Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Suspension Suspension issue after allignment?

I needed new tires and bought Cooper Zero ZPT's all around. Drove the car 2 miles home and 2 miles the next day for a four wheel allignment.

Since then the car does not seem right at all with the exception of it goes straight. Feels like the rear end is catching up to the car and is real loose say going into a corner while braking (I am sure there is a better way to explain but that is the best I could come up with). To put it simply, it just is not handling like it was before the allignment with balding tires.

Could they have botched the allignemnt or possibly broke something? My first instict says possibly something with the sway bar.

Any suggestions, comments, etc are appreciated. Car has 67,000 miles on it with all OEM suspension parts.

Thanks,

If the alignment is way off spec, that could do it. A lot of toe will make for an unstable car. It's probably not a swaybar issue, since they shouldn't have touched it. Also, you may have pretty slippery tires if they're still working off the mold release. Did you get the specs for the alignment?

I should have gotten the spec. sheet but of course did not think about it at the time. Been 2 weeks and I am sure is long gone. Have only put on about 200 miles on the car since the tire/allignment work.

..."working off the mold release". Never heard of that, can you give me more info?

Tires are formed in molds. There is a slick substance used to help them come out easily, called "mold release". After a few miles it's gone, but it's the reason brand-new tires are a little slick to the touch, and it makes them slide easily as soon as they are put on. However, it's well gone after 200 miles.

Thanks Philip.

Can you or anyone else tell me what the allignment spec's should be? I plan on taking the car back to where the work was done tomorrow morning.

Some alignment machines store the alignment readings and they can be printed later. It is worth asking for.

Front caster and camber are not adjustable unless you have added camber kits.

Rear caster does not apply. Rear camber is not adjustable.

Caster and camber should be checked to conform that they are not way off and that they are reasonably even from side to side.

Assuming that you have camber kits, you want the front camber to be low enough to wear even and to have enough negative camber to improve cornering. The magic number seems to vary from one car to another. Roughly about 1.0 degree of negative camber seems to work. More than that and you risk inside edge tire wear. I have mine set nearly to zero.

With camber kits installed, you cannot get too much caster. Camber and caster are set at the same time. Make sure that the caster is on the + side, not the negative side. Mine ended up near 3.0 degrees.

Make sure that the caster and camber are even from one to the other. If unable to get them even, allow the right caster to be slightly higher (up to 1/2 degree). Alternatively, allow the camber to be slightly lower on the right side. This slight difference will help compensate for road crown.

Once the front caster and camber is qualified check the rear camber. I don't remember the spec there, but it is seldom a problem. The alignment tech will need to check. It seems like it should be in the range of -.25 to -.5 degree. Unless it is way off and needs replacement of bent parts or frame straightening proceed with setting the rear toe.

Rear toe should be even, should be as close to zero as reasonably possible while still remaining slightly toed in.

Now, front toe is set. Front toe is indexed to the rear. The reading of front to rear relationship is the "thrust angle". Thrust angle should be zero. Although there is a slight variance allowed, it is best to get it right on zero and he should be able to obtain that. The final front toe reading should be as close to zero as possible while being slightly toed out (the opposite of the rear).