Front End Alignment

[zoom zoom]

I had one done today on my new car. It was pulling hard to the left at first, I straightened it by eye and it wasn't pulling anymore, but since I swapped out Rio struts, new lcas, bushings, and wheels, I went ahead and had it realigned. I wanted them to balance the front tires but they forgot!? They didn't charge me for it anyway.

The Rio struts are the only thing that is not a stock part, this is with exactly one coil cut off the springs.

This is before..
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/a...7/IMAG0425.jpg <-- bigger picture if you need it.


This is after..

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab2/mykromisfit/Aspire97/IMAG0426.jpg

What's the deal with the rear thrust? Is that about normal? Is there anything at all I could do, like shims behind the spindles to correct it.. I really doubt it would be a very thick shim, maybe drill a hole or two in an old feeler gauge arm? Or should I even worry about it?

I though negative camber was better? It looks better.. is there anything I can do to the rear to adjust it a little, I plan on swapping springs soon anyway so what will happen when the car squats 2" lower than now in the rear?

Pic of how it sits atm..before I washed it, believe it or not there is paint under that mold!

[RhodeStiva]

How Did you adjust your self. mine is pulling hard to the right.

[M3NTAL]

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.davidparis.org/coupe/IMG_3600m.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.davidparis.org/coupe/strutshims.html&h=800&w=600&sz=85&tbnid=_uCeB7K-8G8jNM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=68&zoom=1&usg=__SB7O2QHQbpU80h4KGWZBzUOpCAw=&docid=HuAaj1LVCUFe-M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lP2GUIHzFYak8gTo2oHQDQ&ved=0CC0Q9QEwAg&dur=318

[georgeb]

How Did you adjust your self. mine is pulling hard to the right.

I use a piece of string hooked the the rear rim and pulled forward gently touching the front tire. There should be a little daylight at the front. The posted pic would not be accurate because the bulge at the bottom of the tire would not give a good straightedge.

[FestYboy]

Zoom, that after measurement looks really good. dont worry about the thrust reading, its not an issue.

[Advancedynamix]

Matt, when you lower the rear it will gain positive camber and toe in. You can adjust for this with alignment shims that go between the stub axle (spindle) and your rear beam. Also, if you lower the front you'll need to re-align it as well.

[zoom zoom]

Hmm, ok, I was (obviously wrong) thinking lowering the rear wouldn't change anything since the strut doesn't bolt to the drum like the front bolts to the knuckle. Haha.. any idea how he adjusted the toe in the rear? I wonder if there's any more play to work with there, or if I could make some without having to shim the spindle.

With it already being -1.8 and -1.4 Camber, I might be ok there? I'll have a better idea next time I take it in because I'll have measurements of height now and height after to try and get a ballpark of the difference. If I could just get an inch or two to try and level the car a bit I would be happy. I think the overall look would be better with less space above the tire, and I'm willing to sacrifice numbers on paper for overall looks lol..

the thrust thing is 3*, I'm not really worried about it, festyboy told me not to! But just out of curiosity, would loosening the bolts that mount the trailing arm bracket to the body, and pushing the bracket down as far as it can go(like door hinges), then retorquing the bolts change that?


The main reason I want to mess with the front (and rear) is to test out different spring rates I have laying around. I'd also like to get the camber into the negatives a bit. Since he aligned it like this, the steering is back to being hard to turn. I could do that with camber bolts or by reaming out a hole in the strut though. I need new struts too, I think I've got a good set of aspire struts I was going to make work with Rio tops, so another alignment or two will be needed anyway. I wish I would of had time to swap struts out before this, but..eh...at least this gives me an idea of where I'm at, and maybe what to avoid doing.

Thanks for the input, it's obviously 'good enough' but I never was any good at leaving well enough alone.

[FestYboy]

it's likely the rear wasn't touched... at all. inserting shims like that is typicaly extra labor and parts. the only way to fix the thrust is to fix the LR toe, but at worse, it's .07* (read seven hundredths or a degree). as long as your total toe looks good, you'll be fine.

[Advancedynamix]

The only way (without physically damaging or modifying the suspension parts) to adjust the camber and toe in the rear is with shims.