wheel alignment

[Kay1]

is there an easy way to set up front toe in/out on my vy?

 

[losh1971]

Yep take it to a decent tyre place

 

[Kay1]

cheers tried that but slightly worn tyre they wont touch it..what a joke

 

[losh1971]

That's pretty normal makes it hard to get an accurate alignment if you have a worn tyre. Try somewhere else some places will still align it.

 

[rambunctious]

cheers tried that but slightly worn tyre they wont touch it..what a joke

Can you rotate the wheels front to back etc ? and put the worn tyre on the rear ?

 

[losh1971]

Might be more to it. If you are scrubbing front tyres chances are you have worn tierod end or ends. If so very hard to align. Good possibility you have worn components if you have done over 150k.

 

[vc commodore]

An easy way to align the car at home, is using 2 people and a tape measure....Measure from the front of the tyre, using the outer edge of the tyre across the front of the car....Then do the same with the back side of the tyre, taking note of the measurements front and back side of the tyre.....

From that, adjust both tierod ends, evenly, so you have a total difference of 2MM to 3MM, with the front of the tyre being the lesser amount. Adjusting evenly, should ensure the steering wheel stays straight.

This method applies with both front and rear adjustments

About the only issue a worn edge on a tyre will cause is allowing the car to drift or pull towards the worn edge.....As for the cause, that is open to speculation....ie, without physcially looking at the car, it is pure guess work on anyones behalf.

 

[losh1971]

VC the tape method is not as easy as you are saying. We replace a TRE on my ute that was so worn out at 180k that it could not stand up on its own. Not only that it was so loose i could pull it up and down. We tried tbe tape measure method and got it slightly close. But without driving the car forward 6m with the wheels straight on level ground the method does not work. We did it twice and still had the alignment out far enough that anything over 80kph felt like i was going to lose control when i was cornering. Id say if you know what you're doing the tape measure method would work ok after a few goes back and forward. But its not an easy thing to get right.

 

[losh1971]

As for speculating about worn components. Like i said i would say there is a fair chance components are worn out. As a mech yourself you would know that if a car is getting up in mileage parts are going to be worn out if they haven't been replaced. If the OP took his car to a decent alignment place they would tell him what is worn and if an alignment can be done. Unfortunately there are places out there who say they align vehicles when like mine TREs are completely shot. I pulled a receipt from the G box that less than 10k earlier when fitting new tyres at Jax my ute was apparently aligned even though there is no way that the TRE was in serviceable cond when they fitted tyres.

 

[vc commodore]

As for speculating about worn components. Like i said i would say there is a fair chance components are worn out. As a mech yourself you would know that if a car is getting up in mileage parts are going to be worn out if they haven't been replaced. If the OP took his car to a decent alignment place they would tell him what is worn and if an alignment can be done. Unfortunately there are places out there who say they align vehicles when like mine TREs are completely shot. I pulled a receipt from the G box that less than 10k earlier when fitting new tyres at Jax my ute was apparently aligned even though there is no way that the TRE was in serviceable cond when they fitted tyres.

The cause could be a worn tie rod end....It could be a worn bush....It could even be the alignment settings slightly wrong....So without looking at the car, it is pure speculation....And yes I am aware things wear out over time....But as to what, how can you tell via a keyboard?

As for using a tape measure....An alignment machine is a big tape measure...And using it at home....I thought it was natural to hold a tape measure tight....Holding it tight, the method works at home....Unless you aren't confident enough to use one....