I ask because I keep having issues with tire wear, getting aligned, periodically check the tires, and everything's fine for a year or so, get lax on checking the tires, and eventually go to change my break pads, and see that I have a big groove worn away on the inner edge of the passenger front tire, not on the side wall but at the edge of the tread. Seems like toe wear, and sure enough the alignment shop says my toe is out. I have battled with this type of wear for years, fixing little things here and there, changing tire manufacturers, etc, and I'm starting to just think that the alignment just doesn't stay.
Do you guys align every year? That seems extraordinarily excessive but might be necessary for my case, which is a pain because most places I go to don't understand how to do the rear alignment with quad eccentric rear control arm bushings.
The other possibility is that there is something wrong with my car that causes it to not hold alignment I suppose.
i forget where on the tire strut rub shows up, either on the edge of the tread or the sidewall... but it should show up as wear marks on the strut as well.
off the top of my head, other things i would check would be the knuckle to strut clevis bolts and the small bolt that adjusts the camber, ball joint wear, and strut mount wear.
if you ever have done any work that involved removing those two large knuckle-to-strut bolts, do you use new nord lock washers, or reuse the old ones?
Just thinking over time the bolts may loose torque and let the adjustment go out of spec. which is also probably kind of dangerous for other reasons...
i'll take a peek in the service manual tonight if i have time and see what else i can find.
i forget where on the tire strut rub shows up, either on the edge of the tread or the sidewall... but it should show up as wear marks on the strut as well.
off the top of my head, other things i would check would be the knuckle to strut clevis bolts and the small bolt that adjusts the camber, ball joint wear, and strut mount wear.
if you ever have done any work that involved removing those two large knuckle-to-strut bolts, do you use new nord lock washers, or reuse the old ones?
Just thinking over time the bolts may loose torque and let the adjustment go out of spec. which is also probably kind of dangerous for other reasons...
i'll take a peek in the service manual tonight if i have time and see what else i can find.
Probably should have mentioned that I have KW coilovers with Noltec offset strut mounts, and can confirm there is no contact between the tire and the coilover. As far as I can remember, I have never replaced those lock washers, but have definitely gone through several iterations of removing those bolts.
That would indeed be alarming if they were coming loose, or at least loose enough to shift under road impacts.
Standard inspection methods didn't show any issue with the ball joints the last time I had the issue and checked them, but its probably worth checking again...
Only on the passenger front? How's the driver front? I started doing my own alignments about 15 years ago. A majority of shops don't have a clue what they are doing. My home made alignments show very even and regular tire wear. I struggled for a long time with rear inner tire wear when my car was new. It was the crap stock springs causing excessive negative camber. A really bad alignment tech will "set the toe and let it go". You might have excessive negative camber, a worn bushing, something physically rubbing. If you have been going to the same shop, go somewhere else for a different opinion.
The issue was only on the passenger front, and since I got the two fronts aligned, I haven't noticed an issue yet. The shop just told me to install tie-rods so they could do the rear even though I tried to explain to them that there were eccentric bushings in the rear and no tie-rods... but I could tell that was not going to go anywhere good.
So I'm getting it aligned at a supposedly reputable shop next Monday, then have a weekend at the track in November. Might want to just go get it checked after the event to see if anything shifts... especially if I go off.
So I am guessing by the lack of folks saying they get aligned every year or so, this isn't a widespread GTO thing, and probably something with my car that causes the alignment to shift?
I had my 04 aligned when i bought it couple years ago, Just the front needed it ,I have put about 800 miles on the car since the alignment best i can tell all is still fine,All my tires show even ware ,My car 18800 miles
I'm a big fan of lifetime alignments from local, reputable shops. My guys here charge less than the price of 2 alignments for the lifetime and I get 2 free alignments a year. This was more important in the past when I modded my cars but still nice to have with the Goat. Plus they are a cool bunch and I enjoy a morning at the shop drinking coffee and picking their brains.
134k miles on my car. Only had alignment issues twice. First when it was new. Radius rod bushings (along with full Pedders suspension) fixed that. The other time was last year when a tie rod went out. I have it checked often since my wife works in service but it's never out.
I replaced the tie rod ends a few months ago. The new ones were of the same exact measurements. Very convenient, I thought. The car still pulled like it did after traversing that damn speed bump. Just a few days ago, I checked tire pressures. All four corners were equally low, at 25 pounds. Remember 'equally' because the car then magically began tracking straight after adding 5 pounds to each. Still can't figure out this one.
So, at the moment, no alignment until doing a full suspension rebuild. I will do a tire rotation before the weather turns, though.
I don't remember exactly but the steering wheel was never straight, car pulled inconsistently and if I got on the brakes hard the tire would practically contact the wheel well.
The other problem was I'd get an alignment check and everything would show good - when static on the alignment rig. Drive the car and everything would go out of wack.
Pedders RR bushing we're a necessary investment and are still functioning properly after many years and many miles.
I don't remember exactly but the steering wheel was never straight, car pulled inconsistently and if I got on the brakes hard the tire would practically contact the wheel well.
The other problem was I'd get an alignment check and everything would show good - when static on the alignment rig. Drive the car and everything would go out of wack.
Pedders RR bushing we're a necessary investment and are still functioning properly after many years and many miles.
Yeah, I'm not too suspecting of the RR bushings because I have Noltec bits on both the front and the rear, and this problem existed when they were brand new. Also not getting inconsistent pulling or odd behavior under braking.
That sounds similar though, I would get it aligned but then either something went out of whack immediately, or the alignment got smurfed over time. Usually after an alignment, the car tracks straight, but the steering wheel is turned slightly to the right. I thought maybe that was just due to road crown, but one time, I went back to the place that aligned it and said that the wheel wasn't straight, so he had me hold it in place where I wanted it and checked it again. The odd thing I noticed was as soon as he loosened up the machine, the wheel just turned to the right slightly... weird.
I'll see what happens on Monday.. hopefully if there is something odd these guys can pin it down.
Does anyone have an idea of what the alignment specs should be on these cars? I have a rack at work and can do it myself, id just like to know what specs are best to set it up as. Currently lowered on BC coilovers and have whiteline strut bushings and radius rod bushings.
My alignment guy wasn't tightening the retaining screw on the front struts. That bastard. I can tell if you a lowered car just a slight change in tire pressure can change the alignment of the steering wheel.
Hey,
I'm new but have been following the Google links here for years since I started working on my car.
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Hey All,
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