Got an alignment

"CalzoneGolem" (calzonegolem) 04/21/2016 at 16:25 • Filed to: Bullmobile

0

31

Can someone ELI5 this sheet for me? Maybe add circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one.

JRapp: now as good as new again > CalzoneGolem 04/21/2016 at 16:32

2

Someone else can probably better explain the effects of each in the negative or positive direction.

Aaron M - MasoFiST > CalzoneGolem 04/21/2016 at 16:33

2

Camber is how many degrees away from perpendicular your wheel is from the ground if you’re looking down the length of the car. Stanced cars have a significant amount of negative camber, meaning the wheels are tilted inward toward the body.

Toe is how far your wheels are from parallel to each other. A little bit of toe-in, meaning your wheels are pointing towards each other slightly if you’re looking from above, can help a car track straight, but toe should be pretty close to zero.

Caster is how many degrees away from perpendicular your suspension arm is if you’re looking at the side of the car. Not very adjustable in most vehicles,

Justin Hughes > CalzoneGolem 04/21/2016 at 16:36

6

Here’s all you need to know about alignments.

Oh wait, you’re not playing Dungeons and Dragons...

uofime-2 > CalzoneGolem 04/21/2016 at 16:39

1

Doesn’t look like anything to worry to much about. A little negative camber is good for handling. Autocrossers actually tend to shoot for -1.5degs. You may see a little increased wear on the inside of your LF tire I wouldn’t expect it to be excessive. Just keep an eye on it and rotate them every 10k miles or so.

If it becomes a problem or just bothers you a set of camber bolts could correct the issue and probably run 50-100$ + installation which would probably run you 200$ plus a new alignment

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > CalzoneGolem 04/21/2016 at 16:40

0

Bullmobile has a game left front hoof. Probably sprained.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > CalzoneGolem 04/21/2016 at 16:40

2

Triple your caster and adjust your right front camber to match the left and your car should handle more like a sports car!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Justin Hughes 04/21/2016 at 17:04

4

brb starting campaign in which all PCs are felt constructs

His Stigness > CalzoneGolem 04/21/2016 at 17:35

1

Jesus that is a terrible alignment! It looks like the tech didn’t even adjust the rear, and the toe is way off in the rear. The front isn’t perfect either, but it’s close. I’d take it back and make them adjust the rear toe is equal and isn’t skewed to one side (which can cause the car to pull or wander to one side).

His Stigness > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/21/2016 at 17:37

0

I’m having a brain fart: positive caster will increase steering effort, and the side with the most positive caster will pull or wander to that side, right? Generally, if it’s adjustable you want the right side to have .5 degrees more positive caster than the left to compensate for the crown in the road, right?

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > His Stigness 04/21/2016 at 18:07

1

Yes, it will increase steering effort, and also cause ruts to pull the car around more, and increase feedback. However, more caster increases camber gain when cornering, which is why performance cars have a lot of caster.

It will pull to the side with less caster. The above car would pull right if not for the thrust angle.

Bytemite > CalzoneGolem 04/21/2016 at 18:33

1

Dude...tell the tech to max your caster. As much as it will go. What’s the point of not having more caster. Caster good. Dynamic camber is good. Handling good. 4 degrees ain’t enough.

His Stigness > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/21/2016 at 19:48

0

Okay so I had it backwards. It’s been a while since I’ve done an alignment or screwed with mine.

Would you agree though that the alignment above was less than stellar? I mean the total toe (isn't that also called the thrust angle?) isn’t even centered.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > His Stigness 04/21/2016 at 21:41

0

Front camber and caster probably isn’t cheap or easy to adjust on that car. So you would set thrust angle exactly where it is to make it track straight. I think it’s as good as they could have done without replacing a few things.

His Stigness > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/21/2016 at 22:11

0

Yeah, not everyone has the option of installing stupidly expensive adjustable poly bushings in their car in order to fix the alignment after they lowered it...

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > His Stigness 04/22/2016 at 01:48

1

Or bolts, or shims, or whatever the case may be.

His Stigness > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/22/2016 at 02:17

0

Yeah. Eventually I'll have to install adjustable plates on my Golf. I don't get why nothing is adjustable on new cars, it can't be that expensive to engineer is adjustability.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > His Stigness 04/22/2016 at 03:07

0

It’s expensive in production. If everything is made the exact same with no room for adjustments, then they don’t really need to do an alignment at the factory, which saves a bunch of time.

CalzoneGolem > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/22/2016 at 07:48

0

What would need to be replaced?

CalzoneGolem > Bytemite 04/22/2016 at 07:49

0

CalzoneGolem > Justin Hughes 04/22/2016 at 07:51

0

I might be.

CalzoneGolem > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 04/22/2016 at 07:51

0

CanvasGolem

CalzoneGolem > uofime-2 04/22/2016 at 07:55

0

I’m not going to autocross my Taurus just looking to not chew up my tires so quickly.

CalzoneGolem > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 04/22/2016 at 07:55

0

Yeah, I’m not sure what’s the deal with that.

Robert Chandler > CalzoneGolem 04/22/2016 at 08:27

1

Nothing really wrong there for a daily driver. The lower camber and higher caster numbers on the left front may cause the car to pull to the right a little, though. That won’t hurt anything. Caster is not adjustable without shifting the front subframe but there is some camber adjustability at the upper strut mount. Chisel the locating rivets off, loosen the nuts on the mount and slide the strut out on the left side and in on the right side.

Robert Chandler > Bytemite 04/22/2016 at 08:30

0

OP is concerned about tire wear. Caster won’t affect tire wear.

CalzoneGolem > Robert Chandler 04/22/2016 at 08:37

0

I’ve already cut the spotwelds holding the upper strut mounts. I’ll have to see if it would be possible to adjust it as you suggest.

uofime-2 > CalzoneGolem 04/22/2016 at 10:00

1

What tire wear are you seeing?

Usually tire wear happens (on street cars) when you have a “dynamic allignment” because you have something(s) worn out in your suspension. Any halfway decent alignment shop would have checked for worn out parts and told you they needed replacing before even attempting an alignment (not out of any sense of altruism, but because it’s impossible to preform an alignment, say with worn out tie rods/ball joints)

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > CalzoneGolem 04/22/2016 at 10:17

1

I’m not familiar with the workings of that car, so I don’t know. But typically, generally speaking, straight bolts are replaced with eccentric bolts, or shims are installed, or strut towers modified. And if none of those are available or possible, and no other types of adjustments possible, you may have a bent component (knuckle, arm, or strut). But I would need secondary measurements, such as and particularly steering axis inclination (SAI), and even more familiarity with your suspension, to determine that.

CalzoneGolem > uofime-2 04/22/2016 at 10:23

0

I had to replace a balljoint on the LF I think that is probably the issue. Lots of scalloping on the LF.

uofime-2 > CalzoneGolem 04/22/2016 at 10:38

0

That makes sense.

Half a degree of camber or a few hunderdths of a degree of toe will not cause that (don’t know why everyone was freaking out on this post).

Just check after 1000 miles to make sure not thing obviously stupid is happening and after 3000 miles or so compare wear between left and right tires on the inside, middle and outside of each tire (a tread depth gauge would be handy but not necessary) to make sure it’s all pretty even

I would guess you’re going to be just fine now that you’ve got that ball joint fixed (assuming nothing else breaks).

CalzoneGolem > uofime-2 04/22/2016 at 10:46

0

Something else will break