So_Cali

Can most shops adjust toe themselves or is additional hardware needed such as Camber bolts and/or a camber/caster kit? Mine is toed in and since I really dont understand too much of this suspension stuff that well, I dont wanna get the run around from anyone.

jahudso2

you can adjust toe by yourself. Just lengthen or shorten your tie rod ends. measuring it is the tricky part

So_Cali

Is this what you're talking about?

http://iihs.net/fsm/?dir=56&viewfile...0-%20Front.pdf

Norm Peterson

The slight cross-caster (right side greater than left side) will make the car "naturally" want to steer left, but 0.3° seems like a normal setting to help keep the car from drifting down to the right side of a road with some crown.

I am surprised that they increased the PS negative camber - if that did anything at all, it would tend to increase the tendency for the car to drift toward the left. If they were trying to fix your issue (and fully understood what your problem was in the first place), I'd expect some combination of DS camber a little more negative, PS camber a little less negative, PS caster a little less positive, and DS caster a little more positive. Sometimes there is a little 'slop' in the various attachment holes that you can use to "tweak" settings that don't have an official means of adjustment (you're taking advantage of hole tolerances). You'd loosen the bolt/nut and pull the component in the desired direction and hold it there while retorquing.

But if it's a strong tendency to drift left, either something might be dragging on the driver side somewhere or something in the steering has play in it (PS tie rod?).


Norm

Team STILLEN

PLEASE DO NOT try to adjust toe yourself. This is not something the average person wants to do or should try to do. Even if you can put on your own suspension. Besides, most people only end up adjusting total toe and not actual side to side toe. That being said, there are plenty of things that can make a car pull. Just find a good shop who knows what they are doing who either have a great computerized system AND who race cars and can set up a real chassis, or find an old school shop who still use the string method (still very accurate and used trackside almost exclusively) and have it done that way. Leave alignments to the pros.

And yes, have your thrust angle set once you install your pan hard bar.

Team STILLEN

and adjusting your pan does NOT mean centering the tires under the car. The position of the tires centered under the car has almost most real corellation to the actual thrust angle. sometimes your tires can be offset by as much as 3/16" in the rear to get the rear track true to the front. If some rare cases, you will need to shift the front crossmember to get the rear axle more centered if it is too far out.

jahudso2

Thanks Norm, I was waiting for you to chime in. Yeah it looks like the camber changed slightly in the wrong direction, but what I figured was that the car just moved a little on the rack since none of the measurements changed hardly at all. I also had my car up on ramps the next day and saw no tool marks on either tie rod. I'm going to get my money back from the stealership and go to a racing shop for a real alignment.

Thanks everyone for your help!

Stoenr

Haha, I love that. So true. I'm glad I had access to a machine and some good help setting it up when we did my alignment.

I can usually drive a good 500+ feet before it starts to wander out of the lane, and that's usually because of the road crown and wide front tires.
My tires are wearing pretty darn good, with just a tad more wear on the insides, was expected when I set it up this way. Not bad for not being able to rotate them to the rear ever.

I would try and get your money back from the shop. I'd be willing to bet you are right, the numbers changed just from rolling the car, or even just bumping the wheel while taking readings. Anything can be fudged, seen it 1st hand.
I would also try and cross the front tires for $hits and giggles.

MissouriHoss

My new '07 GT was fitted with Sumitomo HTRZII (275-40ZR-18) tires by the Tulsa, OK Ford dealer...

Now she's at 22,000 miles and I hear a whining tire noise at lower speeds. I religiously rotate them at 5,000 mile intervals. Yesterday, I noticed the tires were worn excessively on the inside...

Today, my Ford tech checked her out and said she was IN ALIGNMENT by specs and needed no adjustments. He also said, "Ford specs do not allow for proper alignment of these tire widths on GTs'. They were designed to run 55 series rubber, not 40 series."

So, I'm now involved with installing what the Ford tech calls, "cam kits". He will obtain them from O'Reilly Automotive tomorrow, for around $45. He says, "I'll throw away the Ford specs and ADJUST THEM RIGHT, so they wear evenly across the tread area. The original dealer should have done this in the beginning. Without the kits, I can't adequately or properly align for 40 series rubber."

I'll also have these directional tires dismounted, rotated from left to right, remounted and balanced. It's time for that anyway.

I'll update this after tomorrow's badly needed alignment, rotation and balance....

Norm Peterson

If it was "within alignment", what were the actual numbers?

Has the car been lowered? (lowering drives camber more negative and toe tends to move toward "toe-out")

How hard do you normally drive through turns and corners? (cars subject to frequent hard cornering should be given camber that's slightly more negative than the factory-preferred spec)

How hard do you generally use your brakes? (cars subject to frequent hard brake use without hard cornering can benefit from camber that's less negative)


I don't see any special alignment specs for the Shelby GT500, which runs 255/45-18 tires on 18 x 9.5" wheels. 275/40's might tramline more.

Your tech is talking about "camber bolts". They're probably an OK solution for a moderately driven daily-driver, but not for a car that gets driven hard any more than once in a while.

If there's any chance that you might want to try autocross or a road course open track day, don't even think of using camber bolts. Get camber plates or Steeda HD upper strut mounts (which have somewhere over a degree of camber adjustment/correction capability built in to the design).


Norm