tight at low speeds? anyone have an insights?

 

I don't think a Wonderbra is going to help you in this case. IMO, you have some sort of suspension issue. Door sag is a problem in our cars as you can see how heavy the door gets to be. A body shop can fix that for you either by adjusting the hinges or replacing them or whatever.

SFCs are good for the car in that the frame will be tied together and that should stop some flexing. Also it depends on what you are doing. If you noticed that they don't have a manual 350 with T tops or convertable. Is to because the body flexes too much. Anyway, I went to Alston and got some and liked them. Originally I had Global West. Didn't like them as much. Before I got the SFC, I had an accident which I thought was fixed. Had wheel rubbing for years. Finally took out the Global West SFC, had the engine cradle replaced and the rubbing disappeared. Noticed the car was not as rigid without the SFC and did not drive it. Got Alston to install the SFC and all is well.

 

from what i understand from that article, all fcars after 1984 came with a "wonder bar" to correct this stress, but that it still isn't enough, that SFC's help, but that tight turns at low speeds still put undue stress on the front sub frame.

 

You're right that SFCs help. I still think you have a steering/suspension issue there. If you have a stock motor, it shouldn't be too bad but if you are doing hard cornering, you may have a problem. Also with your damage to the wheel you mention, could you have hurt other components? I cracked my wheel and it wasn't even leaking. I could drive it. However, that changed my steering alignment and later I discovered it changed my engine cradle shape and had to get the frame straightened.

 

well that's unrelated, the car always "groaned" on tight turns at slow speeds(sound always came from front), after reading that article i believe it's that im having those problems, i can corner just fine at high speeds (trust me on that ) but at low speeds it sounds like a cow is dying under my hood

im feeling safe to assume that the groans im hearing are my front subframe flexing which is bad, so the SFC's would help, but there is no "fix" for this? i have no choice but to drive at low speeds?

 

How about the power steering pump?

 

sounds more like a bad or low level power steering pump to me.

Not all cars came with the "wonder bar", My '89 GTA doesn't have it(WS6 suspension) and neither does my '91 Firebird (it will in a few days though).

 

how can you tell? how expensive/hard is an install? how much damage do these slow turns do? i mean, one a month isn't gonna kill a car right? i've heard it maybe 4-5 times in 6 months....im just wondering if this is gonna really screw my car up or if i should just do SFCS and be happy and make sure i avoid tight turns at low speeds

 

wonderbars only came in the IROCs, you can get them from a few different aftermarket places though


as far as SFCs are concerned, I have the South Side Machine SFCs and I absolutely love them.... tightened up the steering and got rid of a bunch of squeaks and rattles, unfortunately I don't think that they will help your problem