alignment wrong?

-

coffeedart67

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 9, 2010
Messages
1,200
Reaction score
64
Location
Southeast South Dakota
Got my car aligned a couple weeks ago, put about 200 miles on it, the front tires feel like they are wearing funny. I can run my hand across the tread one way and it feels ok, the other way I can sort of feel ridges. This is n both front tires. I rotated the tires before alignment. Also when I hit a pothole or uneven road with one tire it wants to kind of pull to ne side, seems fine other wise. Here is a link to the spec sheet when the aligned it, some of it is out of spec, does anyone see anything that may be causing this.


It is a 67 Dart GT, 273 2 barrel, all new front end parts (PST).
Thanks
Aaron
 
Pic is way too small.
Toe in or out causes what you describe, and for it to be feathered like you describe it has to be off quite a bit.
Have you changed your ride height since it was aligned?

Take it back and have them fix it, it should be really obvious to them if it's feathering tires.

Oh, and the sideways jump is because they are fighting eack other and when one looses traction the car will jump sideways in the front end.

Been there and done that.
 
Toe and camber look good but that left caster is low. It should be pulling to the left pretty good. Caster is a non wearing angle so that will not effect the tires.
 
Here are the specs according the printout:
Front Left.................... Front Right
Actual Before............. .. Actual Before
0.4..... 3.0...... Camber.... 0.1..... 1.8
0.1.... 2.8........ caster..... 1.1...... 2.3
0.13... 2.47....... toe....... 0.12.... 2.44
7.1..... 7.9 ........ sai........ 7.0..... 5.8
7.5.... 10.9. included angle. 7.1... 7.6
Car was trailered to alignment shop, driven 100 fet from garage to trailer(on grass and dirt)then about another hundred feet from trailer to shop(on concrete)

Doesn't seem to be pulling, on uneven(darn state has started just patching one side of a lane)area or potholes, seems to pull to the right.

Thanks
Aaron
 
If you have poly stabilizer rod bushings then that toe in would probably be too much.
It has to be the toe in causing the issue.
 
I agree the toe is probably the issue. All tires are not created equally. You need to align it so the tires wear good, regardless of specs. Also, the included angle on that left side looks spooky. If it's right, I would suspect a possible bent spindle. That coupled with the low caster on the left, throws up a red flag. Lastly, get out and cross the front tires right to left. I promise the pull will change. It should be pulling to the left. That alignment needs to be done over, IMO.
 
What is all this nonsense????

Here are the specs according the printout:
Front Left.................... Front Right
Actual Before............. .. Actual Before
0.4..... 3.0...... Camber.... 0.1..... 1.8
0.1.... 2.8........ caster..... 1.1...... 2.3
0.13... 2.47....... toe....... 0.12.... 2.44
7.1..... 7.9 ........ sai........ 7.0..... 5.8
7.5.... 10.9. included angle. 7.1... 7.6

Are you saying that camber is NOW .4 and .1 degree? positive? negative? Do you know?

You running bias or radials? Radials should be NEGative camber not positive

Caster is .1?? on one side and 1.1 on the other? You should have a LOT more caster for radials, min. of 1.5 or more if you can stand the steering effort, power steering can use more

Toe? is what? .13? Is that inches, degrees or what? If it's inches is that per side, are we supposed to add it and get .26?

A starting figure IN INCHES for toe is 1/8" or .125 TOTAL, not per wheel
 
The toe is .25 total . It should be .125 That is .125 out of spec but it doesn't state + or -. I would take it to another shop. Doesn't seem to me they know how to align a mopar. The first thing you want to do is ask the shop some questions about your suspension on your car. See if they know how to adjust the torsion bars by spec?? If they don't move on.
 
Toe on his alignment was measured in degrees, not inches. .25, or 1/4 of a degree is the correct spec.
 
Toe on his alignment was measured in degrees, not inches. .25, or 1/4 of a degree is the correct spec.

I don't know how you can tell that from that 1/4 x 1/4" photo, LOL

I forgot to add earlier, a fairly accepted read is here

http://www.allpar.com/history/mopar/front-end-alignment.html

The "skosh chart" down the page..................

289d4j7.jpg
 
It's possible that something has slipped or loosened. 200 miles of driving shouldn't be showing tire wear with the specs you've posted.....

Have the shop recheck the alignment.
 
If you keep going through the photo site he has it hosted on, it gets a LOT bigger and you can see everything. It was done using degrees as a measuring point. That's what it says.

I don't know how you can read that crap I can't. So .25* TOTAL would be about right, "right?"
 
Got my car aligned a couple weeks ago, put about 200 miles on it, the front tires feel like they are wearing funny. I can run my hand across the tread one way and it feels ok, the other way I can sort of feel ridges. This is n both front tires. I rotated the tires before alignment. Also when I hit a pothole or uneven road with one tire it wants to kind of pull to ne side, seems fine other wise. Here is a link to the spec sheet when the aligned it, some of it is out of spec, does anyone see anything that may be causing this.
http://s306.photobucket.com/user/cshadow-2008/media/dart/scan0001_zps85d2d0a8.jpg.html

It is a 67 Dart GT, 273 2 barrel, all new front end parts (PST).
Thanks
Aaron

Looks like 1/2 of it is out of spec. I'd take it to a better technician... Ridges can also be caused by out of balance tires and bad shocks. This can also apply to the rear tires
 
Not sure if it is that I am just not used to driving a "old school" car or if it could be the 19 year old radials on it. All four tires feel the same can run hands across and it is smooth but pull back towards the outside of the tire and feel ridges. Am going to try and find a tire shop that has been around for a while that might have an old timer around and get it realigned by the skosh chart.
Thanks
Aaron
I did use new strut rods (from Mancinis)that were shorter than the stock ones, with the 2 piece rubber bushings. Don't know if that has anything to do with anything, but thought I would throw that out there.
 
Make sure the lower control arms are still at exactly 90° to the car/torsion bars.
Wrong strutrod bushings can pull or push caster out of alignment very easy and shorten the life of the LCA bushings quickly aswell.

Also measure between the inner and outer steering balljoints. They should be pretty much equal in length on both sides of the car.
If not then I could cause bumpsteer.
 
Still trying to decide if it's just me or the car, so did a front disc kit in the meantime, but noticed tonight that the drivers side tire is only about an inch and a half( or so) from the front lip of the fender while the passenger side is maybe 2- 3 inchs from the fender lip this is with the wheels pointed straight ahead. Big poker run cruise this weekend so I plan on asking around for advice on someplace that knows alignment on older cars.
Aaron
 
Still trying to decide if it's just me or the car, so did a front disc kit in the meantime, but noticed tonight that the drivers side tire is only about an inch and a half( or so) from the front lip of the fender while the passenger side is maybe 2- 3 inchs from the fender lip this is with the wheels pointed straight ahead. Big poker run cruise this weekend so I plan on asking around for advice on someplace that knows alignment on older cars.
Aaron

You might as well just start a new thread if you just changed everything....
 
the drivers side tire is only about an inch and a half( or so) from the front lip of the fender while the passenger side is maybe 2- 3 inchs from the fender lip

You can't go by that. Get into the shop manual, there's a chart in there that shows chassis / frame measurements

This is a 67 Dart? You have a factory manual?

You can download a freebie here:

http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=31

Direct link...........

http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/servicemanuals/1967_Dart_Coronet_Charger_Service_Manual.zip

Body section starts page 692

Page 781 is chassis chart
 

Attachments

  • chassis.jpg
    54.1 KB · Views: 371
Did a scarebird did brake kit, so the front suspension has not been changed, yep have a shop manual. wasn't sure if the wheel placement in the fender meant anything or not. Just got the car back together this summer after not driving it for 5 years or so, and I'm getting old and don't remember it dring/riding like that before.

Thanks
 
Am I the only one over here trippin' balls over the fact that the alignment spec signifigantly differ from left to right? Or what?
 
Each side should be set as close to the other as possible. The caster difference is going to make it pull at times.
 
I went to a trade school and had my car on an alignment machine. It would pull and the machine said it was in spec. The numbers are useless. I now use just a square and a tape measure and trial and error. These cars have a mind of there own.
 
-
Back
Top