Another alignment problem

[tymah123]

Hey everybody, I just put 18" rims on my 99 SE and did alignment (the reading was toe left/right 2.4 and camber .8). Mechanic said it was perfect. Now my car pulls to the left and to go straight I need to turn the steering wheel. I went to the same mechanic again and he said that there's nothing he can do. He said that I should try rotating my tires, but I got the rims and tires brand new moounted and balanced. Does anyone know what can cause this and how to fix it?

PS Tire pressure is fine and everything was good with my stock rims.

[NJMAXSELTD]

Originally posted by tymah123
Hey everybody, I just put 18" rims on my 99 SE and did alignment (the reading was toe left/right 2.4 and camber .8). Mechanic said it was perfect. Now my car pulls to the left and to go straight I need to turn the steering wheel. ........

Toe 2.4 ??? 2.4 what? Millimeters I hope, and that should be TOE IN. If thats the case your toe is fine.

Camber .8 ??? Which side?? Camber reading are done on both sides. Left and right measured in degrees.

The value of .8 is that a positive or negative reading? Camber is what causes pulling. Toe will just ware out your tires fast and cause poor handling.

The camber on our cars should be Negative .1 to ZERO degrees. EACH SIDE. Both sides have to have very close readings. In other words, your left and right values should be as close to each other as possible. Right -.8 and left -.8 is excellent. If you have left @ -.8 and right at ZERO, although your car is "within specs" it will pull to the right. Vis-Vers applies. Left @ ZERO and right @ -.8 you get a pull to the left.

Ask for a print out of your alignment specs and post them. I'll tell you whats wrong and give you a tip on how to adjust it.

[tymah123]

Thanks man, the mechanic couldn't give me a printout but on the screen it was something like this: left toe 2.4 righ toe 2.4
camber .8



all are positive values and all are showing up on the green field (red field is I guess not good). Thanks again.

[tymah123]

Another thing, I don't thing those readings are in millimeters, I think those are degrees.

[tymah123]

Last thing, as I remember whatever numbers was on the screen for the left and the right side they matched and +.8 was the single reading which didn't apply to any side.

[tymah123]

Can someone post the specs for a 99 SE alignment? Thanks.

[NJMAXSELTD]

Originally posted by tymah123
Can someone post the specs for a 99 SE alignment? Thanks.

Toe in should be around 2mm. 2.4 degrees sounds correct.
Camber should be 0 -.1 degree.

If your camber is positive .8 then your not in good shape. I have a feeling that reading is a negative number. As it should be.

[tymah123]

Thanks a lot, man. 2 days ago I went to the shop for the wheel alighment again (4th time) and this time the mechanic said he would adjust something that involves struts. He said that even that there aren't adjustable he could get some play room. And it worked. Now the car drives straight and I only get my vibration from 65 to 70 and then it's gone, and it's not that severe. it used to be from 60 to 80. Thanks again for your time.

[98se5speed]

I have the same problem on my 98 SE. I put new tires and rims on, had no problem. Put Maxspeed springs on, now it pulls slightly left. I did a home-done toe adjustment, it was measuring 1/4" toe out, I set it as close as I could get it to zero. (method: measured distance to the same spot on each tire, first in front, then in back, as high as I could measure).

I also have to turn my steering wheel slightly right to make the car go straight, so I only adjusted the left tie rod. Wheel is straight now when I go straight, but the car still wants to pull slightly left.

So, it sounds like the camber on my right wheel is off? It did appear that the tire on that side looked slightly more worn than the left, but not un-evenly across the width of the tire. Anyone have any idea how I should "adjust" the camber over there? Maybe just loosen up the strut bolts and nuts, try to shift it over some and try driving it?

Thanks for any advice... I don't really mind trial and error, I have a lift and air tools to work with. May as well give it a try before I pay an alignment shop.