Can home mechanic do a front-end wheel alignment?
 

I have a 92 Camaro V8 TBI. It pulls slightly to the left when driving. The outer edge of the tire tread on the front right tire is wearing faster than the rest of the tire. The front left tire is wearing about the same on the inside and outside edge of the tire. Tire size is 245 / 50 R 16 all around.

I was thinking I could fix the problem by adjusting the distance between the inner and outer tie-rods that connect to the front right wheel. More specifically, I loosen the clamps that hold the “adjuster sleeve” and the tie-rods together. Second, I increase the distance between the tie-rods (slightly). Third, I tighten the clamps, re-securing the adjuster sleeve and the tie-rods. Finally, I road test the car to check the alignment. If the alignment is still off then readjust the distance between the tie rods again.

Will this work? Your thoughts please.

Welcome to thirdgen.org

You'll be guessing and may make it worse. It might not be a toe-in problem but a camber problem. There are ways to adjust Toe and camber in a driveway but it takes time and a few tools you may not have. Caster, a non tire wearing angle, is almost impossible to set in the driveway and should be set on an alightment rack.

The majority of all cars now need a 4 wheel alignment. Even though the factory suspension of a third gen doesn't allow for any alignment, the front suspension needs to be aligned to the rear. If not, the front suspension could be pointing straight but the rear of the car could be dogtracking.

Check the complete front end for worn, loose or damaged steering parts (tie rod ends, ball joints etc). Change anything that needs it "then" take it to an alignment shop.

Stephen 87 IROC is 100% correct. Not to mention the fact that for a relatively small investment, you can have it done professionally.

Thanx,ANDYZ28

i guess i'll be the desenting voice here. i think you could, actually i know you could but it'd require some specialized tools, so maybe the answer is no you couldn't. toe wouldn't be that had to set but you should really do it knowing the caster and camber is correct also. a very long time ago in a place far away i did front ends and wheel alignments. lot has changed since then.

I guess I'm tired of shops not doing a good job when working on my car(s), especially alignment jobs (Goodyear Auto Center, PepBoys Auto Center). They obviously dont take pride in their work, because if they did I wouldnt get rookie mistakes like the the car being straight but the steering wheel being crooked, or the alignment going bad again after a few hundred miles of the correction. BTW I dont drive the car hard either.

I think it might be worth buying alignment tools. Are the tools that measure caster, camber, and toe expensive?

ok. toe doesn't cause a pull. toe is always equal on both sides. you have two problems from what you are explaining on tire wear.

the left tire has wear on both sides. indication of two things. either under inflation of tire for a period of time. or too much positive camber.

now, are you sure it's pulling left? or are you holding the wheel to the left because it's pulling right? with hte left tire having inner tire wear and the right tire wear on the outside, it seems pulling right would be in order.

OR if it is pulling left. then it would be too much negative camber on both sides. and the left tire is wearing on the outside from having to hold the wheel to the right.

now, can you make adjustments yourself? yes. but which way and how much? the tools needed to take measurements cost me $27000.00 it's a hunter alignment machine 611 series.

they make a tool to measure camber. it's a bubble level with a magnetic base. you can attach it to the wheel, hope your on a level surface and then you can get the bubble in the middle and that will be 0 camber.

now caster you will need a protractor and a plum bob. or a string with a weight attached to it. attach it to the top of the strut under the car. then draw a line to the lower ball joint from the top of the strut. now measure the angle from the string whiche will be 0 to the drawn line. that will be the caster angle.

now toe is easy. you will need a tape measure and a piece of chalk. draw a line in the center of each front tire. then measure the distance from the center of each tire from the front. then measure from the rear side. the rear side measurement should be about 1/16" longer. this will give you positive toe.

all this while the car is on level ground. kind of hard to get under the car when it is on the ground to do all of this.

or for about $40-$60 you can go to an alignment shop and tell them to set it to these specs.

camber - 0* to -.5* both sides.

caster - if possible 5.0* left 5.5* right. if not then just make sure the right side is about .5* higher on the left.

toe - 0.20 degrees or 1/8" total. that would be .010 or 1/16" on each side.

Atcually most full out racers do their own alightment by hand tools and what not. Once they get completely serious. Because there are a few suspension settings that a alightment machine cant pick up. So you have to do it all manually.

which settings are those?

what about the ball joints? couldn't bad ball joints be causing connan1's tires to have uneven wear??

Yeah, what he said!

yes. worn ball joints can cause tire wear.

do it yourself.
slap the strut towers all the in and back, then set the toe with a string, and your done for free.

and better than any alignment shop will do on the caster and camber.

the tow try to set straight as possible. auto-xers go tow out. highway car go tow in just a tad.

your done !!

Larry

yeah do that. and have all the inner tire wear you can ever hope for.

>>yeah do that. and have all the inner tire wear you can ever hope for.<<

yo bud, you'd be lucky to get more than -0.8 camber
that'll never cause inner tire wear. If fact it'll cure the outer edge wear that is so common on the QLC cars.

Larry

and all those guys getting 1.0 - 1.5 negative degrees of camber. including me. i just happen to own an alignment/suspension shop. but you are right. it will cure the outer edge tire wear. and put it on the inside now.

there is no way a STOCK 3rd gen is getting -1.5 camber. maybe if it is lowered, or you slot the towers, or slot the strut hole. otherwise not happening.

Sliding the struts all the way to achieve max negative camber is not a problem, except you assume both sides will have equal negative camber at that point--an assumtion you can't make accurately. Off the assembly line, they required alignment. Doubtful you can get both sides same, unless you are lucky. Like they said above toe affects both tires the same. If you want the alignment right, you need the proper equipment. Ball-joints(or any other front suspension part) can cause an improper alignment, which causes uneven tirewear--a good alignment shop will see this right away. The alignment can be perfect with the steering wheel upside-down or in any position. Unless they shop left stuff loose, you can't blame the shop when the alignment is bad after a few months. Hope this helps...

On my '82 I slid both struts fully inboard. I was only able to get
-1.0 left, and -0.8 right. I did the same thing on my '86 IROCZ and got -1.1 both sides.

Thanx,ANDYZ28

my car all stock. one side was -0.8, otherside +0.1

I havn't had it checked out since I did the 1LE brakes, but I suspect there is more - camber. I can see the - now.

ya i pushed both of mine in and i believe i got -1.2 and -.8

don't take it to shops like goodyear and pepboys....go to a small repair shop that has a good rep....it may cost more but you will get a much better job.

hmmmm, seems a few people have pushed their towers all the way in and back........

about negative camber....
 

When i went to get my car aligned after getting new tires and replacing some front end suspension parts.. I asked the alignment guys at Firestone to give me some negative camber. and the guy said he would ask the tech. i go to pick up my car and he says that the tech guy said that negative camber isn't good for street driven vehicals, the inside of ur tires will wear to quickly.... and im like.. so postive camber is better??

good thing im taking auto tech at school this year so i can get my own free custom alignment :lala:

and they have proved what i said. between -1.0 to -1.5 camber. and anything beyond .5 degrees either positive or negative will result in tire wear on that particular side. so, if you don't mind uneven tire wear, then by all means do it.

still havn't seen -1.5 on a stock suspension.

what does BETWEEN mean? now your being facetious.

"BETWEEN"?

exactly!!! yeah you get the golden word award!!!. not including -1.0 and -1.5. but all the numbers in the middle!!!

you're funny :p

I agree 100% I wouldn't go to Sears for an alignment... they recently told my friend that they couldn't sell him ONE tire, because it might blow his transmission! He laughed himself right out of that hell hole. Find a specialty tire/brake shop and bring it there. I guess a GM dealer is another option...

On certain type of cars you can make track adjustments yourself--Only if you have had the suspension prealigned on a jig and all you do is add or sutract equal shims from the upper a-arms and reset the toe to pre-determined lengths. All of these setting are usually prerecorded on a rack and jotted down in notes for future references and changes.

Our car obviously don't have upper control arms.

Re: Can home mechanic do a front-end wheel alignment?
 

I know my 89 formula maxes at about 0.3 - 0.4 negative camber with stock retainer. Also any more negative camber on left will cause the tower to just about touch the master cylinder.. I can get a max of 4.9 caster on left and 4.6 right. So I set it at 4.4 left and 4.6 right...and run -0.3 camber. 1/32 toe in

Your cars may differ...

I do mine myself but takes a lot of time and decided to have it checked for free with a new Hunter. But I would say take it to a small shop or specialty shop that will use your specs and not stock specs. Positive camber doesn't belong on these cars.