- Messages
- 17,482
Falken Ziex, the go-to ones at the moment.
- Thread starter Wozzaaah
- Start date
Blobber
Member
- Messages
- 3,092
- Location
- lincolnshire
Only trying to help...A change of tyres won’t create this problem, I know that for certain. I’m simply trying to get to the root of a problem I’ve never encountered in any of the god knows how many hundreds of cars I’ve ever driven in my life. I’m a mid 50s ex-mechanic, not just someone who’s owned a few cars, so give me some credit for at least having a bit of mechanical knowledge please.
- Messages
- 17,482
I know, and I do appreciate it.
It’s just frustrating, I do know cars, which is why this is doing my nut in. 
- Messages
- 17,482
No, I only changed them today but the tracking can not have changed.
Melvyn Best
Member
- Messages
- 1,778
- Location
- Cambridge
According to this information the setting for tracking is not 1mm toe in . The correct setting is 10minutes toe out +/- 6minutes . As to what that works out to in mm depends on the diameter of the wheels. Nothing else you have tried works so what have you got to lose by trying these settings ?
- Messages
- 17,482
- Messages
- 17,482
- Messages
- 17,482
Oops! Seems I owe an apology to few of you. My brain has been reading minus as IN but apparently for wheel alignment data minus is OUT for toe data 
It still doesn’t change the fact that the car has been set to what it was when it left the factory but it does mean that when I adjusted the track rods by exactly 1/2 a turn yesterday I went the wrong way. I will adjust them a full turn the other way and see if anything changes.
It still doesn’t change the fact that the car has been set to what it was when it left the factory but it does mean that when I adjusted the track rods by exactly 1/2 a turn yesterday I went the wrong way. I will adjust them a full turn the other way and see if anything changes.
colnerov
Member
- Messages
- 4,945
- Location
- Nr Gatwick UK
The old one may be damaged, i.e pin bent, and the new one isn't plus any manufacturing tolerances.
Melvyn Best
Member
- Messages
- 1,778
- Location
- Cambridge
No it doesn’t clearly say toe in! The - before the 0 indicates toe out, if it was + it would be toe in . Your castor readings are a bit short as well as shown on one of your previous posts which isn’t helping.
Sorry ,replied to your earlier post before reading your last. You didn’t post the readings for your rear suspension, any toe out on the rear can , and does , cause problems . The castor issue could well be caused by impact damage that isn’t visible , or weakened bushes in the suspension arms which has effectively moved the position of the lower ball joint pivot? On a lot of locost cars the suspension arm brackets are wider than the arms /crush tubes allowing shims (washers) to be fitted inside the brackets to allow for crude castor adjustment. Not sure if it would be possible to do similar on your car?
As for what you are saying about it being set as the factory setting it was made by Austin /Rover /MG who didn’t have the best of reputations for getting things right before production.
- Messages
- 17,482
I know, I did post an apology above.
If I place two pieces of timber parallel to each other, measure the distance between the ends then turn them towards each other by 1mm, the distance between the same ends is -1mm of the original value. That's how my brain was interpreting the toe data.Oops! Seems I owe an apology to few of you. My brain has been reading minus as IN but apparently for wheel alignment data minus is OUT for toe data
It's been a very long time since I last performed a wheel alignment using gauges.
Melvyn Best
Member
- Messages
- 1,778
- Location
- Cambridge
Not exactly, the extra length of the wood over the diameter of the wheel where the tracking gauges would normally fit will have an effect. Imagine extending the wood even further the reading would be exaggerated. Some garage computer programs translate the readings from degrees to mm or the other way according to the wheel diameter . It would be possible to do a bit of trigonometry to come up with the correct reading , I could have done it 50 years ago but would struggle now
- Messages
- 17,482
I was just saying that's how my brain was interpreting the plus and minus.
Rear toe isn't going to affect self-centering of the steering, but it will make quite difference to handling - toe in on the rear of my Lancia is a standard setting for safe handling. Straight makes the rear more nervous, toe-out means opposite lock at speed!
I would have thought front toe-in/toe-out difference you have won’t cause the steering to do what you feel it is doing - although it would affect actual cornering performance.
Castor does look a little less than ideal on one side, within tolerance the other (if I remember the figure from earlier posts) - but I can’t see it doing all you say - it would maybe slow self-entering effect, but not stop it. Is the effect the same in each direction?
I think you’re going to have to remove the column for a proper look - that or the driver’s seat so you can lie in the footwell and look up - see if you can spray something suitable into the column so it runs down the shaft into the bushes. I wouldn’t use common old oil - some nylons do not like it.
Is it possible to unbolt the electric assistance from the column to remove the chance of a mechanical issue with it? I think you’ve already tried it electrically disconnected to rule out the ECU?
It is amazing how something relatively small can make a massive difference - years ago steering on my Spitfire based kitcar lacked self-centering, in-fact you could turn the wheel and leave it - it kept the lock on until you manually unwound it.
The UJ to the rack had stiffened up - it was enough.
I would have thought front toe-in/toe-out difference you have won’t cause the steering to do what you feel it is doing - although it would affect actual cornering performance.
Castor does look a little less than ideal on one side, within tolerance the other (if I remember the figure from earlier posts) - but I can’t see it doing all you say - it would maybe slow self-entering effect, but not stop it. Is the effect the same in each direction?
I think you’re going to have to remove the column for a proper look - that or the driver’s seat so you can lie in the footwell and look up - see if you can spray something suitable into the column so it runs down the shaft into the bushes. I wouldn’t use common old oil - some nylons do not like it.
Is it possible to unbolt the electric assistance from the column to remove the chance of a mechanical issue with it? I think you’ve already tried it electrically disconnected to rule out the ECU?
It is amazing how something relatively small can make a massive difference - years ago steering on my Spitfire based kitcar lacked self-centering, in-fact you could turn the wheel and leave it - it kept the lock on until you manually unwound it.
The UJ to the rack had stiffened up - it was enough.
- Messages
- 17,482
Bullet2012
Member
- Messages
- 5,364
- Location
- on average about 200 miles from the ISS.
Have you checked the wheelbase both sides ? Or was this done as part of the 4wheel alignment?
- Messages
- 17,482
It’s not listed on the printout. I suppose I could measure centre of hub to centre of hub but the fact the caster is different both sides tells me I’d probably see a slight difference.
