So I had 2 new tyres fitted today to match the other 2 nearly new ones (all Michelin PS3s).

They said the tracking was out so I had it sorted. Took it for a drive and it was all wonky. Holding the steering wheel straight drove the car in towards the n/s kerb.

To go straight I'm having to pull right on the wheel and if I let go of the wheel in a straight line it settles over to the right.

Took the car back and told them they'd done it wrong so they put it up again. I put the steering wheel perfectly straight as it was clamped just in case that was the issue.

The lasers showed the alignment was out again so they sorted it, checked all tyre pressures (spot on) and I took it out again.

Still the same problem, if anything, worse!!

Car hasn't had any accidents or severe impacts.

Any ideas what's causing my wheel wonky ness?

The bloke at the garage asked if it was lowered... It's on the factory option sport suspension and 17in Pegasus wheels if that makes any difference.

I'm wondering if its camber or something?

Cheers

Rob

di they give you a print out? if so could you post a copy on here could be a caster issue have you gone down any big pot holes or bumped onto any kurbs?

where abouts do you live?

if the car was driving fine before they got there hands on the alignment then someone does not know how to use the tracking equipment properly, or the equipment is out of calibration. Take it back again, and get them to have yet another go or go elsewhere for a second opinion. An alignment check elsewhere is usually free, and make sure it was a full 4 wheel alignment carried out.

No print out. The kit they used was the laser things on the frames... Had a laser on the front and a sort of scale on the back ones. They only adjusted the fronts. I did stand and watch the second time they did it and all the lasers seemed to be in the right place.

I'm thinking their kit may be a bit crap.

I can I only recall one pothole I've been down that was quite big... Usually ok at avoiding them. No kerb bumps though.

I live TN12 area so thinking of taking it to Nev'll Fix It in Tonbridge tomorrow. Their website says they have a Hunter alignment machine and shows a sample of a print out. You think that might yield better results?

in which case i read it wrong sorry and my comments are useless :think: I read it as WONKY WHEELS...................so I had 2 tyres fitted and an alignment? sorry

posted at the same time lol so the problem was before you had the work done

Think the way I wrote it confuses...

Basically I needed 2 rears so had them done. Before that it was pulling a bit so had alignment done too, and now it seems a bit worse... Thus it seems I have wonky wheels.

My bad. Thanks for the help!

easiest way to check the caster if you measure the gap between the rear if the front tyre to the wing (just with your fingers will be fine) it should be no more then half a finger difference left side to right this is only a rough check (before the shot down comments come about wing gaps bla bla bla...) the other thing it could be is a worn bush we get this quite abit if the rear bushes are warn

I am not saying this is the case here,

but maybe read, then go look at the tyres fitted & the Runout Stripes.

http://www.wheels-in...p?showtopic=165

george

hunter alignment gear is ok we use beissbarth as we need to be able to print the results for insurance companies you need to make sure its capable of testing all angles as well as the rear the gear you had it put on sounds like a "Ed China" job which just sets the toe to 0

This is what was on the rears...

Then a laser on the fronts. No computer involved, just a spanner with a spanner.

I think I'll try the hunter kit, and if still no joy then I might have to get the bushes looked at.

Want to get it sorted sooner rather than later to avoid wrecking over £500 worth of tyres (

The kit was called Supertracker

Seems every car needs an alignment.

Yeah its very basic defo Ed the leg China jobbie which will do more bad then good. Good luck tomorrow keep us posted

One thing you must do with most laser tracking gear is put the gauges back to front first so you can see what the rear-front alignment is like ie maybe 4 on the right and 5 on the left, when you know this reading you must then adjust the fronts taking into account the 1 degree difference.

So when doing the front measurements you set the toe as normal but on the gauges on the rear wheels it must 1 degree more on the right than the left otherwise the steering wheel will always be off center and it will subsequently pull.

Hope this helps

steve

Aah. You might be on to something there. I don't know about the first time round, but certainly the second time when I was watching they didn't check the rears to front at all.

He set the front to rear to the same value (8) each side, which may explain the issue if there is a difference the other way round.

If anyone knows of any places in Tonbridge/tunbridge wells area who actually know what they're doing, please let me know!!

From past experience of using this kit its a priority otherwise as I said the steering wheel will never be centre, well only by blind luck maybe!

Hope you get it sorted soon mate

Ok so I took the car to MTMC in Tonbridge this morning (Nev's had a dead van in front of their ramp)

Proper bit of kit this time

65 quid later the car is a bit better but not 100%.. The steering wheel is still sitting over to the right a bit.

Here's the print out they gave me, they said they couldn't get it any better than this:

If all is correct and checked, the car dives straight on flat and cambered roads,

Brakes in a straight line, steers correctly,

then maybe go and put the steering wheel on straight.

george

the lh camber won't help even though its only 14mins from tolerance its 35 mins away from the other side which will cause it to do what its doing may have a worn top mount or you need a shock

Proper four-wheel alignment is a lot different from mere "tracking" or just setting the front wheel toe-in, even though they may all use lasers.

The rear wheels need to be set spot-on before beginning to try to align the fronts.

The measurements should be identical both sides. If this cannot be achieved, then something is bent / damaged and needs fixing.

A company called Wheels-in-Motion in Chesham has an excellent reputation among the drivers of MX-5s and other sports cars and I have used them myself. The proprietor Tony Bones is very helpful with advice, over the telephone if necessary.

Ok so I took the car to MTMC in Tonbridge this morning (Nev's had a dead van in front of their ramp)

Proper bit of kit this time

65 quid later the car is a bit better but not 100%.. The steering wheel is still sitting over to the right a bit.

Here's the print out they gave me, they said they couldn't get it any better than this:

65 quid and another company that doesn't know how to adjust the front camber!

You need to get that front camber evened up side to side, they need to move the subframe and rack to get it even side to side.

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What would moving the subframe do? the cambers are both neg. the only way you could get the camber to move enough would be with adjustable top mounts subframes have very limited movement and normally only enough to give the caster a little tweak.

65 quid and another company that doesn't know how to adjust the front camber!

You need to get that front camber evened up side to side, they need to move the subframe and rack to get it even side to side.

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What would moving the subframe do? the cambers are both neg. the only way you could get the camber to move enough would be with adjustable top mounts subframes have very limited movement and normally only enough to give the caster a little tweak.

You move the subframe to even up the cambers, they both are negative but one is more negative than the other. It is the bottom arm mountings that need to be moved slightly.

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