Just got a wheel alignment, advice appreciated.

[Warren]

Hey everyone, went to Sears auto for a wheel alignment. Spent the $80 and they had my car on the lift for about an hour. Here was the before and after. They told me the rear camber is not adjustable. They also had to break the spot welds on the strut towers under the hood to do some adjustments. Is this normal procedure? The spot welds were intact all of this time until now...What is the negative effect if any that the rear camber on both sides is off by -2.3 and -2.0? What would cause this?

Front Left
Camber Actual -0.3 -- Before -1.3
Caster Actual 4.5 -- Before 4.5
Toe Actual -0.01 -- Before -0.14

Front Right
Camber Actual -0.6 -- Before -0.9
Caster Actual 4.6 -- Before 4.6
Toe Actual -0.06 -- Before -0.18

Rear Left
Camber Actual -2.3 -- Before -2.3
Toe Actual 0.04 -- Before 0.00

Rear Right
Camber Actual -2.0 -- Before -2.0
Toe Actual -0.02 -- Before -0.02

 

[RonPorter]

Unless they want to shuffle the subframe around......which most don't want to do......breaking the spotwelds is the only way to change camber in the front.

FWIW, I drilled my spotwelds the other day, and I'm having them give me as much negative camber in the front as they can get by keeping the sides even.

-1.5 - -1.8 on three other SHOs I've had. BUT.... I like it for the track.

 

[kevinspann]

How old are the struts and strut mounts in the rear? Do the rear springs sag?

 

[Warren]

not sure of the age but the previous owner told me he had them replaced when he put lowering springs on the car so that was at least 3 years ago.

 

[notbange]

Would've been nice if they got your front camber even. Your car wasn't really out of alignment before they started with what they can adjust from the factory, they could have done some good customer service and informed you of that.

 

[rubydist]

the rear camber is usually an issue with bad strut mounts, in my experience with a bunch of SHOs.

are they giving you toe in degrees or in inches?

however, the rear camber you have is perfectly fine, if they have enough toe in on the rear - which they do not. the factory says that 0 or even a slight toe out is okay on the rear, but in my experience, the inside edges of the tires will cup with 0 or toe out, and they will cup worse if the camber is negative as much as yours is.

I would take it back to them and tell them that even though the spec says toe out on the rear is acceptable, in real life it is not and you need them to give you toe in on the rear.

btw, I would never take a car to Sears for mechanic work - they almost always have rookies who don't know these kinds of things that experience teaches you. I would go to a local private alignment shop where they have a tech who is over 30.

 

[notbange]

Another 2 years till I meet your age requirement

 

[Warren]

Yes all readings are in degrees. The only reason why I went to Sears is because I am in hudson valley / Catskills area now, I changes both tie rods inner and outer recently and the alignment was so off that my old tires got ripped up on the outer edgers pretty bad because they were screeching on turns after the repairs. I tried to get it as close as possible to the amount of turns when I took off the old stuff...Also alot of shops up here dont have the alignment computer and the ones that do want $90+ dollars for an alignment. When I was living in NYC they were charging anywhere from $45 - $60 for the same alignment.

 

[93markVIII]

btw, I would never take a car to Sears for mechanic work - they almost always have rookies who don't know these kinds of things that experience teaches you. I would go to a local private alignment shop where they have a tech who is over 30.

the local Sears has a tech named Alan who is very good. did a good job on both my Lincoln and my brother's SHO. was helpful, explained everything he did, what he couldn't get it to do, and what we could do to fix that and get it back in for warranty work.

look for a trusted, experienced tech. wherever he may be, as long as they good warranty. Sears gave me one year.

 

[silverbullet92]

Does anyone have the actual specs for the proper allingment?

 

[rubydist]

Factory Manual 1994:

Front
Caster nominal 3.8*, min 2.8*, max 4.8*
Caster difference, side to side, max .85*
Camber nominal -0.5*, min -1.1*, max +0.1*
Camber difference, side to side, max -.70/+.70*
Total Toe nominal -0.20*, min -.45*, max +.03*
or in inches: -0.100, -0.225, +0.15"
steering wheel angle at straight ahead nominal -0.6*, min -3.6*, max 2.4*

Rear
Camber nominal -0.90*, min -1.60*, max -0.20*
camber difference, side to side, max -1.2* to +1.2*
Total Toe nominal +0.12*, min -0.13*, max +0.37*
or in inches nominal +0.06", min -0.06", max +0.187"

PERSONAL NOTE: experience says rear toe out (positive values) will result in unacceptable tire wear and generally squirrely behavior when cornering. In my experience, rear toe must be -0.06" to +0.03"

Also note that if your camber is more negative than the spec, you must add a slight amount of toe-in to keep tire wear proper.

 

[silverbullet92]

Im guessing its going to be the same for a 92?

 

[SHOdded]

95 is same as 94.

 

[RonPorter]

95 is same as 94.

Same as '89 through '95. Probably the same for Gen 3, also. Alignment shops have these specs. Just need to tell them if you want something different.

 

[Art5]

Yes all readings are in degrees. The only reason why I went to Sears is because I am in hudson valley / Catskills area now, I changes both tie rods inner and outer recently and the alignment was so off that my old tires got ripped up on the outer edgers pretty bad because they were screeching on turns after the repairs. I tried to get it as close as possible to the amount of turns when I took off the old stuff...Also alot of shops up here dont have the alignment computer and the ones that do want $90+ dollars for an alignment. When I was living in NYC they were charging anywhere from $45 - $60 for the same alignment.

Next time, let me know what you need to get done to you car and i will recommend you a place for things like that.