Philip
Mar 5th, 08, 11:17 PM
I have installed new stock height front springs, ball joints and inner/outer tie rod ends. I am now ready to have it aligned. The only non stock parts are the 15x8 Rally wheels with 225/70 tires. Will the 72 factory specs for alignment be the best to use or are there some changes that would be better?
Derek69SS
Mar 5th, 08, 11:39 PM
Factory specs were terrible... negative caster that should be positive, and positive camber, which should be negative, and way too much toe-in.
Caster should be as much positive as you can get (likely less than 2* possible, 5 or more is ideal) and equal on both sides.
Camber should be around 1/4* negative.
Toe should be about 1/8" in.
Philip
Mar 21st, 08, 12:26 AM
Well after trailering the car into town for an alignment I was really disappointed with the tech. First they tried to find every excuse to take more of my money. I was told the upper bushings were cracked. I told them that the cracking was only around the edge, I had checked and they were still good. Next the wheel bearings were loose so they had to pack them before aligning. I asked them to just adjust and I would pack later, the car was being trailered home, but they said they couldn't do that. Of course not, that wouldn't suck another $60 out of my wallet. The specs Derek gave me for the toe in were in inches and he couldn't convert to degrees to be able to set it, plus they didn't like to use any but factory settings. The last straw was when I was told the charge would be double the normal because it had shims and it took a lot of time to get it right. I said if you knew what you were doing it wouldn't. For a given change removing or adding a specific amount of shims would get it close before checking again. The way he was going to do was trial and error and wanted the car all day. This is not rocket science, if I had the swivel plates and levels I could do it myself in less than an hour. I need to find a shop in the Tucson area where they have a gear head that owns an old Chevy, Ford or Mopar that knows what he/she is doing. I would even consider taking it to Casa Grande or Phoenix to find someone that knew how to do it right.
jeff swisher
Mar 21st, 08, 9:17 AM
do it yourself .. throw the caster to it and set the camber by eyeing the tires then set toe with a tape measure.. and then find a flat straight piece of road and paint a line across the tread with rattle can white and drive slow about 75 feet and notice where the paint has worn off
It will either be worn even or on the inside or outside of the tread adjust accordingly then reset toe...If you have done as many as i have the paint will not be nesesary.. when done properly the tires will wear evenly..
the above is not for race cars they require a different camber setting
confused now?
jeff swisher
Mar 21st, 08, 9:29 AM
My son worked at a place like that a Jiffy lube or something and was told on his second day that he needed to start selling parts ,, struts bearing jobs cv boots and joints whatever ..He said i am here to repair what is broke .. he was told i do not care if they need it or not you sell parts or you will be fired ,that is how we stay in buisness
He quit that day ...THAT'S MY BOY..
Another big chain had the mechanics poke a hole in the cv boot and when the customer came back for the next oil change point out all the grease and sell them some more stuff..
.How do i know my friend worked there and told me that he was told to do that..