TheDutchTexan

Pretty bad, it dented the rim. Tire is holding air though, so that's good. I ordered a new one from a shop.

So I went to Goodyear, and they checked the alignment. Naturally it was out of wack (steeringwheel was no longer straight either), but one of the first things I noticed when driving her shortly after hitting that curb was that she was steering way lighter than before. That was not fixed after the alignment (the steeringwheel is now again as straight as one can get it).

She's also nervous at highway speeds, the steering is just too light. My 07GT/CS is true and straight. When checking the alignment they noticed the caster was off, and they could fix that with some plate that costs a 130 dollars parts & labor and involves widening some hole to get it into place. They however said that I should drive her as is, as the caster was not off that much. I measured it, and the driver side wheel is approx. a centimeter (0.39 inch) closer to the rear of the car. Could that be the reason why she's steering so light right now or could there be another cause? It's not like she's undrivable, but I hate having to correct so much on the highway, it's twitchy as hell.

TheDutchTexan

I've done some reading up. It seems that most cars have a slight positive toe, so it equals out to about 0 when driving. When they where adjusting the toe they set it to 0, so when driving it actually creates a bit of negative toe. It increases turn in ability, something I have definitely noticed as it is very responsive to even the smallest corrections. At speed negative toe (toe out) makes it twitchy, and that's definately what I am getting. I'll be going back there for my tires once my rim comes in, so I'll ask them to correct the alignment.

Does anyone know the amount of toe-in the 2005 GT's supposed to have? Or, what your shop set it at on your stock car?

bynumj

Keep in mind that some shops will also adjust the front suspension to account for the crown in the road. I would have them make sure it is aligned to drive perfectly strait on level road negating the offset for the crown of the road.

Stoenr

Here is a pic of the screen when doing my alignment. you cans see the allowable ranges.
Did you get a printout of what your readings are? Would be a great help.

Caster that is off can cause the car to have a pretty darn good lead/pull, wander as well.

Ignore my actual settings, I wanted - camber for road course driving.

TheDutchTexan

Thanks guys!
Thanks for this! I actually do not have the readings, but I do remember them setting the toe to 0. Guess They'll have to put it to about 0.05 positive toe to make it less nervous at speed. The car doesn't wander, and tracks straight, so the caster should not be the culprit I believe (for as much as I can test it on these worn texas roads). I'll make sure to tell you guys once it gets done.

I am going to have to wait getting the alignment re-checked till I can source a correct rim though. The 17" bullitts I got (machined and anthracite) are 400 bucks each... no thanks. Craigslist yields no results.

I found a shop that can repair it for 150, and have it back to me next day. I'll have to see if I can manage to get 2 days in a row off at work to get that done. I am not going to rock the doughnut...