Wheel Alignment data - what works for you?

[Rusty Olds Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty Olds]

Essentially Hazza that is what I am after too. I have a couple to look at now but am happy to see more.

[mackayvx Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close mackayvx]

It doesn't have that solid feel to it. It is upset by bumps a bit more that it should.

The castor is way out.

This is a subject that has been doing my head in.
My last wheel alignment has a similar Castor setting to Hazzas but has a shocking bump steer.
My mate at Peddlers has told me Castor is the most critical and the most ignored setting on IFS cars.
He recommends Castor on a 4x4 with IFS to be at its maximum allowable setting on one side (left I think) then minus 3/4 to a whole degree on the other (right).
This should stop the bump steer and positively self center the car.
A lot of people think the 'toe' keeps the car driving straight, its actually the set up of the castor.

Anyone can correct me if the want, I'm just gathering info to try to get my front end aligned properly.
I just can't find the time to get booked in.

Oh yes.
Castor gets set first.
Camber gets set second.
Toe is adjusted last.

Too many aligners just adjust the toe...if that's the case they don't know what they are doing.

Any other procedure will not align properly... So I've been told anyway.

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

Yep, and Ian Diffens in Kalgoorlie forget to do up all the bolts afterwards.

[Bear63 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bear63]

This is a subject that has been doing my head in.
My last wheel alignment has a similar Castor setting to Hazzas but has a shocking bump steer.
My mate at Peddlers has told me Castor is the most critical and the most ignored setting on IFS cars.
He recommends Castor on a 4x4 with IFS to be at its maximum allowable setting on one side (left I think) then minus 3/4 to a whole degree on the other (right).
This should stop the bump steer and positively self center the car.
A lot of people think the 'toe' keeps the car driving straight, its actually the set up of the castor.

Anyone can correct me if the want, I'm just gathering info to try to get my front end aligned properly.
I just can't find the time to get booked in.

Oh yes.
Castor gets set first.
Camber gets set second.
Toe is adjusted last.

Too many aligners just adjust the toe...if that's the case they don't know what they are doing.

Any other procedure will not align properly... So I've been told anyway.

Thats how i used to set the caster angles and i would set the cambers slightly negative on the left and slightly positive on the right, insufficient toe in can also contribute to the bump steer sensation , and the reason they don't adjust the caster angles is they dont know what they are doing or to lazy (the order of adjustment is correct except rides heights need to be done first if they have torsion bars ie navara rodeo etc), the other main problem is that alot of tyre shops will employ anybody to do the alignments and not a tradesman then expect them to do 12 a day

[mackayvx Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close mackayvx]

Yep, and Ian Diffens in Kalgoorlie forget to do up all the bolts afterwards.

R you for real? Geez bushy when are you going to cop a good run?

[Bear63 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bear63]

Yep, and Ian Diffens in Kalgoorlie forget to do up all the bolts afterwards.

Maybe that is an example of not having a qualified trady doing the alignment?

I have seen it over and over again

[Whitey1 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Whitey1]

Thats how i used to set the caster angles and i would set the cambers slightly negative on the left and slightly positive on the right, insufficient toe in can also contribute to the bump steer sensation , and the reason they don't adjust the caster angles is they dont know what they are doing or to lazy (the order of adjustment is correct except rides heights need to be done first if they have torsion bars ie navara rodeo etc), the other main problem is that alot of tyre shops will employ anybody to do the alignments and not a tradesman then expect them to do 12 a day

Yep sounds good to me too.
@ Hazza, Castor and camber is easy to adjust on Prado's so really dont know why your guy left yours like it is. According to the specs the castor is supposed to be +2degrees 41minutes plus or minus 45mins(so just under 2 deg to 3 and a half deg). Yours are left side 1 deg 16 min, right side 0 deg 25 mins!
I'm not a pro wheel aligner by any means but I do a few at work and know a bit about it. I'm a panelbeater by trade and tend to get a lot of the jobs that need suspension repairs. I'll generally set them up as per the specs but with maybe half a degree more castor on the left to counteract the slope of the road and less camber on the left as well. And then the toe setting last.
And after all that I will actually take it for a drive to see how it goes!

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Just replaced my BFG all terrain today after 117000km.
Alignment as follows (40mm lift)
Caster LHS 2deg 26, RHS1deg 40
Camber LHS 0deg, RHS 0deg 14
Toein LHS 0.1mm, RHS 0.3mm

Also balance at 10000 but only for the first 50000 then just let it go. The only adjustment was for toe in, had moved a bit.
The new BFG are the 121 load rating as well, might get more from this set.

Rusty.

[Hazza Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hazza]

Poor workmanship and lazy trades gives me the proverbial s&%$s to put it nicely. Does no one have any pride in what they do.

Another PP and friend of mine put a new set of tyres on last week and got a wheel alignment at the same time. I dropped him off so he could collect his car and thanks to the comments on this forum and armed with some more knowledge on the subject I started to question them about the wheel alignment. Would you believe it they didn't make any camber or caster adjustments! No this was a much bigger job requiring the bash plates to be removed and one to two hours to 'set it up'. If that was my business I would expect my staff to make the customer aware it maybe required while booking in the vehicle, doing it at the same time, reducing the cost and doing it right the first time.

I will see if I can get him to post the initial wheel alignment and the second 'set up' alignment he got the week after.

Lets make a list of what we all think is a top wheel aligner in each City/Town (there maybe more than one) so we can all go and get this done with confidence.

Unfortunately I can't start the list so can anyone make a start keeping in mind the comments in this thread?

Hazza

[mackayvx Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close mackayvx]

Hazza that's bullshit.
Castor & Camber are adjusted via the LCA & the bash plates don't need to come off...
In fact its the same set up as every alignment...
They would put the laser units on each wheel and plug in the vehicle details into the machine to get the correct data.
Lazy and dumb are two words I can think of.
Was it a big company?

[Hazza Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hazza]

Further to my post #39 here are the results of my friends alignment to his 150. You will see the alignment when the tyres first fitted and alignment (week later) part one and two of the second alignment.

Is the vehicle aligned correctly? Who knows!

http://s5.postimg.org/e75tf399j/Orig...res_page_1.jpg

http://s5.postimg.org/5m7wa69pj/Camb...t_Part_1_p.jpg
http://s5.postimg.org/osl3dcq7b/Camb...t_Part_2_p.jpg


Hazza