I have a problem with my right front wheel. When the left wheel is straight ahead, the right one has a slight turn to the right, very slight. This makes the car pull to the right. I took it for alignment and found the tie rods were bad, so they were replaced. However, the right tire is still turned slightly to the right, no change. When they did the adjustments, they adjusted it until they couldn't anymore on the passenger side. The adjuster wouldn't turn anymore to bring the passenger wheel in.

Now, the problem is. They told me the only way to get it to adjust anymore would be to cut a bit off the adjuster sleeve. Maybe half an inch or whatever. Does this sounds feasible? I'm not certain, but it looked like there was thread on either side of the adjuster still. Wouldn't that mean that the tie rod ends had bumped together inside the sleeve? So in that case, wouldn't cutting the sleeve shorter do nothing at all but shorten the sleeve since the tie rods would still bump together? I know little about those components, so hopefully someone will be able to answer this.

Also, if that won't solve the problem, what could be causing the passenger wheel to be turned slightly out and how would I fix it? The car drives straight till you let go of the wheel, then it starts heading to the right. The driver side adjusts fine, but the passenger just seems to bottom out without bringing the wheel completely straight. I THINK the final readings were 0.0 for driver and -.20 or -.25 on the passenger.

 

As long as the new parts were the right ones you should NOT have to modify anything. I would suggest a different alignment mechanic this one doesn't have a clue how to do it right.

Take a tape measure and a friend to help. Pick a spot at the center of the tire and measure to the same place on the other tire. Do this from the front and rear of the tire and compare the measurements. they should be close I dont recall but the front should measure about 1/16"-1/8"in less than the rear measurement. This will give you an idea how far off it is. Sounds like the toe is way out.

If you have a printout of the alignment after he was done I give you a better idea.

the -20 or -25 is how far the toe is out one the right side. Is the steering wheel straight?

 

Nice articulate post with good discription of the problem.

Somethings fishy. Shop is not adequate.

When the drivers side tire was "strait ahead", was the steering centered?

If it was not, you are chasing your tail.

My point is that you could adjust the drivers side wheel in and it would be parallel to the passanger tire at some point in the turning cycle, but may not be properly aligned. The ackerman can make the toe apear correct at some point in the turning cycle when it is not.

My bet is that the drivers side tire is right either. Measure the distance of both tire rods piviot to piviot and I doubt that they are equal.

You need to center the steering and benchmark the settings.

Center the steering by measuring an X.

Take two measurements.

Measure from the center of the pitman arm to the center link piviot on the idler arm.

Measure from the center of the idler arm to the center link piviot on the pitman arm.

Turn the steering wheel until these measurements are the same. When you see how it moves you will quickly understand.

You want the idler arm and pitman arm parallel to each other, prior to setting toe.

After you have this centered, then look at your toe.

My bet is that both tires are off.

 

The steering wheel is straight as can be.

Now, I'm not sure why the adjuster won't adjust anymore to bring the tire in more, but once he adjusted the driver side and got it to 0.0, then he hit the passenger side. 2 guys couldn't get it any better than -.25 or whatever and they gave me that suggestion how to fix it. Either that or ordering a shorter sleeve. Although I can't imagine why a shorter sleeve would be needed.

I can't even imagine how in the world the toe would get to the point where the adjuster couldn't bring it in straight, since the tie rods and adjusters are all new. Also, the struts and shocks were replaced at the same time.

 

Replying to the second post. The steering wheel was centered when the driver side was at 0.0. Is it possible that the steering wheel is off in some way? I mean if center is center for the driver, but not passenger, might it somehow have changed in the past year where the steering wheel needs to be off center for both wheels to be centered and straight ahead? I don't know how that would happen. I mean the driver side seemed to have plenty of adjustement capability left and right as I watched them, but that passenger side just flat out wouldn't budge when it hit its limits I guess.

 

Dont trust the steering wheel. They did and what were the results???

Check out the links as I stated.



As for your conclusion about cutting the adjuster, you are 100% correct.

It will not solve the problem that you stated.

Knowing who told you to do that, the shop, should give you some insite as to their alignment abilities

 

Yeah, I'm definately questioning what in the world they did wrong. I'm also checking to find a proper slignment shop down here now.

I have a question though, since I drove into the shop with this same issue before they changed the parts, but before the alignment was done, what could have caused such a drastic change in alignment on that one wheel? Meaning, could another part be damaged that they aren't looking for or finding that would cause the toe to be out that far? Of course, that would be assuming that they did the alignment correct, but with a damaged part still on. If it turned out to not be an alignment issue, what could cause that? Just theorizing while I search for a good alignment shop here to give me something to think about.

 

One other question. The tie rods came with screw in grease nipple fittings, but the installer didn't install them. Is it necessary for them to be on? I have them in hand in any case. These are Moog parts by the way.

 

Yes, the grease fittings are important.
Yes, the problem could be traced to any of number of issues. We were going under the assumption that you had narrowed it down. Has the car been wrecked???

You need to find another shop

They don't have a clue, hell they don't even suspect anything.

From what you posted, I believe that you will not be doing the work yourself and need a quality mechanic.

find a shop

Good Luck

 

Nope, no wreck at all, just that oddity with the right wheel. Tomorrow I am going to have a look at the linkage as you suggested and see what I can see. But I do want a new and proper alignment shop for future jobs.

I can install the grease fittings myself, but did driving without them cause any potential problems.

 

The problem has been fixed. Nothing was installed correctly. The new parts were not centered. After getting that all sorted out, the wheels were straight but it still pulled. So taking it to a shop and having the tires removed from the rims and swapped, it was discovered to be radial pull due to them wearing from the poor alignment/cockeyed wheel. Of course it pulls FAR less now than it did before and the bad tire is on the left instead of the right. Since it's not bad, I'm going to leave the tires alone and deal with it as they are only about 8 months old and have a LOT of life left. Also installed the grease fittings. When they did the alignment, looks like the used some of that silvery anti seize compound on the adjusters.

This was a different shop by the way, not the original one that did the poor work. Once I am ready to replace the tires, I'll be using Yokohama AS430s. Got a full set of Sonars on there, but it's time to put a better tire with a mileage warranty on em on the car and better handling capability.