Wheel Alignments

[Bevan]

I think I got ripped on mine on Saturday, each side doesn't anywhere near line-up. I'll start a new thread today to avoid a hijack...

[JBT]

I'll start a new thread today to avoid a hijack...

Why, the thread name is "wheel alignments" - pretty broad subject area

[Bevan]

I'll start a new thread today to avoid a hijack...

Why, the thread name is "wheel alignments" - pretty broad subject area

I'll post it here as well then. I also have to rant/vent about the shyte place I went to.

[Dubly]

JBT,

I was not trying to get with my guns . Maybe I need to work on my soft skills. Thanks for posting your alignment specs.

Dubly

[AJ]

the unladen cambor WOULD change with you in the car JB, or so I was told by a wheel alignment specialist...........when he checked our NC just after we bought it, he actually got me to sit in the car while he checked, & yes the numbers changed after i got out

[JBT]

the unladen cambor WOULD change with you in the car JB, or so I was told by a wheel alignment specialist...........

Thought so. I guess the next question then is: would my weight result in more or less -ve camber

[Dubly]

More negative camber.

[AJ]

now the smoking guns have been reholstered


would it be fair to say dubly.........as a comparison...........JBT sat in the aircon, sucking on a latte & chewing a cream bun while his alignment was done...........brad sat in his car giving the aligner the evil eye (not having a shot brad, just trying to lighten it up a bit ).............you'd expect brads numbers to be spot on when the computer spat its figures out..........whereas Johns figures came out minus the driver............but when John jumps in his car (with the coffee & cream bun sloshing in his guts ) HIS numbers will even up if they ran another scan???.....with maybe some allowance for the camber of QLD roads???..........i'd reckon, just as a rough guess.......brads mate took the latte & cream bun in the aircon option too & that's why HIS numbers were similar to johns???

[JBT]

Aaaaah all's well then. I don't like that latte stuff, gimme chockie milk........but cream bun....mmmmmmmm......creeeeeeem bun

[StanTheMan]

Where is my Burbon AJ.....

[Dubly]

I guess I take this stuff pretty seriously . Have fun with your drinks and sweets ... I'll be at the track .

[Ted]

To add more fuel, I have never seen the need for the numbers to match. Rarely have I seen a road with camber equal to the alignment rack, never have I seen a car that is perfectly true and square with all variables even (tyre pressures, wear, weight distribution with amount of fluids etc) and never have I been able to pick if one corner had .1degree more negative camber than the other. Some aligners will put in a guesstimate for road cambers into the alignment, some will get you to sit in the car while they do it, some will make sure you turn your back the whole time.

I have had my cars aligned in workshops all over the place (about 4 in Brisbane that I use, plus anyone down the East Coast and Tassie that has a sign out the front saying alignments done), I just tell them what I am after in broad terms, on the MX5 that is
Front: -1.5 camber, 0 toe, max castor
Rear: -1.5 camber, between 1 and 1.5mm toe in each side

Then again, I am a pretty slow mug who simply likes to think that he can punt it quite hard from time to time. I competed in a rally once when the car would get broadsided on every entry to a corner. I thought something didn't feel quite right but kept driving hard anyway, especially on left hand corners when it would grip right up. I guess 9mm of toe out on the left and 6mm of toe in and the right might just do that. Another time I had new tyres fitted and the car would always pull left, went back for another alignment just to be sure. It was the 3rd return trip before we worked out that one of their sensors was out.

[Dubly]

Unless, you're going to run your MX5 in Nascar, your toe should match side to side.

[JBT]

I have never seen the need for the numbers to match.

True. I've also had many aligners over the years tell me that the figures they print are just a "snapshot" anyway and that if you took the car around the block over a few bumps and put it back on the machine, you wouldn't get the same numbers.......close, but not the same.

[Brad]

If you had, say, 5mm toe in on one side, and 5mm toe out on the other, wouldn't they cancel each other out and your steering wheel would simply be out of align (ie 0mm total toe)?