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Wheel alignment advice please

R

roadrider75

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Location
North Yorkshire
Car
7th Gen I-CDTI EX
Hi, I've just had the front upper control arms replaced on the car (07 Saloon). While the work was being done it was noticed the inner shoulder of the driver's side front tyre was heavily worn. I presumed this was most likely due to a combination of the wear in the upper control arm ball joint.

I had the tyre replaced and asked the garage to check/ adjust the tracking. On collecting the car I was told the tracking was now fine but the car was still pulling to the right when you take your hands off the steering wheel. The garage say it might be I need my caster and camber adjusting and they have a guy who comes in and can do the job for £65.

As far as I can tell from here the front caster and camber cannot be adjusted on the stock suspension.
I don't want to waste £65 on top of the £30 already paid for adjusting the tracking if I'm going to be told there is nothing that can be done.

Can anybody advise on this?

Thanks
 
Mine is doing the same, however some of the weird tyre wear is due to a faulty inner tie rod.
You can buy adjustable balljoint kits which can change the camber +- 1.5° IIRC but they aren't cheap and need to be pressed into the top arm.
I have the Tourer and both front and back seem to wear the insides more than the outside.
 
As far as i am aware the fronts on the 7th gen only has toe adjustability on the stock suspension components.
Hopefully someone else can confirm.
 
I have just had upper and lower arms replaced and ball joints. I have had the tracking done 3 times already this week and it still pulls to the left...any ideas anyone?
 
As above. They're neither adjustable for camber or caster.

The only thing they can adjust is toe, so you've basically got what you've got.

I'd have a look at the inner and outer track rod jointss on that side too.
 
If you have access to a pit its worth getting under the car with the engine off and just turning the steering from side to side, mine had a nasty knock from the RHS inner tie rod it was audible and you could feel it through the rubber boot.
A spurious Febi one was €25 as opposed to 100 from Honda.
Once removed I couldn't reproduce the knock even held in a vice and pulled, but the rattle has gone.
 
Can I ask what type of 'tracking' the garage performed? if it's the old laser line type I doubt you will ever get it right as they will be trying to line up the front toe with the rear and not checking/adjusting the rear first the front will never be right. You need to go to a place where they do a full geometry track, avoid quickie fittie places or fast fit centres go to a pro, find a decent place using the website alignmycar
http://www.alignmycar.co.uk/

You should get a graphical print out of all your settings before and after and if after castor/camber is still out then you have other issues but the graphical can give you good indications what to look for.

Its not cheap but it works every time. I converted to this method many years ago and never had a problem getting a perfect straight ahead drive after this method.

Only issue I ever had was a fast fit centre not understanding left handed threads on a Toyota rear toe adjuster and ended up damaging the adjuster and leaving the nut loose! formula uno comes to mind nudge nudge wink wink.......
 
ScoobyDoo said:
Can I ask what type of 'tracking' the garage performed? if it's the old laser line type I doubt you will ever get it right as they will be trying to line up the front toe with the rear and not checking/adjusting the rear first the front will never be right. You need to go to a place where they do a full geometry track, avoid quickie fittie places or fast fit centres go to a pro, find a decent place using the website alignmycar
http://www.alignmycar.co.uk/

You should get a graphical print out of all your settings before and after and if after castor/camber is still out then you have other issues but the graphical can give you good indications what to look for.

Its not cheap but it works every time. I converted to this method many years ago and never had a problem getting a perfect straight ahead drive after this method.

Only issue I ever had was a fast fit centre not understanding left handed threads on a Toyota rear toe adjuster and ended up damaging the adjuster and leaving the nut loose! formula uno comes to mind nudge nudge wink wink.......
Click to expand...
Sorry I've just seen this reply. I'm not sure of the exact process, but it defo wasn't 4 wheel alignment. Ah well, you live and learn, thanks for the advice
 
No worries, yes defo live and learn (been there got the t shirt!), life is generally a learning curve then we pop our clogs.
 
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