bakerjd

Yea, I just got my front end alignment done after upgrading my struts/shocks/springs/etc and the Ford Service tech tried to convince me I needed to have a rear end alignment performed. I just smiled, told him its a solid rear axle, I've already adjusted my pinion angle and told him to do the front end alignment lol

Ansibe

Hang on a minute here, guys. I doubt this guy is yanking your chain, even if he is unsure about solid rear axles and PHBs.

As the PHB is adjusted, the drive shaft is pulled to one side, and the wheels naturally point off to one side. It will look like one is toe-in and the other is toe-out.

However, in the normal range of up and down axle movement, I can't imagine the toe being affected that much. My car is dropped 1", and I had to deliberately look for the body mis-alignment - it was barely noticeable with the stock bar. Your PHB needs to be adjusted with the car's weight on the wheels, with the suspension compressed. The tech may not know that.

DG_

this is what it looks like now after the alignment. The body is clearly shifted to the right

jz

Um, what?? The LCAs will not allow the SRA to angle in a way that "appears" to be toe in and toe out. Also, the driveshaft has universal joints that will also not allow the axle to move in a way that "appears" to be toe in and toe out. I'm not trying to be an ***, but I can't agree with any of your post, except adjust the PHB with the suspension loaded.

As others have stated, OP should adjust his PHB and avoid that alignment shop in the future.

Ansibe

I'm not trying to be an ***, either. Maybe I'm learning something new.

But, the drive shaft must be fixed as it leaves the gearbox, and it has to move in the arc of the PHB at the axle. As the axle moves up and down, the drive shaft moves laterally. That's essentially the cause of the body misalignment (btw, the OP's looks way further out than a 1.5" drop should cause). When you adjust the PHB, you're pulling the drive shaft around its fixed point, which points the wheels in the wrong direction.

I seriously doubt the alignment tech was making this up. Maybe he doesn't fully understand how the rear axle and PHB interact, but he just read the numbers off his alignment rig. So either it's real, his rig is bent, or the OP's car is! The fact that the toe could be dialed out by adjusting the PHB suggests that it is real.

I'm the farthest thing from an expert that's ever posted, but I'm betting that car's PHB was adjusted while the car was in the air, no weight on wheels. That's why the body is so far out of alignment, and that's why his wheels are pointing a bit off center.

mayo

I don't know how, but it can be according to this. (it's you)
Pre-alignment after my drop shows toe in the rear...

DG_

^that's how mine was, except the toe was higher and lower on each side in the rear.

The phb was adjusted with the suspension loaded.

Should I leave it the way it is or align the body back straight using the string method?

mayo

The panhard bar is to center the rear, so center it I say.

DG_

I've been reading up on this more on the web and I think after I installed the springs, shocks, phb, and lcas my thrust angle went off spec.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...e.jsp?techid=4
I am now wondering if this might be caused by my aftermarket non-adjustable lcas. My car has barely 1000miles on it, so I highly doubt that the frame is bent. I do think that if the aftermarket lcas were a bit out of spec, they may have cause the off thrust angle which in turn caused the strange toe reading.
Would an adjustable lca or uca bring the thrust angle back into spec?

DG_

Just found the alignment sheet.
The top one is prior the alignment and the bottom one post.