wheel alignment

[-=white-zombie=-]

hey all, i just had an alignment done after i changed a tie rod for warrant fitness..
the tyre shop used the hunter machine and had the vr4 ec5a for correct setup, my car has been lowered by 30mm and has fairly new tyres allround... after the alignment the car now pulls to the left, it used to go straight before even after i changed the tie rod..

heres a pic of the alignment, its a bit crap so will write up aswell

before
CAMBER deg LF -2.25 RF -0.38
CASTER deg LF 2.27 RF 4.43
TOE mm LF 4.0 RF 4.2

CAMBER deg LR -2.08 RR -2.03
TOE mm LR 1.4 RR 3.5
----------------------------------

after
CAMBER deg LF -2.24 RF -0.37
CASTER deg LF 2.27 RF 4.43
TOE mm LF 0.0 RF 0.0

CAMBER deg LR -2.09 RR -2.05
TOE mm LR 1.3 RR 1.5


so my guess is because the front camber and caster are so different its causing it to drift left? im going to take it back for a check and see if it can be adjusted
any ideas people?

cheers
ian

[taylor]

Yep would be that. Looks like before the alignment everything was off balance enough to make up for it

Check your shocks and make sure the fork is sitting where it should be. I had the tab come off and it worked it's way up and chewed out the inside of a tyre.

[bradc]

That is quite a bit of camber at the front left. Is your car really low?

[-=white-zombie=-]

got lovells springs in, its around 30-40mm lower allround.. will have alook when its up on hoist 2moro see if anythings out of place, surely they would of noticed when they did the alignment?

[bradc]

They should have a similar amount of camber all around unless something is bent which I'm guessing it is.

[-=white-zombie=-]

i had a look myself today (hasnt been back to tyre shop yet) and everything looks good and tight checked all front lower and upper arms nothing bent, checked shock bottom fork mount is all tight and even on both sides, only thing is passenger side swaybar mount bush looks more worn than drivers side as some oil has coated the bush off gearbox sump, slight leak, would this effect camber/caster.. have noticed the inner passenger tyre is starting to wear now which it wasnt before the alignment im peed off now coz if they put it back on machine and its still aligned then what? was obviously wearing ok before even if alignment was out

[mike74]

It might be worthwhile quickly going round the front suspension with a tape measure & take a few comparative sizes from driver/passengers sides. As Brad said, something HAS to be worn out or bent! I can't see the anti-roll bar bushes having anything to do with it as they only really start to do anything when you're cornering. Just a thought but, how recently did you lower the car? It might be something as simple as the front springs being of unequal lengths or a spacer/bush missed out on one side of the suspension during re-assembly. If everything checks out ok, try driving the car for a few miles to re-settle the suspension & check the ride height at the front to make sure its the same.

[-=white-zombie=-]

i brought the car already lowered, previous owner said mag n turbo did new wheels/tyres and lowering springs alltogether just before i brought it 5month ago, cars going in tyre shop 2moro for a recheck so will post results..

[Gly]

castor and camber cannot be adjusted on the factory setup,

something on the right front is bent, if its lowered, (or could be a very worn bush, that would be easy to spot thou)
it should be similar to LF,

it will be one of the lower arms, as the castor isnt matching left to right either,
most likely the curved lower arm, (the cars most likely has a run it with a curb/ditch at speed)
you wont be able to spot this without another to compare to, as it only takes a few mm, to **** it all up

[-=white-zombie=-]

took it back to the tyreshop today and was put back on the machine, all the readings are the same, couldnt see anything obvious but will have a look at all the lower arm/bushes better over the weekend, so now i have it slowly chewing the tyres, i dont wanna drive it too far now

[Subaru ETA]

took it back to the tyreshop today and was put back on the machine, all the readings are the same, couldnt see anything obvious but will have a look at all the lower arm/bushes better over the weekend, so now i have it slowly chewing the tyres, i dont wanna drive it too far now

As Carsten said - it will be the lower curved arm is bent, I have seen it before on a galant. Hard to notice by eye.

You could try measuring from the centre of the wheel to the back of the guard, then compare it on the other side

[-=white-zombie=-]

carsten, how much neg camber are you running in your legnum? it looks really low in the pics.. do you have a last readout of a wheel alignment or does anyone have a readout of their recent wheel alignment on a lowered galant/legnum
dave i will get tape out and measure that and arm points etc..
cheers guys think im on the right track now

[Gly]

camber.......

-1.59 and -1.08 up front (unmodified)
and
-1.56 and -1.17 in rear (my camber mod applied)


toe.......
0.8mm in front
2.0mm in rear

was setup like this by autolign on the 28/8/08 at 122216km with new Goodyear GSD3's
now at 138xxxkm ish??

had the tyres rotated once, alignment hasnt been done or checked since 08

my car has fender flairs, makes it look lower than one without

[-=white-zombie=-]

far you have pretty good camber results for it sitting so low.. here' some measurements i took today, it looks like left front wheel is pushed back by about 10mm, so next i'll be jacking it all up and comparing arm measurments..

[Subaru ETA]

far you have pretty good camber results for it sitting so low.. here' some measurements i took today, it looks like left front wheel is pushed back by about 10mm, so next i'll be jacking it all up and comparing arm measurments..

Looks like that curved arm is probably bent my friend. The specs that your car had before the alignment were way out, but had been done like that to compensate

[-=white-zombie=-]

measured curved arms this morn, measured from base of balljoint to the two mounting bolt heads (diagonally across curved arm)
Left front = 45cm , right front = 46cm.. so looks like left front is definately bent enough to move the wheel back 10mm... will have to order the curved arm, i've replaced one on my old legnum before, theyre not cheap, oh well explains why car pulls to left now...........