ROOMSTER TRACKING FUN

[bobspark]

After a few years I realise my local tyre dealer has been taking me for a ride in regard to wheel tracking. My car failed its MOT last year on a tyre worn on the inside not really visible when looking at the tread .So I was sent off to get 2 new tyres on the front and the tracking done so as to pass the test. I noticed the tyre fitter frowning and struggling with the spanners. Keen to get the MOT certificate I pressed on ,only pondering later that I had the same wear on another tyre years ago and that visibly the front wheels were toeing out.

So to settle this once and for all I went to Halfords for a full £75 alignment and 20 minutes later said it couldn't be done as everything was seized solid even after applying heat and there was no charge. They costed 2 new track arms complete with alignment at £450 . I  declined and .thanked them for honesty.

The penny dropped that my local tyre place over the years had been pretending to the tracking and charging me for it.

I decided as a challenge to do the work my self and its not been easy with one trackrod end so tight I had to use a 2ft bar and socket to release it then cut through it with a hacksaw. 

I used a clamp tool to free the inner rod hub ,but if ( and I'm not)I was ever to do this again I would use the tube type tool which locks on the rear nut of the inner track rod.

I thought the rubber boots might be a problem but putting the inner  jubilee clip in place round the boot sliding it over the rod there was just enough run to tighten it with a spanner.

Its cost me just over  £100 with parts and a tracking device not that money was a problem. 

I bought a LaserWAC  tracking device but have yet to get to grips with that , I cannot get it straight in my mind how it works to adjust each front wheel without a centre reference line.

For now I have them roughly tracked parallel using two tape measures across the tyre treads. I tried to get tracking data from Eswin but that doesn't seem to work anymore. I did find a website  J&L Techno which seem to indicate no toe in or out was acceptable but I'm not sure at all about what is correct. if anyone is clued up on tracking and the right data I would be grateful.

[bobspark]

Old trackrod and removal tool used

[KenONeill]

@bobspark - Garage option; someone with a Hunter rig.

 

You mean Erwin I think, not "Eswin".

[bobspark]

Yes your right Eswin  . I'm about as good a typist as I am home mechanic but I get there in the end. Will try to get to grips with this tracking myself with garage as last resort. Nothing to lose.

[bobspark]

Very slowly beginning to understand . Bought an online Haynes manual for the Roomster (they have never done one in book form)  and this gave me tracking data of toe in 0.10 degrees. Not sure about the Haynes manual yet need to look at it more to say if its as good as the books.It doesn't go into strip downs and reassembly and in some cases seems to give  more generic advice. I was a bit wary of going for a download manual in case it came with a virus.

LaserWac say not to worry about centreline its all about getting wheels parallel and adjusting for toe in . Also I never knew there was such a thing as rear wheel toe but  will stick with getting the front wheels right  for now.

I have always thought some of these tyre centres as being a bit dubious and reminds me of a neighbour out with his son in the Jag and the boy noticed bits flying of the car . He had just had four new tyres fitted at a major outlet and the wheel nuts had been overtightened and sheered off with the extra stresses incurred with the car travelling.  They stopped before the wheels parted company with the car !God knows what would have happened if the guy had been travelling alone?

[KenONeill]

28 minutes ago, bobspark said:

I never knew there was such a thing as rear wheel toe

That depends; is the rear suspension some form of multi-link, double wishbone, strut, or torsion beam? Work this out for your car, and then maybe think about rear toe angle.

[John_Wilts]

Well done! My 2007 1.9 suffered the same seized trackrod end issue, with at least 3 separate tyre places unable to free it. Cutting a long and painful story short, my usual garage replaced the track end and rod  (and boot, burned by one of the other garages...). Out of curiousity they then took a destructive angle grinder to the old seized joint and it still wouldn't free, it was absolutely solid.

 

Twice in its 120k mile time with me it was on (different) 4wheel alignment jigs;  both times  I was shown that the rears were slightly out but was told that there was no means of adjustment for the rear.

[bobspark]

Yes John mine was the same as if the parts were welded together! I have only had 5 cars in a lifetime and this is the first on to have this problem. The 12 to 13 years I have had the car its been garaged every night so corrosion ?  I have always serviced my own cars but never thought to cover the threads and nut with copper grease as I now do.  With the new parts even considered  fitting a small electrical rubber shroud (used in electrical construction industry)and filling with grease to slide over thread and nut  ,but thought this might confuse MOT and tyre staff.

So annoyed my tyre place charged me  for tracking when they knew the parts were seized and could not be adjusted and didn't even try heat.

I am half way through a YouTube video on the Hunter system and it seems very involved .Wonder if its idiot operator proof?