|
|
02-09-2012
No problem! I am learning stuff from your questions ....lol.Originally Posted by brandonl2000
Took it for the alignment and asked them to grease the new tie rods and they did for free. Car handles and sounds great now, no more nagging hum.
Thanks for everyone's suggestions and advice!!
02-09-2012
Well let me ask you this question since you did your own tie rod ends like I did.
I'm quite obsessive about my car. But, when driving straight on an un-angled road, is your wheel 100% dead on center??
Reason I say this is because the last alignment I had, I made them do it twice because the wheel was so off the first time. The next time they gave me sh*t about some 20° bit. But before I went to this tire shop for alignment, I used to get alignments at this old school place that did not use computers in the least. And every time I left from their place, my wheel was perfectly dead on center. The reason I don't go there anymore is because I wanted computer alignment accuracy and plus with my car, they wouldn't even think about messing with camber regardless if it was off. Nor did they do the rear-end...
So yeah, just curious what type of alignment you had and how it came out for ya
02-09-2012
I'll check on the drive home from work in the morning on the steering wheel. I just had the front end done. And they said it still has a slight drift to the left (first time i've had that after an alignment...but then again i've usually just had alignments done with new tires). He said the drift was probably due to the tires, which have about approx 50% wear left. When i did the tie rods ends i was careful to replace them in almost the exact spot as the old ones so it wouldn't be too far out of alignment. Before the alignment the front end just didn't feel "right", its hard to explain. The tires would squeal at the slightest turn, regardless of speed. The front end didn't seem to want to stay planted, especially hitting small bumps in the road. With the alignment, the squealing is gone and it seems to hold the road much better. I'm sure newer...better tires will help with that too.
I understand being obsessive about the car. I'm the same way. One reason why i'd rather do most of the work myself, when possible, to be sure its done correctly.
02-09-2012
Mk, yeah let me know. Mine drives fine and handles fine, but they didn't get my wheel perfect. And for something that costs that much, it should be right.
First time I had it done, it was cocked to the left slightly (after it was done, mind you), and I took it back and now it's slightly cocked to the right. Why couldn't they find a happy medium?
02-10-2012
When i can find some decent flat roads, which isn't often around here, the wheel seems to be right on dead center or pretty close when going straight.
02-10-2012
yuup. okay. yeah memphis sucks for quality. i might check out a more reputable place later. btw thank you for checking and reporting back
02-10-2012
lots of places dont care if the Steer Ahead is off by 10-15º aslong as its within spec because if the Toe is within spec it will have no affect on the tires and wont cause a huge pull when letting go of the wheel. Its always going to want to slowly drift to one side or the other.
02-11-2012
hm. steer ahead. didn't know they had term for it. i know most people don't care...but it bothers me lol. it doesn't pull at all or anything.. but that makes sense with what that fat bastard was tellin me behind that desk.
how exactly is steer ahead adjusted??
02-11-2012
they have to move one inner tie rod then the other the opposite way to even them out until the steering wheel is straight.
02-11-2012
Everytime I have ever had a car aligned professionally the FIRST thing they do is put the steering wheel in the striagh ahead position, then they put the alignment into spec. I have never had a problem with a crooked steering wheel after a professional job.
Hell I even adjusted the alignment on my Stealth by eye because it was so far out of whack at first. When I was done, the steering wheel was damn near perfect. If a shop is too damn lazy to do it right, then they don't deserve your business.
02-11-2012
THIS^^^^^
02-11-2012
EXACTLY! I will NEVER return to Grime's Tire Pro. they were so rude to me I hated it here. The guy who done the alignment drove the car around with me in it, and he was cool for the most part. But when I asked them to re-do it he clearly didn't want to and the guy behind the desk he was such a fat bastard ass hole I coulda kicked his Krispy Kreme eatin ass out the front door. Ugh... He was so rude to me and talked down to me like I was stupid, asked me if I even knew what camber was and then told me the now known steer ahead was normal and not to worry about, and "have i ever heard of 10-15* blah blah blah". Well I may not have, but I have certainly heard of Professionalism, and you sir are the utter opposite of that phenomena.
Anyway, I'll have to have it re-done some other time. In Memphis it's hard to find quality, so idk what kind of alignment shop to even look for.
02-11-2012
You pretty much have to have the steering wheel locked down in the center position before touching any adjustments for it to be straight when you are done. There have been a few times where I forgot to center the steering wheel before hand, and I got lucky and it was somehow dead on in the test drive. Other times it was 45 degrees off haha.
If the car was just aligned, it only takes like 30 seconds of tie rod adjusting to correct the steering wheel. My guess is that shop doesn't pay their employees enough and his defense, would not be making money by continuing to work on your car after the alignment was done. Not that any of that is your problem, since he should have had it all taken care of before returning the keys to you. Just a $hitty business.
Computer alignments are good and all, but the only problem is if they are out of calibration, your entire alignment will be screwed. Depending on the shop, calibrating the machine takes time and generally mechanics don't get paid to do that, so they don't care, especially if the shop is real busy at the time. I have heard of a few shops that have zero electronics for alignments. I'm curious how they do that, I'm guessing it involves a tape measure.
But if you want, you can center the steering wheel yourself in the garage/driveway. Not hard if you understand what you are doing.
Last edited by Bjorn20; 02-11-2012 at 10:19 PM.
02-11-2012
Well I've replaced the tie rod ends myself, and other than transmission removal, I've figured everything else out on this car. So How can I adjust it perfectly? It's cocked slightly to the right.
02-11-2012
Adjust both tie rods the same to the right.
Last edited by TheOtherNick; 02-11-2012 at 10:31 PM.
02-11-2012
Well if the steering wheel is off to the right, that means you have to adjust the toe for both tires to be pointing more to the right (toe-in drivers side, toe-out passenger side). Move the drivers side inner tie rod like a 1/4 of a turn with a wrench (13 mm?) or vice grips in a clockwise direction (when viewing it from the outside, as if you were taking a tire off), then do the exact opposite to the passenger side (turn it counter-clockwise). This is all assuming that the rack is mounted in the rear/behind the control arm/knuckle when viewing it from the rear of the car, which I'm pretty sure it is.
02-11-2012
Yeah I had a brain fart I just make sure the wheel is straight before I take it off the alignment rack.
02-11-2012
talkin about the jam nut?? or what am i turning??
02-11-2012
Well you first have to break the jam nut loose, but you are turning/adjusting the inner tie rod (threading it more in/out of the outer tie rod). All you are doing is lengthing/shortening the entire inner/outer tie rod assembly.
Just make sure you turn each side in equal amounts. Remember small adjustments, 1/4 or even 1/8 of a turn with a wrench. Another tip, when tightening the jam nut after the adjustment, make sure you put a wrench/vicegrips on the inner tie rod to secure it or it can/will move while tightening the jam nut, thus messing up your adjustment.
Edit, my original directions were correct, I was reading another post which the person had a g8.
Last edited by Bjorn20; 02-11-2012 at 11:02 PM.
02-11-2012
no no. the poster of the thread has a g8. i have a gp. so your instructions were right for me lol. rack is behind knuckle.
so break jam nut loose...and turn the inner tie rod by hand??
then snug jam nut and done?
| « Previous Thread | Next Thread » |
| Tags for this Thread |
| Bookmarks |
Bookmarks |
