Went to the alignment shop... am i screwed?

[olie05]

Ok the guy aligned my car to the best of his ability with the electronic devices hanging off my wheels...

 

Left Front before adjustment:

camber: -0.8*

caster: 2.1*

Toe: -1.41*

 

after adjustment:

camber: -0.9*

caster: 2.1*

Toe: 0.15*

 

Right Front before adjustment:

camber: -0.1*

caster: 2.3*

Toe: -1.46*

 

after adjustment:

camber: -0.1*

caster: 2.3*

Toe: 0.19*

 

 

He couldn't get the left nut loose on the tie rod so he didn't adjust that side, so the steering wheel is crooked. But i'm going to go back there if i can break it myself and he said he'd re align it all for free. The guy kept talking about how one of my wheels is tilted more than the other... which from the readings it seems that he was talking about the negative camber, which isn't even off that much.

My left front tire was worn... like insanely compared to my right one. The inside is almost bald of tread now. Can anyone tell me whats going on with my suspension?

-Oliver

 

p.s. thanks for reading all this for those of you that got this far!

[jt1]

The toe being off that much is what was wearing your tire so badly. Lay the PB Blaster to the tie rod for a couple of days to loosen it up, then take it back and let him finish, it's still got too much negative toe. The 0.8 camber is a little much for a street alignment, IIRC 0.5 is optimum, but it's not outrageous and the car will handle a little better with some more camber. The only way to easily adjust it is to slot the holes in the strut towers a little, and it's hit and miss and time consuming to do it on the alignment rack, not many shops will tie up their rack long enough to do it right. Get the toe right and overall you'll be in good shape.

 

John

[Mikelly]

YOu could also shim the bushings in the TC box to get more caster. That would help quite a bit.

 

Mike

[JMortensen]

I believe you can also loosen the engine crossmember and slide it a hair to try and even up the camber. Did the alignment guy check the tie rods and ball joints? Pretty common that they would be worn out, and if he just adjusted the toe and those parts are bad he may as well not have adjusted anything. I only ask because I doubt that at some point in the past someone adjusted your car to -3º toe.

[Synlubes]

I don`t see any 4 wheel specs, only front?

Is the shop doing a 4 wheel alignment?

If not, request it to be done.

[olie05]

I left out the rear wheel specs since he didn't adjust anything and nothing changed but here they are:

 

Left rear

camber: -1.0*

toe: 0.54*

 

Right rear:

camber: -0.4*

Toe: 0.34*

 

The T/C rod bushings are almost gone on this car so that is my first upgrade to bushings.

 

Jon, the toe out I'm guessing is from the Eibach springs I put in. I never had the car aligned because I didn't have the need to. Then I put the springs in and the car wandered alot on the freeway and such.

 

Seriously, I thought he was going to be able to get everything correct. I guess alignment shops have limited capabilities. Someone told me they coul adjust a certain amount of camber...

 

also, out of curiosity, what are they going to be able to adjust in the back?

-Oliver

[JMortensen]

All an average alignment shop can do on a stock Z is shim the caster a tiny bit and set front toe. That's it for "adjustments". You can move the transverse link in the back a teeny bit and the front crossmember a teeny bit, but there just aren't many adjustments to make on a stock Z.

 

If your tie rods and ball joints are good, then I guess your -3º toe out is bumpsteer. That's a lot of bumpsteer.

[Jolane]

You should install all your bushing upgrades before alignment. If you don't plant o do this for a while, then I understand why you had it aligned. Otehrwise, if you are going to upgrade anything, you should do it before alignment.

Joshua

[Pop N Wood]

When I looked into aligning the rear on my Z the shop told me it was going to be an extra $300 if they had to adjust anything back there. I think the words big F'ng hammer were used.

[mark]

What year is your car. On the 240's one of the tie rods has reveresed threads. I can't remember which one now but I think it is the drivers side.

[olie05]

What year is your car. On the 240's one of the tie rods has reveresed threads. I can't remember which one now but I think it is the drivers side.

 

You were right! the alignement guy didn't look at the threads and just started pulling on the wrench (when he should have been pushing... or pulling from the other side). I got home, got out the WD40 and a propane torch and got to it. I took it back to the shop and now my car's steering wheel is straght and it only pulls slightly to the right. I'm happy. Thanks for the replies!

-Oliver

 

BTW, for future reference, my car is a 77 280z and it had reverse threads on the drivers side. Don't know if its stock or not but make sure you check before loosening anything.