1996 cavalier 2.2 alignment

[super_man_736]

I have a 1996 cavalier 2.2 i just put new shocks in the front of the car and now the tires wear on the insides to the point of wich the steel belts are showin.I was wondering if anybody nows of an easy way to align the tires so this stops happening.The only garage that does alginments around where i live wants $150 to do it and im not paying that much thank you

[Airjer_]

You can not set camber or toe by eyeballing anything. My advice is to call around. If you can drive 30 minutes to an hour to save a $100 it would be worth it.

You can try loosening the two bolts that hold the strut to the knuckle and pulling the strut out away from the car. This will set more positive camber. It sounds like you have to much negative camber or the strut is pushed in towards the car.

[Joe Wilson]

Chances are, if your camber is off, your toe-in may be also..they're tied together. Many alignment shops charge in the neighborhood of 49.95 for a front end alignment.

[Scrapper]

[quote=super_man_736;6720958]I have a 1996 cavalier 2.2 i just put new shocks in the front of the car and now the tires wear on the insides to the point of wich the steel belts are showin.I was wondering if anybody nows of an easy way to align the tires so this stops happening.The only garage that does alginments around where i live wants $150 to do it and im not paying that much thank you[/quote

this is telling me you have way to much toe in. once you put struts on it corrects the camber and caster so on this it can only be out of alignment on toe in. before you put new struts on where were your tires worn?

[maxwedge]

Replacing the strut usually knocks the camber out of whack, the caster is not affected, if the camber is out so goes the toe in. I use a magnetic camber gage on the hub when replacing struts on any car, this allows me to get the strut back onto the knuckle in the same spot, marking the strut to the knuckle helps but is still not accurate enough.

[Joe Wilson]

When I replaced the struts on my 96 Cavalier it just had a hole to put the bolts through, so not adjustable unless you wanted to elongate the hole with a file. I just bolted them on and never had any trouble with alignment. I wish my '04 had been this easy.

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by Joe Wilson

When I replaced the struts on my 96 Cavalier it just had a hole to put the bolts through, so not adjustable unless you wanted to elongate the hole with a file. I just bolted them on and never had any trouble with alignment. I wish my '04 had been this easy.

did it quit pulling after you put good tires on it or have you done that?

[Joe Wilson]

Originally Posted by Scrapper

did it quit pulling after you put good tires on it or have you done that?

I never had any trouble with tires or pulling. I put new struts on it because it rode rough and made noises. I bolted them on and it rode better. Tires wore evenly, never a problem. My '04 Cavalier is a different story. It had bearing wear in the upper strut mounts, so with over 100,000 miles on it I changed the whole strut, springs and all. It's gonna need alignment because the new struts came with a slot in it rather than a hole for the bottom bolt. It's pretty hard to set the camber without any equipment so I'll probably have to eventually have it aligned.

[Joe Wilson]

[quote=Scrapper;6852101]

Originally Posted by super_man_736

I have a 1996 cavalier 2.2 i just put new shocks in the front of the car and now the tires wear on the insides to the point of wich the steel belts are showin.I was wondering if anybody nows of an easy way to align the tires so this stops happening.The only garage that does alginments around where i live wants $150 to do it and im not paying that much thank you[/quote

this is telling me you have way to much toe in. once you put struts on it corrects the camber and caster so on this it can only be out of alignment on toe in. before you put new struts on where were your tires worn?

Do your front wheels have any noticeable lean in at the top? If they do, you'll have to adjust the camber. It's done with the bottom hole of the strut. If it's elongated you'll have to move it in at the bottom. If both wheels appear straight up and down then you can measure the toe in to see if it is correct. On most cars the toe in is about 1/8". If it's more than that it will scrub the tread off the tires in short order.

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by Joe Wilson

I never had any trouble with tires or pulling. I put new struts on it because it rode rough and made noises. I bolted them on and it rode better. Tires wore evenly, never a problem. My '04 Cavalier is a different story. It had bearing wear in the upper strut mounts, so with over 100,000 miles on it I changed the whole strut, springs and all. It's gonna need alignment because the new struts came with a slot in it rather than a hole for the bottom bolt. It's pretty hard to set the camber without any equipment so I'll probably have to eventually have it aligned.

if cambers off i red on down that they mentioned about drll a hole and put a camber bolt then when you have it alighned again they cant charge you for drilling holse out to set camber. i use a steal grind stone on drll to get holes grond out.

[Joe Wilson]

Originally Posted by Joe Wilson

Chances are, if your camber is off, your toe-in may be also..they're tied together. Many alignment shops charge in the neighborhood of 49.95 for a front end alignment.

Most of the shops around here won't just do a front wheel alignment anymore. If you want just a front alignment you about have to do it yourself, as I did.