Question about front wheel alignment...

thirdbird

Registered User
Hi,

This 35th anny car I bought recently had a severe toe-out condition the day I drove it home.
So much toe out you could see they were toe out from looking straight at the car.
The PO drove it 300 miles shortly before I bought it, and the front tires, which were practically new, are ruined.
All the bushings look normal.
The upper ball joint on pass side was sloppy, but tie rods and all other joints are good to go.
I also can't find any bent anything with regard to the K frame or rack or strut rods.
What would cause such a severe misalignment with the front wheels, and no evident damage other than the tires?

paul
 
Take it to a reliable alignment shop.....

It could be that the ball joints are way out of adjustment.....
 
my guess would be the strut rod bushings but since you said there fine i couldn't tell ya

was the car lowered?

maybe they changed the steering rack and didn't get it aligned
 
Car was stock no mods of any kind when I got it.
The tie rods look like they had been there a real long time.
I'll have to get a closer look at the rack, you might be right.
I haven't found anything loose yet....inners feel normal/tight.
 
something is bent or a previous shop tried to align it using a tape measure (very common with old grizzled up mechanics) its possible that some suspension part was replaced and because an alingment was done earlier with worn parts the new parts are not putting everything back to normal and it needs an alingment again.

checked the strut rod bushings where they attach to the subframe. my pass side is bent back and its causing a castor and toe problem. also checke the the number of threads showing in front of the nuts on the strut rods, they should be similar (maybee not the exact same) but similar from left to right.

finally do a walk around and look at the door seams, hood seams, ect. look at the way the wheels are centered in the wheel openings up front with steering wheel pointed straight ahead. does anything look differnt gap really close, or far apart? wheel not centered in opening? these could indicate an accident of some sort or damage.

measure ride height (not sure on spec for this) but it should be similar from left to right. to do this measure from the bottom of rim (not ground!!) to the top of fender opening. we do this because this is a constant the tires and ground are not consistant.

are the lock nuts on tie rods tight? i have seen a bmw M3 that the tie rods lock nut was not tightned after another shop worked on it and after about 1K miles and the front tires were shot because they worked themselves out causing a toe out condition.

so unless a previous shop did something wrong, then the really only way to get that much toe out to wreck tires that fast is that the car must have either hit something. or something is worn out on the car.
 
1 other thing is the rear subframe. its only held on be 4 bolts. check to make sure they are all still there and tight.
 
wow, lots of info!

something is bent or a previous shop tried to align it using a tape measure (very common with old grizzled up mechanics) its possible that some suspension part was replaced and because an alingment was done earlier with worn parts the new parts are not putting everything back to normal and it needs an alingment again.

checked the strut rod bushings where they attach to the subframe. my pass side is bent back and its causing a castor and toe problem. also checke the the number of threads showing in front of the nuts on the strut rods, they should be similar (maybee not the exact same) but similar from left to right.

finally do a walk around and look at the door seams, hood seams, ect. look at the way the wheels are centered in the wheel openings up front with steering wheel pointed straight ahead. does anything look differnt gap really close, or far apart? wheel not centered in opening? these could indicate an accident of some sort or damage.

measure ride height (not sure on spec for this) but it should be similar from left to right. to do this measure from the bottom of rim (not ground!!) to the top of fender opening. we do this because this is a constant the tires and ground are not consistant.

are the lock nuts on tie rods tight? i have seen a bmw M3 that the tie rods lock nut was not tightned after another shop worked on it and after about 1K miles and the front tires were shot because they worked themselves out causing a toe out condition.

so unless a previous shop did something wrong, then the really only way to get that much toe out to wreck tires that fast is that the car must have either hit something. or something is worn out on the car.

strut rod bushings are all in 1 piece.
# of threads are about identical.
I can not see naked eye any abnormalities with k member in front.
All in rear is tight/no wiggles.
all the seams are normal, car was in a wreck drivers side in 1996.
they glued the trim on crooked:(( Hope thats all they screwed up!
wheels look centered in wheel-wells.
I did not do the tape measure thing yet.
Tie rods are tight, nuts too.
I am going to eyeball the pass tire(thats the one thats way out), in some before I get it running and go to the shop for lineup...
Thanks again!

paul
 
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well crawl under the car and measure from inside of rim on front of rim to other side and write down measurement. do same to rear of rim in same position and write down measurement.

now adjust tie rods till they are equal or close to.

drive to good alingment shop and pay to have an alingment done. Tell them your concern and let them look over car. sounds like a previous repair went wrong or something then you purchased the car.
 
you say you can tell its been in a wreck. check to make sure the uni-body and or sub-frames dont have any warping, breaks ext. with the uni-body at the time of the repair it might have been fine but after time there could be rips or cracks that could through your alignment off. in such case get those welded with a patch welded over that then check the alignment again.

most cracks are not detected until later on due to paint covering them and very few shops have ultra sonic scanners.
 
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I would recommend keeping this simple to start with. Go ahead and replace any front suspension/steering bushings/components that need replacing, check to make sure the front kmember bolts are tight, and eyeball or tape measure the toe to zero or in a little to get you to the alignment shop.
 
correct the alingment will tell everything about that car if the tech is seasoned and knows what he is looking at.

but from what you have said it doesnt appear (just reading what you posted) that there is any damage to vehicle, just a funky toe problem.

get to alingment shop asap
 
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