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wheel alignment

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wheel alignment

Postby half65 » Wed Feb 11, 2015 7:55 pm

I have an Opel Wizard and put 4 new tyres on it about 6 months ago, At the same time had a wheel alignment, I notice it always squeals when turning on paint lines, More noticeable in the Mall carpark and leaves black marks on the concrete,on full lock This was a problem before the wheel alignment ,but they assured me that the alignment was real close to right. Today I got a warrent and the front were down 2mm from the back on tread depth So I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem
I dont know for sure but I tend to think the wizard data on the alignment machine is not for my model. My w/s manual says trooper, I am going to check the ride height first and see if that is out before anything else, I know it was not done last wheel align

OK new morning Looking at the book, the measurement is from the bottom ball joint to the pin Now if you have had a replacement ball joint done with an after market one, it could be longer or shorter that genuine So that measurement would be hard to get.They dont list a measurement from the pin to ground, that would make life a lot easier.
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Re: wheel alignment

Postby geeves » Thu Feb 12, 2015 1:53 pm

after market parts are pretty good at matching original size if not quality. I would not fret about this
First question. Measure tread depth in 3 places across tyre. Are the measurements the same including between all 4 wheels?
second question run a hand over the tread on each tyre do any of them feel like a saw blade or file. This can indicate a scuffing tyre do to bad alignment.
third question What tyres do you have? Muds can be notorious to measure accurately I had a set that went up 2mm between wofs Also some tyres do wear faster than others
Final question how far and how hard do you drive? 2mm wear on a taxi or courier would be quite good as that could be 20000km of use but just driving to church on a sunday this would be quite bad. Also leaving rubber on every bend is never going to give good tyre life.
There are a few more questions after these are answered
Sanding your knuckles before starting work can help. That way you cant skin them
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Re: wheel alignment

Postby mattmannz » Thu Feb 12, 2015 6:04 pm

The fronts will always wear quicker than the rears. As long as the wear is even across the tyre then its unlikely there is an alignment issue.
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Re: wheel alignment

Postby geeves » Thu Feb 12, 2015 6:09 pm

wear on the outside might not be an alignment issue. Not driving like a nana also wears the outsides but so can low tyre pressures
Sanding your knuckles before starting work can help. That way you cant skin them
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Re: wheel alignment

Postby half65 » Wed May 11, 2016 1:24 pm

I,m usually light on tyres and brakes. I always fill my tyres with nitrogen .34 PSI and I have only done 15.000km since the last alignment. I am running Savero AT plus 235/75/R15
Anyway I took the beast into a wheel alignment shop to get it done right, and the first thing they told me was my top bushes were worn, and I had a loose wheel bearing LH So they showed me the play, and I read about doing it and thought for all the hassles of getting the bushes out, without access to a press For the first time in my life, I decided to let the local garage do it. I bought the bushes trade and got them to fit them $300 job done.I took the wheel bearing out and repacked it with my good grease and reset it to the book , all good. So back to the alignment shop friday
The lesson learned is that tyre shops dont look to hard at the reasons for bad alignment, They want to sell tyres
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Re: wheel alignment

Postby geeves » Wed May 11, 2016 1:31 pm

Both those faults are reason to fail a wof so its not just the alignment guys
Sanding your knuckles before starting work can help. That way you cant skin them
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Re: wheel alignment

Postby half65 » Wed May 11, 2016 1:51 pm

Yes VTNZ did it last 5 months ago Cant see the bushes wearing out that quick
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Re: wheel alignment

Postby geeves » Wed May 11, 2016 3:03 pm

The original rubber bushes fail slowly as they age and even new do allow a fair bit of movement. Poly bushes have little movement but if used off road you can guarantee they will squeak. As far as Im concerned the jury is out on which last longer esspecially if used off road. The rubber ones flex internally but polys have to move and twist. That means abrasive mud can eat them fairly quickly.
Also they dont allow lateral movement although thats not an issue on these bushes
Sanding your knuckles before starting work can help. That way you cant skin them
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Re: wheel alignment

Postby half65 » Fri May 13, 2016 12:22 pm

All done at John Bates Wheel alignment $65 NZat the local tyre shop and only $82NZ at a alignment shop, why bother with a tyre shop
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Re: wheel alignment

Postby mudslinger » Thu May 19, 2016 7:16 pm

the bushes could've been on there way out and 5 months ago they may not have been bad enough to pick up the movement a lot can happen in 15000km and also wheel bearings normally need adjusting once or twice a year. 15000km is 5000km overdue for a wheel alignment, its recommended that they be done every 10000km also when getting the wheel alignment done a rotation should have occurred.
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Re: wheel alignment

Postby nivaman » Thu Jun 23, 2016 3:00 pm

geeves wrote:Both those faults are reason to fail a wof so its not just the alignment guys

Interesting you say that, mine failed on a passenger side seat belt but not on the left front top ball joint that I discovered had play in it.
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Re: wheel alignment

Postby geeves » Thu Jun 23, 2016 6:38 pm

They often miss something. Theres 30 or so items on the check list and some of those cover several bits. ie steering mechanism is wheel bearings 6 ball joints 2 u joints a steering box a idler joint the power steer hoses the pump and the outer fan belts Suspension mechanism is even worse. Cars are not checked by computers and a lot of us are glad about that
Sanding your knuckles before starting work can help. That way you cant skin them
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