Front Right Tyre Wearing Rapidly on inside! Got aligment print out & camber adj bolts

[JARS PulsR]

JARS PulsR - If the guys that did the alignment on yours were out to obtain a parralel reading then they actually made your car worse, its gone from 1 minute out to 10. Plus from 2 minutes on the rear to 6.

Your camber setting isn't equal on both sides either but im not sure you had them do that.

You camber at both ends is actually much further out that his.
There's 60 minutes in a degree, not 100. so, you're front camber is out by 35 minutes (more than half a degree), side to side and your rear camber is out by 29 minutes (or near as damn it half a degree) side to side.
To compound that, your right side rear is in a state of positive camber and the left side rear in a state of negative camber.
I'd be going back to see them, if I were you. ;-)

:? Guys, I think you're both trying to tell me the same thing, which is that the camber and castor aren't equal side-side at both the front and rear, is that right?

If so, can you please advise me how this can be corrected on a totally standard car i.e. standard struts, springs, top-mounts and wheels? (AFAIK it's not possible to adjust anything other than toe-in/toe-out on a standard setup)

Also could there be anything faulty on the suspension components/axle's that might be causing this left-right camber/castor difference.

Thanks for the feedback thus far

 

[antgtir]

:? Guys, I think you're both trying to tell me the same thing, which is that the camber and castor aren't equal side-side at both the front and rear, is that right?

If so, can you please advise me how this can be corrected on a totally standard car i.e. standard struts, springs, top-mounts and wheels? (AFAIK it's not possible to adjust anything other than toe-in/toe-out on a standard setup)

Also could there be anything faulty on the suspension components/axle's that might be causing this left-right camber/castor difference.

Thanks for the feedback thus far

If everything is standard and not adjustable as you say then the altered settings from the before to after readings are related to the change in wheel toe alignment.

The castor to me seems reasonable as it is more or less equal on both sides of the vehicle. The camber is however different between the two fronts allbeit as Paul has said minor. The difference in camber may be down to some work being carried out in the past on the strut or maybe a wheel bearing or something that requires you to remove the strut from the wheel hub, when replaced or fixed together again it probably didn't go back into the same place so hence a difference in camber, i found this when i changed to the coilovers, its crucial to get the strut in exactly the right place or else you end up with a top mount thats slightly adjusted to obtain say -1degree camber and the other side being significantly adjusted to obtain the same reading.

Apart from this and the fact that on the final setup sheet it clearly states that the settings your left with are in theory worse than those you began with are the only gripes id have. You probably wont even feel that much of a difference tbh. Id say its only when you start to alter things in degree's you start to feel the difference in handling or ride quality etc.

Ant.

 

[youngsyp]

:? Guys, I think you're both trying to tell me the same thing, which is that the camber and castor aren't equal side-side at both the front and rear, is that right?

If so, can you please advise me how this can be corrected on a totally standard car i.e. standard struts, springs, top-mounts and wheels? (AFAIK it's not possible to adjust anything other than toe-in/toe-out on a standard setup)

Also could there be anything faulty on the suspension components/axle's that might be causing this left-right camber/castor difference.

Thanks for the feedback thus far

First things first. Your caster alignement is just fine. Which is good as, it's non adjustable on the stock set up.

Similarly, you toe alignment front and rear, are also both fine.... pretty good in fact.

The differences in camber at the front isn't too severe but could be improved on. I'd expect yo to be able to achieve half a degree (30 minutes) negative camber each side on the stock set up.
Although the camber isn't really adjustable on the stock car, you can certainly change it by a small amount. First off, I'd loosen the top mount nuts (3 each side) and the fixing bolts for the front wishbones (slightly). Roll the car back an forwards, on a flat surface and bouncy the front up and down. The re-torque all the nuts and bolts you've undone, with the cars weight on them (don't jack the car up).
You can also manipulate the strutts slighly by loosening the two bolts that attach it to the hub. Then just tilt the top of the wheel in as far as you can (a very small amount), and re-torque, whilst still applying force.

The back end camber is what I'd spend the most time on trying to sort. You could again, loosen the top mount nuts and bounce/roll the car, then re-torque. ANd again, manipulate the strutts by undoing the 2 bolts that secure them to the hubs, tilting the top wheel in as far as it will go, then re-torquing whilst still applying force.

Once you've done that, take it back to the wheel alignment place and get them to check and adjust.
Of course, they should be able to manipulate the strutts to help with equalising camber.

If you an't be arsed with all that, just take it back to them and tell them you're not happy with the way it handles and get them to spend some more time on the camber settings.

From the way the toe and caster alignment is set so well, I wouldn't be looking damaged suspension parts. If that were the case, you'd be looking for bent strutts and maybe bent hub mountings.

Regardless of all this, you should be able to get quite a nice set up with just the stock suspension components and correct alignment settings.

Paul

 

[olliecast]

had the car jacked up tonight after a run and there`s no noticable movement anywhere in the suspension. looking underneath it appears that nearly everthing has poly bushes. i have noticed however that the front bumper is loose and that this may be causing the knocking.
i now hoping that its the large angle difference on the nearside that is causing the increased tyre wear. fingers crossed for saturday morning!!

 

[odie]

Might be a long shot, but have you had your ball joints checked? This sounds similar to what happened to me; crazy wear, rumbling etc. The mechanics/suspension guys checked everything else out and found no issues. Turned out my ball joints were just about to snap. May not be the case here, but something to check.

 

[antgtir]

Definately sounds more like a part issue rather than the setup to me. Id have the mechanics check over thoroughly the steering / suspension components before you fork out good cash on another setup session.

Ant.

 

[olliecast]

i`ll ask them to have another look over the suspension quickly then before they do the alignment. is it the sort of thing they can do on the ramps quickly? (i.e. not try and charge me ££ extra cash). i`ll give it a bit round a few bend on the way to work tomorrw and see how it goes

 

[youngsyp]

i`ll ask them to have another look over the suspension quickly then before they do the alignment.

If they're any good, they should do this before they start the alignment process anyway.

Paul

 

[olliecast]

right, it starter knocking yesterday in the real bad rain we had. not all the time but intermittantly and seemed in time with the wheels rotating, seemed liike it was coming from the front left hand side of just around the front of the transmission tunned. It`s done this before in the heavy rain aswell (i thought i`d just picked up some shit off the road)

I decided to therefore cancel the alignment and get under the car to look.
i waggled everything i can think of under the car and i cannot find anything that is loose apart for the bush that holds the gear linkage on at the gear stick end (you can make it knock when in neutral). could this rattle in time with the driveshaft? (i couldn`t see any rubbing marks on the drive shaft though).

took it for a drive today in the dry and didn`t make a single noise, was driving in the dry though. only seems to be doing it in the wet, any ideas?