Hey Folks,

I have had My volare to get aligned 3 times - 2 Different Shops and they tell me it's in spec, but It wears the outside edge off the Fronts - I have rebuilt the Frt Sus pension 3 years ago all new parts - Ball joints, bushings etc. I recently replaced the sloppy steering box too.

What can I do here - I even asked the one shop to take out 1/4* Camber and they did but still have the problem.

What do you think??

I tend to corner hard when I drive - I know that doesn't help - Maybe I should nix the factory specs and walk in with my own??



I have raised the t-bars too - I can measure the Current static ride height if that will help - I like a higher stance on the car.


Thanks, Greg

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Raising the car will create positive camber and wear the outside of the tire more. The higher ride height also increases weight transfer to the outside which puts more load into the outside tires. The heavily loaded tire distorts more and wears the outer edge. Lower is better as long as the geometry and suspension travel are still good.

If you insist on driving this way (I do cause it's fun) then forget the stock alignment specs. Lower is better because less weight transfer makes the inner and outer tires share the work more. Adjust the camber about 1 degree negative so the tire leans in at the top so the middle and inner edge of the tire do more work.

Also, early FMJ cars have weak upper control arm attachment. Make sure the mounts are in good shape. There was a reinforcement package available. Maybe Dan or someone else with the factory parts books can help you.

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Joshua

Yeah but if a car isn't at specified ride height (hard to determine with non stock diameter tires) you won't get enuf adjustment, so I tend to cringe when I hear of people who just "crank em down". Your alignment changes a bunch with very little ride height difference on torsion bar cars. Have you changed tires since the alignment? Once a wear pattern cuts into a tire, even if the problem that created it gets fixed, the tire will continue to wear improperly until it is removed from service. How well do you trust these places? Are they the type that since they don't like working with thay type of an adjustment just do a toe and go?? I just might have to
"pull a Dan" here, and ask if they gave you a before/after printout, which also would show the allowable spec range for that car. Ive also seen where "it's close (but outside of) the range" and they'll either pull down on the bumper or have someone push down on 1 corner so that they can "fudge" the print out. Was your suspension rebuild complete? Could there be a soft lower control arm bushing or something of the sort?

Thanks for the Replies,

Don, I had rebuilt the whole Front suspension - Every Bushing was replaced about 3 years ago with polyurethane the only things that are the same are the control arms, spindles torsion bars and center links.

I had a shop tell me the same thing about the wear pattern on the tires - once they start the wear pattern it stays even if the problem is fixed - So I tested their Theory with swapping out the Fronts and rears - same problem -

I am going to try getting the car aligned at -1* camber - Cause when you look at the car (now) at rest the tops of the tires point out toward the fenders (away from the car).

Don - these shops do have a good reputation and they do give me print outs wand they kind of know what they are doing on the older stuff - They worked on my other 5 cars - I have no problems with them.



Also will excessive positive camber - Which the car has now tend to make the car not steer easily through a broad turn - I mean once it starts turning it tends to understeer - so you steer more the it oversteers a whole bunch - then you have to correct it up.

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It sounds like you have pos camber, which is bad especially with modern radial tires. I would go for -1/2 to -1 deg camber. Not relative to what you start with, but the actual final camber measurement. I am no F-body expert, but that should fix your problem.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

HEy, Greg, I wasn't trying to say that these places were no good that you go to, as I do not know them, so cannot judge, especially being that there are 2 states between you and me. All that I was trying to say, was that
being that I did that exact job for 18 years, I know some of the "tricks"
that alignment shops will sometimes do. I know that the one that I last was at, the boss refused to let me set anything outside of spec for that car. Every time that he cashed out a ticket he would point out what changes that we had made to the alignment of their car and would see a reading that was borderline, like if a car had been wrecked and couldn't be brought to "preferred" (perfect) he was in my face and even though he had never done an alignment himself, and wouldn't know the 1st thing about actually DOING one, he's pulled a car back on and made us PROVE that we could not get that car perfect to him, it was especially irritating in a case where a setting was unadjustable on a certain car, either factory or with some sort of aftermarket "alignment aid" (and for waht they were some were quite pricey too) It didn't matter, that if you were to align 3 of the same year/make/model cars the same way, you could set them up all identical, and they would not necessarily drive the same.
I spent alot of time in front of that alignment machine, straightening out
another shops' "alignments". We have this one place in particular, that we would get customers come in that had been there first multiple times, with him claiming that their car was OK (he had archaic equip that didnt offer printouts and probably hadn't been calibrated in like 20 yrs) before they brought it to me, and I'd get the car, and it wouldn't even register on the screen,because it was so far out. But they had the car to "Mel" and he said everything was OK. And torsion bars? Take for example a Shivvy S 10 Blazer, sometimes, (not always), all I had to do was correct ride height, which may have only been ~1/4" different and to get the readings right on, when they were way out of alignment when they came in.
My questioning on the front end "rebuild" was brought on because I've seen people change a few gaskets, powerwash an engine, throw some paint in and call that a "rebuild". We know it's not. Likewise we'd get the customer who would say,"Well you rebuilt my whole front end" and we might have put, say, an idler arm and a sway bar link on and we'd have to insist that this did not constitute a "front end REBUILD" but in many customers' eyes, if you did any parts replacement at all, it was in fact a "rebuild".