Scoobedoo

Hello,

I've recently had a 4 wheel alignment check/adjust on my WRX03. I returned the vehicle shortly after driving away from the premises because the steering wheel was considerably offset to the left when holding a straight line.

The engineer said it wasn't a problem and ramped up the vehicle to make an adjustment. He returned the vehicle back to me and its pretty much spot on now but not perfect.

He said there was a something on the rack he had slightly adjusted to change the steering poisition but DOESN'T effect the tracking.

Does anyone know what he adjusted?


Cheers

fastfit

The only thing he could've moved is the track rod adjusters, this does and will change the tracking settings. If they didn't put the gauges on to adjust it the second time, your tracking will be out. Take it back and make them do it right, or give you your money back.

fastfit

to straighten it you adjust both sides to centre the rack to the steering wheel. sounds to me like they didn't have the steering wheel straight the first time they did it.

paulwrxboro

I had 19s fitted to my car when i got in the steering wheel was well to the left i went and got the tracking done at a high spec place got in and the wheel was perfect .I was thinking tracking right steering right

fastfit

usually you could be right, but not always, I tracked a car today, a 04 plate m3, killed the front tyres in 4000m. on test drive didn't pull at all, on the gauges the readings showed it was out by 14mm, (yes thats a lot).

craigdmcd

iTrader: (2)

He could have pulled the universal joint off at the steering column to rack and moved it a spline or two
Craig

Scoobedoo

Firstly, i mis informed you about something he adjusted in the middle of the rack (dunno where I got that from)

I spoke to the garage again today and asked him (AGAIN) why it was out so much and what he did to rectify it...

The answer was roughly like this:

He reckons when the front was adjusted and when he moved onto the rear he must have knocked the steering off centre. He said he knew the front was track 100% ok though.

(i presume the rear must have been tracked to an incorrect front alignment??)

He then said because he knew front and rear was ok he could tweak a rod on either side the same amount (1/16th) to bring the steering back in line.

He also assures me this method is 100% fine and he being an ex-race track car tuner knows this can be done.

To be in all honesty, the car drives fine now, tracks straight and doesn't drift like it did previous. I'm sure I'd be noticing something wierd if it were done wrong??

Is there any possibilty this guy might be talking sense?

fastfit

He then said because he knew front and rear was ok he could tweak a rod on either side the same amount (1/16th) to bring the steering back in line.

He also assures me this method is 100% fine and he being an ex-race track car tuner knows this can be done.

To be in all honesty, the car drives fine now, tracks straight and doesn't drift like it did previous. I'm sure I'd be noticing something wierd if it were done wrong??

Is there any possibilty this guy might be talking sense?[/QUOTE] he's sort of making sense, although I think he's not explaining himself very well. you can in theory just tweak each adjuster a 1/16th of a turn, but myself I would put the gauges on to be sure. just a thought, but makes you wonder why he's an ex race track tuner!

Scoobedoo

hehe, yes, it does beg that question doesn't it... coz he was unsuccessful at what he did. Who knows, maybe he get paid better at this place?

he said he's done it plenty of times to be proficient so I kinda taking his word for it.

Its going in for a service soon so I might insist they re-check it again for free.

Thanks for the comments

craigdmcd

iTrader: (2)

I work for Mercedes and am one of their top technicians on the geometry machine, and I have done plenty of geometry's where the machine ( a £20000 Beissbarth state of the art thing) tells me that I have set the car perfectly, but when I drive the car, the steering wheel is very slightly out, so I adjust the track-rods evenly by 1/16th, 1/8th or what ever it takes to straighten the wheel, as long as both are adjusted evenly (ie one in and one out). Never had any come backs in all my time there. As for the guy being an ex track mechanic, making money out of motorsport is never easy and can be quite seasonal, wheras us muppets will throw cash at our cars all year round and usually pay on the spot

Craig

Scoobedoo

Hi Craig,
Thanks for the comments. It reassuring to hear other peoples view on this subject. Its amazing how making such small adjustments can have such a large effect on things like steering wheel alignment.
My steering wheel is ok but not perfect (slight bias to the left) but I get the impression once you feckle with tracking its never going to be the same.
Thing is, if a 1/16th tweak moves the wheel a large amount, how much do you turn to make a tiny movement.... 1/32th???.. can you even judge such a minute movement?


Cheers