Fwd Wheel Alignment Angles

[rob83ke70]

I'm after some suggestions as to the optimal settings for the wheel alignment. :dance:

 

A brief history on the car: bought as a damaged vehicle through pickles auctions, control arms mashed up, some front end damage, bent chassis. The chassis was straightened (paid someone to do it) the control arms have been replaced, some of the panel work done (new guard and some paint) and some basic work for a RWC. The engine has since been rebuilt, a piston was broken in two piece and it was making a rather odd noise The gearbox has also been rebuilt a few times (oil leaks, noisy bearings, crunchy synchros etc). The car has about 190,000km on it now.

 

Anyway, recently I've replaced the lower control arm inboard bushes (to correct a clunking noise and some shocking handling) and have installed (2nd hand, free, less than 100k old) rear shock absorbers, again to correct a wonderful clunking noise and some truly atrocious handling issues Steering rack ends were replaced, and a wheel alignment carried out. Figures are as follows:

 

Front castor

left 1.8 deg

right 1.6 deg

 

front camber

left -0.7 deg

right -0.7 deg

 

front toe

left 0.1 deg

right 0.1 deg

 

rear camber

left -0.3 deg

right 0.2 deg

 

rear toe

left -0.25 deg

right -0.1 deg

 

thrust angle -0.1 deg

 

Car now pulls somewhat to the left, and the steering wheel spends most of the time angled to the right to compensate. Specifications were a bit vague on the wheel aligner - it does seem to have some dodgy software (it has millions of kp61 starlets yet no ke corollas for example) The rear didn't have specifications for the swift at all!

 

Can someone suggest as to why my car is doing this, and some suggested angles to adjust?

 

I'm having a guess that I should be running a slight amount of toe out on the front, and maybe a slight amount of toe in at the rear? I'm not 100% sure why the camber is different one side to the other on the rear - it is possible that I've got a bent strut - which side is abnormal though?

 

My plans for the car are to get it to a standard working properly condition, and add a few braces - the front under body brace first - you should see the size of the potholes in the roads around here, I'm envisioning bending a strut during normal driving! The car is going to be a high use daily driver for the time being.

[TRD ke70]

Worn Tyres will cause this, try putting the rear tyres to the front and see if that fixes it

Edited August 12, 2010 by TRD ke70

[rob83ke70]

didn't realise until I typed those figures in that the rear toe was still out thus making the thrust angle out.

 

I adjusted the rear toe to .1 degree toe in, then set the front toe with the steering wheel pointing left a little bit, and now the steering wheel points left when I'm driving!!

 

Going to re adjust my toe tomorrow morning. I'll get it right sooner or later. aiming for .1 degree toe out at front and .1 degree toe in at rear (individual).

 

it is possible one of the rear struts (shock absorber) is damaged/bent but I don't remember which one came from which side of the vehicle (was t boned in the front half of the donor vehicle).

[rob83ke70]

front tyres are nearly new savas, rear has one worn westlake and one shitty cheap $30 (new) tyre. I didn't pay for any of them so I'd rather not replace until they are worn out. I'd like 14x6 rims and 185/60r14 tyres when I do get around to replacing them anyway, and a LOT of chassis bracing lol.

 

Robert.

[towe001]

To me the castor angles is ok cause of the car being a right hand drive.

 

From memory toe setting are normally toed in on the front and back due to mr and mrs average.

Toeing the front wheels out a bit is ok, not only will it help with turn-in response but the average FWD under power will toe the front wheels in.

Rearend - basically toe-out = oversteer. Toe-in = understeer.

 

 

Whats the bearings like ?

Should be able to just compress the springs, undo the top of the struts and give the strut a bit of a spin around to see if its bent.

 

http://www.redlinegti.com/forum/

http://www.teamswift.net/

Are two pretty good forums. I'm pretty sure Redline is more aussie based.

 

Edit - Just noticed your already a member of Redline.

Edited August 12, 2010 by towe001