Nathan - There are a couple of points that I would like to make here. In addition to the causes noted by David in this post, another possible contributor to the joint loosening up is wear on the large flat washers that are part of this installation. I have seen many of them that had substantial wear. This wear is started by one of the other causes - mostly by bolt stretch - and once the joint is slightly loose, the movement will quickly wear the washers. Make sure to flip the washers to offer a fresh wear surface when the bolts are replaced. The washers will eventually need replacement. Second point - DO NOT allow the alignment shop to use aftermarket thin shims for the alignment. They always want to get the alignment exact, but the thin shims I have seen often will crush down and drop out, which starts the whole process over again. You will notice that the DeLorean spec shime are thick and hard - this is a good thing in a clamped dynamic joint. If you can't get them to use DMC shims only, at least insist that the thins shims be installed in the middle of the stack, so that the DMC shims are in contact with the trailing arm and the bushing sleeve. If you let us know, we can have a set of TOBY-TAB's sent to Garden Grove for your car. Toby Peterson VIN 2248 "Winged1" DeLorean Parts Northwest, LLC www.delorean-parts.com --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "David Teitelbaum" <jtrealty@...> wrote: > > If the shims are missing it would indicate either there never were any > shims, the bolt is bent, or the bolt loosend up either because the > shims were crushed, the bushing spacer was crushed, the bolt strechted or bent, or the nuts loosened up. In any case you should replace the bolts and get a 4 wheel alignment. After the alignment you should record the # of shims with a magic marker on the frame and in a logbook you should be keeping on the car. If the bolt is bent or loose it is very dangerous to continue driving on it. There is no set # of shims. It varies from car to car. There is a limit on them though. You are not supposed to exceed 5 shims per side. Take the alignment specs with you to the alignment shop. He can enter them manually into his machine to do the car. Most shops will not have the Delorean specs in their database. To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/