Wheel Alignment

Hi

I recently noticed that the NSF tyre on my FL had worn nearly bald on the inner edge. Got the front tyres replaced and now the steering wheel points slightly left when it should be straight ahead. Took it to local tyre place and got the alignment checked & adjusted and it was out on the nearside. Car drives fine but steering wheel still points left.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Cheers

Rog

Yes the numpty who did the wheel alignment didn't centre the steering properly when he reset the alignment.

I guess that would make sense. What would have caused the wheel to be off centre with the new tyres anyway? Also, now that the alignment has been done it feels like the rear wheels need to balanced (ie Vibration through the cabin/seats). Does this make any sense?

Cheers

Rog

sounds like when your tracking has been adjusted its been adjusted on one side more than the other so a little adjustment equally bothsides should move the track rod across which will striaghten the wheel and the tracking will be in spec if done properly.Sounds like abit of a cowboy whos done your tracking because he should of checked the steering wheel position when hes done the tracking.If you had two new tyres on front and a vibration has started it could be the new tyres not balanced properly either way take it back and get it sorted out free of charge.

I had mine 4 wheel aligned at kwik fit on preston new rd in blackpool.
Made a hell of a diffrance.
then swapped the wheels over front to back and left to right to get even tred ware.,
i am told that you can adjust the rear toe in/out on the arms but i think that that can only be done a main stealers..
took them about 1 1/2 hours to do as the track rods were seized solid . 2 new ones later job done.
it still pulls slightly to the kerb side , but i think that that is coz of the width of the f/l and the roads are crap.

might be that the hub flanges weren't cleaned properly before the wheels were refitted

Right, in summary:

1. Before I got new front tyres the car drove perfectly but had worn the inner edge of the front n/s tyre down much more than the rest of the tyre.

2. The steering wheel has been off slightly to the left since the new tyres were fitted but still drove fine.

3. Since having alignment done steering wheel is still off to the left but also now getting vibration from rear wheels. Steering doesn't feel right either - Sort of like the wheels aren't quite pointing straight ahead.

4. What are hub flanges??

I'm taking the car back into them on Friday or Saturday depending when I'm working and want to make sure that they don't try and pull a fast one or fob me off so any info most welcome!!

BTW - They told me on the phone today that it was difficult doing alignment on my car because I have non-standard wheels. I have normal looking FL 5-spoke alloys but they are slightly bigger (wider) than standard. According to the invoice from when the car was new these were an option from the factory. Do wider wheels make alignment harder?

Cheers for all the advice so far!

Rog

mickobrien said:

it still pulls slightly to the kerb side , but i think that that is coz of the width of the f/l and the roads are crap.

Click to expand...

You will find this due to the camber of the roads (to move water to the left and into the drains)

Try on a retail estate car park if you are concerned.

rriggs said:

BTW - They told me on the phone today that it was difficult doing alignment on my car because I have non-standard wheels. I have normal looking FL 5-spoke alloys but they are slightly bigger (wider) than standard. According to the invoice from when the car was new these were an option from the factory. Do wider wheels make alignment harder?

Cheers for all the advice so far!

Rog

Click to expand...

If its a factory option then should not be an issue. I have seen standard 14" car wheels replaced with 17" 205/40 alloys and these were tracked and aligned ok.

I have 16" MGF alloys fitted to my mums Maestro (once again no puns please) and these were aligned as the 13" originals wore unevenly.

I always nip into the work area and watch what they are doing. Pretend you are interested. I'm no kwik fitter, but I now Know what to look for:

Watch the laser pointer on the ruler on each front tyre. They should be even with the steering wheel locked in the straight ahead position. There is something about the manufacturers toe in / toe out which is worked out whilst adjusting.

As I say, I am no expert - maybe an alignment guru could further elaborate....

Regards,

Steve

hub flanges are where the back of the wheel touches the hub, these need to be 100% clean and flat, otherwise wheel cannot sit flat on hub and will not spin true. Should be a thin smear of copper grease on the hub flange to stop the alloy wheel corroding to the hub