Alignment

[lmuscella]

In short, I have had a alignment problem from day one. Ford swears that the alignment is within specs but I just burned up another set of tires again. This time I only got 20K out of them before the inter tread wore out and I only have 52K on the car! I took it to my local NTB and they say that they need to break the spot welds on the struts to properly alignment because it is so far toed out. NTB also says that since I never had an accident it has probably been like this since it came from the factory. Anybody ever have this happen to them? Anything I should be looking for or should do since I'm probably going to have this done? Thanks.

 

[wdnitro]

Same problem with mine. First had Driver side Strut drilled out for alignment at about 32K and now have been told I need the passenger side drilled out too for alignment. It's not a problem so have them do the work. Goodluck.

 

[stephen newberg]

To my knowledge, all Ford Taurus models have spot welds at the top of the strut towers that prevent toe adjustment from the factory. As the car is driven, this gets out of alignment fairly quickly. From the standpoint of the spec mandated alignment, it is not counted, even though any good alignment shop would check toe. The solution, as noted just above, is to get the spot welds at the tops of both strut towers drilled out so that the toe can be adjusted correctly as part of a normal alignment. That should cure your problem.

pax, smn

 

[SHOZ123]

It's not toe, that is adjusted with the tie rod ends. It's the camber that's bad. And yes you need to drill out the spot welds and move the strut top out.

 

[sdpatt]

Toe-in is adjusted at the outer tie rod ends. The spot welds on the adjustment plates on the top of the strut towers can easily be drilled out to allow camber and caster adjustments.

 

[Tacmedic]

I know this is a long shot since nobody makes ANYTHING for the Gen III, but, does anybody make camber plates for the SHO? eek!

 

[RStalveyARFF]

I did in fact find camber plates for the Gen III. I just need to remember where.... It may have been either prosuspension.com or rockauto.com

 

[stephen newberg]

"It's the camber that's bad."

You are right of course, sorry for the mixup. Not enough coffee yet that morning, I suspect.

pax, smn

 

[SHOGrabber]

Imuscella

Deffinitly let NTB drill the spot welds and do a proper alignment.

I think what happens is when cars are new they are nice and tight, and the alignment is correct. But as the car is driven it starts to break in,loosen up and settle in. About like a new pair of boots and other things if you know what I mean. boink

 

[OzzmanNT]

If you lower the car you will have to have these drilled out also. It's not a big deal, just note that is it not painted under the stock strut plates just primered.

 

[bent1982]

Should these be re-welded to keep them securely in place? or is the pressure of the bolts alone enough?

 

[whitneyd]

bent1982 the bolts will hold it in place but I think the proper way to align you car is to use camber plates. This alignment problem is in all Taurus makes. I've seen many that have had this done to them. Most are hack jobs. They use a chisel and a hammer to break the welds instead of drilling them out like they're supposed to. If you have them do the job make sure they drill them out. Good luck

 

[ShelbyDoug]

This is common with Taurus'. Your front springs are sagging and creating the excessive negative camber. Search on the forum or at SHOTimes for camber kits. There is a SHO member that sells them in Utah. You might want to consider changing springs at this time also. Your stock ones will continue to sag after you align.
Also this is effecting your toe in and probably feathering the outer edge of the front tires as well.
The camber kits aren't expensive and give you the flexbilaty of realigning in the future easaly. With drilling the spot welds and pop riviting you really can only do that once.

 

[SHOZ123]

The front camber plates will raise the car and give even more fender gap than you already have. Cut the tower plate welds off and hog out the square holes at the back and outward, leaving about a 1/4" on the inside hole.. Then put the plates back on after alignment and rivet them in. Or take them off altogether and use a strut tower brace.