Alignment

[Willie_B]

As I thought I went by the tire place and talked to the guys that do the work. I am sitting in car now while they do the alignment. It was close to start with. Hope this will get it back to where it feels more planted and less twitchy.

[Willie_B]

Back done, on to the front.

[94touring]

Any fancy specs?

[MiniDave]

That looks familiar! 

How does it drive now? Do you have camber/toe adjusters on the rear too?

And like Dan says, what specs did you use?

[Willie_B]

Seemed better on the way home but no real fun roads. I guess I will need to plan on a day trip up to the Dragon to really check it out darn it.

Front
toe            1/16" out
camber      -1 degree
castor       4 degrees

Rear
toe            1/16" in
camber      -1 degree

[gr8kornholio]

A day trip to the dragon, what a beating  71.gif  And what ever you do, don't take the Cherohala skyway to get there.

[Richard1]

I had a hard time finding a shop that could do 10" wheels. And that shop has now closed.

[MiniDave]

It's true, one of our Hunter alignment machines works really well with 10's, the other (newer one) not so much....

[Vikram]

I have always wondered this, but how does one get an alignment on a mini? I know (on my car at least) that I do not have adjustable control arms and the only thing that can be adjusted is the shock stiffness and ride height. So what gets adjusted to change camber, toe etc?

[MiniDave]

The only thing you can change then is the toe-in, toe-out at the front....also called tracking.

You need adjustable tie bars and lower control arms to change the camber and caster.

[Vikram]

How is that done? I thought as much about the camber...

[MiniDave]

How is which done?

To change camber with the adjustable arms you lengthen or shorten the lower control arm, longer gives more camber

To change the caster you lengthen or shorten the tie bars, shorter gives more caster.

For toe-in you turn the tie rod end tie bars to the steering rack, shorter gives toe-out, longer gives toe- in.

Any time you change the caster or camber, you affect all three so they all have to be adjusted together. Oft times, when you get one right, set the next then the first is out again, so you have to go back and forth till you get it where you want it, the toe is the last thing you set.

[Vikram]

Ah, I see thank you. That seems like an interesting modification to do next......

[Willie_B]

Did not go to the dragon but a quick up to the mountains. The car feels much more stable now. I only got a good bit sideways once, too fast into a decreasing radius turn.

[MiniDave]

I'm anxious to see if repairing the rear trailing arm bushings has cured the rear twitch on my car, won't know for sure till I get it off the alignment machine and out on the road.......

Glad you got yours sorted WillieB.