Bad Alignment Numbers?

[suprageezer]

I had my car aligned yesterday I picked it up last night. They gave me the printout the tech drove it said everything was good. I leave drive down the street take my hands off the wheel and it wanted to make a right turn. The only mod to my car is energy poly bushings. In 8 years of owning the car and having three sets of tires wear perfectly even never even having to rotate them. The car has only been aligned three time just after buying new tires at this same dealer shop. Does anyone see anything unusual in the printout of the specs? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[adampecush]

the difference in caster is the likely culprit. these should be close to the same to prevent pulling. with that said, uneven caster won't cause any unusual wear. As per the TSRM, caster difference between sides should be +/- 30'

http://www.cygnusx1.net/Supra/Library/TSRM/MK3/manual.aspx?S=FA&P=4

(i'm surprised how tight the allowable range is)

 

[Kckazdude]

I beleive the problem lies in the -0.03 on the right front and the +0.03 on the left front. If both adjustments were set to a - or + on both sides it should track straight.

 

[bluepearl]

Did the car pull before you had it aligned ?
Did you get new tires installed ?
Make sure that either caliper is not frozen and releasing properly.
Why did you get the car aligned if the tires were wearing perfectly ?

 

[xarewhyayen]

The difference in caster between rf and lf is the likely cause of the pull. The caster is easier to adjust than the camber. I just watched my tech align my car Saturday. My camber is like .5 degrees off because he couldn't get it all the way in, maxed out the adjustment of the cams. BUT the camber is dead on.

Fix the caster, fix the pull.

As someone said above, caster wont cause tire wear, but it WILL definitely cause a pull.

 

[xarewhyayen]

Did the car pull before you had it aligned ?
Did you get new tires installed ?
Make sure that either caliper is not frozen and releasing properly.
Why did you get the car aligned if the tires were wearing perfectly ?

an alignment can be out before you start to notice tire wear. As you can see in the before and after sheet his alignment was pretty bad before. If you live in an area with alot of bumps and potholes and such, id recommend to check it every 10,000 miles. Every 15k if not alot of bumps and such. a lot of places advertise free alignment checks.( i know we do checks free)

 

[Poodles]

If anything the adjustment should be the other way to make up for the crown in the road.

If everything is perfectly aligned, a car will naturally pull to the right (in a LHD car) as you're fighting the crown of the road. A good alignment tech can tweak it a bit against this natural pull if needed.

Personally, I'd take it back and make them get it right or give you a refund...

 

[suprageezer]

Thanks for the input Everyone I'm just gonna take it to the place that does my lifted van, True Line in SD, and chock it up to folks come and go at a shop regardless if its a dealershipor independent. Evidently the folks who did it right on in the past are long gone from toyota of carlsbad.