Car Wonders After Alignment

[mikemounlio]

I got the car aligned friday. Now it wonders! I checked and replaced the rear bearings. one was bad. Now the tires all feel tight and no play at all. The car still has some wonder tho. It feels like im in high wind.

I know the camber is not set perfect in the front. The rear is all stock camber wise. The camber in the front is the same it has been for a couple weeks now. Why would the alignment cause it to wonder? If i adjust the camber to be even would that help much?

I just dont get why its doing it now and not before the alignment.

[scitzz]

I have had alignments "professionally" done that were way off.

[nonamekid]

A car with deep thinking, how interesting. What is your car wondering about? (Sorry, couldn't resist. When read the way it is written, it is funny.) Wander is the word you are looking for.

The suspension gurus will chime in, but I am guessing a non seasoned alignment tech did your work. The only factory adjustment is toe in the front. Nothing else can be adjusted.

[mikemounlio]

I checked it with my toe plates. I was seeing 0 toe with my plates. I gave each tie rod just a touch of toe inward to try and fix the issue. It seemed to help a touch. So i might have 0 - 1/32 toe total. Ill be looking at it in a minute to double check things.

[Advancedynamix]

Uneven camber will cause the car to pull, especially with zero toe.
Also, the zero toe setup feels a bit wandery until you get used to it. The steering wheel won't return to straight as quickly as it does with toe. It will also try to follow abnormalities in the road surface (crowns, ruts ect.)
Negative camber helps this condition a lot. If you try running zero toe with stock camber the car will be difficult to drive, however if you run zero toe with -3 degrees of camber the car will just feel a little weird at first until you get used to it. To me, the wander feeling is easy to get used to and it's worth the benefits that this setup yields (extended tire life, better fuel mileage, more HP to the ground without spinning, quicker turn in response, more stability in corners.)
When your camber is not even, your contact patch will be different from side to side. This will cause the pull that you may be feeling. Toe in will help the car to track straight, but it's just a bandaid to the problem. You'll also see more tire wear with toe.
You may also want to check all your bushings. Worn or damaged front suspension bushings cause these cars to do funny things under acceleration and deceleration.

[mikemounlio]

I think im going to widen the bottom bolt hole on my coilovers to allow better -camber. As of now its hard to get -2.5. If i could push the bottom out a hair ill be able to run 3°.

I have my shims for the rear to run -3° total. Just gotta spend the time to adjust it all.

[scitzz]

I think im going to widen the bottom bolt hole on my coilovers to allow better -camber. As of now its hard to get -2.5. If i could push the bottom out a hair ill be able to run 3°.

I have my shims for the rear to run -3° total. Just gotta spend the time to adjust it all.

that would be assuming you started with 0 camber first, correct?

[mikemounlio]

My rear should be 0 or stock. If i use my shims to hit 3 thats all i can do. Im not good enough to fine tune past using a shim pack. The front i can only stick a digital angle gauge on it. I cant get super crazy on the numbers tho. I wont be able to drive like Charlie can so getting crazy with it is not for me. I just want to have fun with it.

[Advancedynamix]

All I use is a digital level I bought from home Depot to set my camber. Nothing crazy about that.

[scitzz]

They sell a magnetic digital gauge on ebay for around 20 bucks. Just need to make sure your on a level surface basically. These are old cars. You may not be at zero camber.

[lessersivad]

If this is a complete stock setup with stock struts on the front, there is a slight bit of camber adjustment in the top mount.

If you look closely at the mount studs across the center rod bolt, they are not perfectly aligned but slightly offset. Use some sort of straight edge to confirm both sides are offset the same direction either towards the outside or inside.

If they're not, you can simply jack up the front and loosen the 2 mounting nuts, spin the top 180° and reinstall the nuts.

I'm not sure of the degree gain, it won't be much but it's there.

Probably about as clear as mud so sorry if it's not clear what I'm trying to explain.

[FestYboy]

That's the factory adjustment point, and it's good for .5*
If you adjust the camber, the toe will also change. In this case if you add negative camber, you will toe in and visa versa.

[scitzz]

That's the factory adjustment point, and it's good for .5*
If you adjust the camber, the toe will also change. In this case if you add negative camber, you will toe in and visa versa.

Man, Arty, it is SO good to have you back on here!

[mikemounlio]

They sell a magnetic digital gauge on ebay for around 20 bucks. Just need to make sure your on a level surface basically. These are old cars. You may not be at zero camber.

I have a digital magnetic gauge! Thats how i set my camber now. The holes i opened up in the coilovers were done in a very bad way. Once i got the propper tool i was almost done. I got the camber close to the same when i 1st did the suspension. I didnt have time to really fine tune it on the red car yet. So who knows what the camber is right now!

[mikemounlio]

If this is a complete stock setup with stock struts on the front, there is a slight bit of camber adjustment in the top mount.

If you look closely at the mount studs across the center rod bolt, they are not perfectly aligned but slightly offset. Use some sort of straight edge to confirm both sides are offset the same direction either towards the outside or inside.

If they're not, you can simply jack up the front and loosen the 2 mounting nuts, spin the top 180° and reinstall the nuts.

I'm not sure of the degree gain, it won't be much but it's there.

Probably about as clear as mud so sorry if it's not clear what I'm trying to explain.

Car is not stock! I run the setup from charlie. SO i have the rio top hats with the bearing in them. I have the mounting holes on the coilover bodies opened up to allow more -camber. However i need to open the bottom hole up in the oppsite direction to allow even more camber angle. Then i need to take the time to adjust each side to be the same. As of now the coilover are just on the car. I didnt even get the angle gauge out to check what they were set to.