Help With Understanding My Alignment Results

[bad inferno]

Hi,

Looked at my front tyres yesterday and they have taken the inside corner/edge off really bad. Its like a 45 degree angle (probably 2cm) have worn down I would say nearly to the belts. There is more wear on the side wall than the tread ! The rears have worn very evenly.

I had SSL fitted and the "toe" only alignment done. However when I look at the camber front and rear its kind of the same so assume the camber is not really causing this servere edge only wear. The front camber is also not even,a s you will see below, however both fronts suffer the same problem

Before I go into Pedders or a tyre store can someone enlighten me on the probbaly cause based upon the attached alignment sheet which was done when the car was lowered.

2010 FG XR50T,

thanks

Edited 11/03/14 12:49 AM by bad inferno

[senna_T]

Looks like a case of bad caster bushes more than the alignment specs.

you could probably run a little more toe in as a quick and cheap fix, however the caster bushes are very soft and they will be allowing the alignment to move around quite a bit.

Changing the caster bushes and upper inner control arm bushes will improve the response in the front end but it will also extend the life of the tyres greatly.

[Ralph Wiggum]

P@ is 100% on the money.

It amazes me that Ford completely redesigned the front end AU/BA/F to FG and still managed to engineer in the same basic problem!

[bad inferno]

thanks for the feedback, a little bit of knowledge on where I am at now goes a long way in trying to make commitments on what to do/spend.

[bad inferno]

When I had my alignment after lowering they told me they cannot do anything with the camber so I paid 160.00 for a toe only job on 4 wheels. However after calling around yesterday went in to see another tyre chain who wanted me to come in so they could take a look. To my surprise when they looked under the bonnet they said they could take alot of the camber out with shims, I pressed them on a camber kit however he was confident there was enough to just shim $70.00 + $110 for alignment... alot better than the 450 or 640 prices I got from two stores for a front only camber kit.

Edited 13/03/14 02:33 AM by bad inferno

[Ralph Wiggum]

Changing camber is not going to fix your issue tho. As P@ has said above, your castor bushes are the likely cause.

When you're braking the worn castor bushes allow the lower control arm to move backwards, as its fixed at one end by the inner bushes and the steering linkage length doesn't change, the wheels toe angles when the arm moves back and this causes the inner shoulder to scrub.

[silkhammer]

  On 13/03/2014 at 2:36 AM, Ralph Wiggum said:

Changing camber is not going to fix your issue though. As P@ has said above, your castor bushes are the likely cause.

When you're braking the worn castor bushes allow the lower control arm to move backwards, as its fixed at one end by the inner bushes and the steering linkage length doesn't change, the wheels toe angles when the arm moves back and this causes the inner shoulder to scrub.

This makes sense.

I've just found my front two tyres absolutely destroyed on the inside edge, particularly the front right - not the whole inside band as the car has always worn a bit at the front, but literally the inside 5mm has been torn off. The "alignment" guys are saying is is due to excessive camber, but I keep insisting it feels like it is toe-ing out under brakes (it's wandering around like buggery). And the camber is at about 1.4deg on the RH and 1.8deg on the LH, they've always been more than 1deg since new and generally it has worn the insides more than the outsides, but not too badly and I've still been able to get down to nearly the tread-wear indicators in the middle before the inside got too bad. Also, if it was camber then the LH should be worse that the right, which is the opposite of the fact. I really think it is toe out under brakes, and because of the slight crown of the road I have to steer slightly to the right of neutral which means the inside edge of the right tyre has copped a caning.

My question then is (and please excuse my ignorance) - are the "castor bushes" in the lower arm that runs forward on a 45deg angle from the bottom of the hub and connects to the subframe just ahead of the sway-bar? Can you buy and fit replacement bushes yourself or will Ford only sell you the whole castor arm? And is there a more durable option which does not completely ruin the NVH of the front end?

Thanks.

[senna_T]

You can buy Super Pro bushes that are firmer than original, I would suggest a workshop fit them though as the bushes are steel cased and you will need a machine press.