Round & Round...

Before all this started my FL drove perfectly but had worn down the inside edge on my NSF tyre. So, two new tyres were put on the front. Since then the steering wheel is crooked.

Took the FL into ATS and got the alignment checked afterwhich the steering wheel was less crooked but there's now vibration (shimmy?) through the steering wheel when straight ahead or turned right, at all speeds. Turned slightly left the vibration is gone.

Back to ATS (different branch) who re-checked the alginment and said it was out a bit. They adjusted it and now the steering wheel is more crooked and the vibration is less but not gone.

Going to take it to Kwik-Fit tomorrow for advice but can anyone suggest what the problem might be? (It's not wheel balancing!)

Cheers

Rog

Rog.

Before any alignment is carried out they must check:

1. Tyre condition and pressures.
2. Wheel bearings and all steering and suspension joints.
3. The ride height of the vehicle.

Inside edge tyre wear is caused by:
a. Excessive toe out of the affected wheel or
b. Excessive negative camber of the affected wheel or
c. Incorrect 'toe out on turns' i.e. the inside wheel must turn through a greater angle during turns (Ackerman principle)

If the alignment equipment is of any use the steering wheel should be clamped in the straight ahead position whilst adjustments are carried out thus ensuring a straight steering wheel afterwards.

I hope this info is of some use. In a former life I was responsible for training alignment techniques to technicians from all the major manufacturers.
Dann..

Thanks Dann. That's some good info for me to check when they're doing it tomorrow. If you know a thing or two about alignment you might be able to clear up a couple of things I was told by ATS which I think are rubbish:

1. Alignment is guess work if a car has non-standard wheels (like mine which are LR alloys but are wider than standard TD4 wheels)
2. Alignment will not straighten the steering wheel (which was fine before new tyres were put on)

Cheers again

Rog

Just got back from Kwik-Fit. They said the following:

"Wheel alignment set to -4 should be -1.7 +/- 1.5mm. Rear flags on 3 on NS and 5 on OS should be 5 per side"

Doesn't mean a thing to me but the result of this is that the steering wheel is near as damn it straight and whole car drives much more like it did before all this grief started.

I also watched the guy doing it and he checked everything Dann said he should and told me about each step as he did it.

Cheers

Rog

will not be taking me freelander to ATS then.

sounds like they aint got a clue

Thanks for the post riggs

Hi again Rog, It's reassuring that the guy carried out all the checks before setting up the alignment. Modern alignment equipment is amazingly accurate and a properly trained and switched on Technician will know how to input non standard variables e.g. wide wheels/ spacer fitments etc sounds like you may have found one of the good guys. Keep a check on handling and tyre wear.
Regards. Dann..

maybe go back to ATS and ask for your money back. Strange, usually Kwik Fit are shown to be the bad guys (and in my experience), but you seem to have found a gem.

Just read elsewhere on the forum that I should have put the new tyres on the back and moved the older ones to the front. Is this correct? I know it's been covered elsewhere but there does seem to be a split in opinion. Most recent post and LR handbook say new tyres on the rear but Clutchdust and Zippy disagree:

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/fit-new-tyres-rear-37852.html?highlight=front+tyre

I have a 2002 FL TD4 with new tyres on the front and about half worn tyres on the rear. All the tyres are the same make, model and type.

Cheers

Rog

yup - saves risking the VCU.

there is only one reason for putting new tyres on the back and old uns on the front.



to stop the handling changing too much for in experienced drivers,

there is a list why you should do it the other way round
i'll just list a few

1/ most braking is done through the front wheels so you benefit from better braking by having new uns up front

2/ your steering is dun by front wheels so you benefit from having new uns up front

3/ in a front wheel drive or where most power is delivered by the front wheels you benefit from having new uns up front

4/ because the front tyres perform the steering,power delivery and most braking, they have a shed load more work to do than the rears so you'd want the best tyres up front to cope with this.

normally monsewer, i wud agree - but this is a ****ing hippoo we is talking about.

so hows it risk the vcu?

Well hear is ma version. . . .it aint gonna make any difference if its a 2001 on [thats when power train ratio's wez changed] if yer fronts are not less than 50%worn then swap em to the back [that will even over time] un it aint gonna do sqiddly squat to yer drive train less its fooked anyhows. . . .i'm orft ta the pub

as i understumble it (and, lets face it, I have been known to be mistaken. - not wrong, just mistaken) its coz, if the rear wheels are rotating slower than the fronts, coz of tyre size mismatches, it pre-disposes the VCU to become active, due to rotational differences being exacerbated. An we all know wot an exacerbated VCU can do to ya pocket!

ming said:

. .i'm orft ta the pub

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i fink i mite join ya if yu tell me where it is

know wot yer sayin flops un i read all the bumph as well . . . .but its all tosh. . . .oh un yup flops

shirley if the fronts are turning slower than the rears then the vcu will still get eggsighted. or can it tell which way round its working?

"A Viscous Coupling Unit (VCU) is fitted to give the Freelander its all wheel drive ability.
Rather than the on/off functionality of a traditional diff lock, the VCU works progressively.
If a front wheel begins to spin, then torque is sent to the rear wheels where it is useful (and vice versa)."


according to that snippet it would seem the vcu works in both directions so it wint make any difference whether the worn ones was ont back or front

Hi Ming

ming said:

it aint gonna make any difference if its a 2001 on [thats when power train ratio's wez changed

Click to expand...

And on older models?

Chris

Chris2 said:

Hi Ming



And on older models?

Chris

Click to expand...

ER . . . . .fink they jist blewed up. . .