Wheel alignment issue
- Thread starter Sinky
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Contigo
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davy83
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Wheel alignment and indeed if you start messing with camber and caster, gets expensive and its part of the deal. Once you start shimming things it has to be measured before and then reassembled and then measured again and so on until its right. So yes steering geometry is an expensive business on these cars which is why you need to sort of save up jobs that upset the geometry and do them all together, saves running up a large bill getting it done many times. But like the last posts have said its worth it, the car runs a lot better when the geometry is done right and the converse is true, if you ignore it, it will shred tyres and not handle well (typically not very precise on the road). The front and rear alignment are adjustable with bolts and stuff, but camber and caster are all done with shims. A word of warning too if you dismantle any part of the suspension (like inspecting your wishbones for cracks 
) make sure you put the shims back exactly where you got them, some people mistake them for washers but its all measured! That covers front rear shims on the bush mounts, and shims either side of the mounting to the chassis. There are also special "W" shaped shims on the front upper wishbone for camber. New shims are available from dealers, and Eurospares and David Askew.
) make sure you put the shims back exactly where you got them, some people mistake them for washers but its all measured! That covers front rear shims on the bush mounts, and shims either side of the mounting to the chassis. There are also special "W" shaped shims on the front upper wishbone for camber. New shims are available from dealers, and Eurospares and David Askew.
davy83
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Ah well now factory settings. There are a few "rumours" about that tweaking the factory settings can improve the handling, which is very sensitive. If you look around this site you will find a few links to garages that have their own settings that owners swear by. I am only aware of two issues. i have a couple of garage set ups that suggest very slightly (0.5 deg) more positive camber improves handling while not being good for even tyre wear. I also personally don't like the factory spec which reads that front toe in can be zero. I have always found that toe in towards the maximum allowable gives more positive steering. Factory settings is a great place to start.
Tks. As far as I know when mine was last done four or more years ago it was on factory and tyre wear has been even since. Handling seems OK in GT context. Main thing is I bought it with bald front inner edges and that hasn't been repeated and I have no desire to go back down that road.
Sorry to bump an old thread.
@StuartW
Do you have a high-resolution picture of that page? I have the workshop manual, but that page is not included in it.
StuartW
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I have a PDF of the page but do not know how to upload a pdf file to here.
Perhaps someone can educate me, otherwise drop me a message with your email address and I will forward it to you that way
Tallman
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There is a black button - press it, select “Choose files” and then find the pdf/file you want to post - example attached, there is a size limit though.
StuartW
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Tallman
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Perfect - an alternative is to take a screenshot of the pdf (or any other file for that matter) and post that as a picture - only works for one pagers obviously or you take a few screenshots. This could be handy if the file is too large to post as an attachment.
Danny
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Thanks Stuart, this has proven to be very helpful during the visit to my tyre shop this morning!!
StuartW
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Good stuff - glad to have been of some use