Front wheels

[meganwilkinson2008]

Hi has anyone got any advice on the following matter. I have replaced all my front suspension bushes with poly and had new tyres all round .The front wheels when looking at the front of the car from a distance give the appearance of going out at the top compared to the bottom. Have had the tracking checked at a local garage and they said it was fine. I wondered if this is normal. The tyres haven't worn enough yet to show any wear.

[MarkyB]

There should be large washers behind the eye bolt bushes that go into the chassis legs.
Make sure they are present and correct and on the eye bolt side.

[kevin s]

The specified camber angle (angle of tilt from vertical) is 0 to slightly positive, which means whhels further in at bottom than top which is what you have, this used to be pretty common practice with crossply tyres, modern cars generaly have slight negatve camber, on the minor you can adust the camber by means of washers under the eye bolts if you wish to.

Kevin

[meganwilkinson2008]

Many thanks for the replies have put my mind at rest.Will check the eye bolts tomorrow. Thanks again.

[bmcecosse]

Add washers if you can until the wheels are vertical, or very slightly leaning in at the top - a spirit level or plumb bob will help with this (on a dead flat surface of course..) - and then retrack the steering........ Is your car sitting unnaturally high at the front?

[meganwilkinson2008]

Hi thanks for reply. No my car sits level but like i say the wheels go out at the top and in at the bottom which can be easily seen from a distance.I have purchased some of the washers in question from david manners today and will have a go tomorrow.Can i ask do i place the level against the wheel ?. Have noticed today that the outer edge of my new tyres are just feathering a little so need to get it sorted asap. Thanks for all the help any advice is appreciated.

[mowogg]

I made some corrections to mine last year. As stated earlier you need to find a level surface to do this on as it will not work if you don't have this.

I cut up a piece of wood that fitted to the edge of the outer rim of the wheel. If i recall correctly you need to pack this out at each end, so it can fit over the ventral hub. Without this you cannot measure the upright due to the tyre.

Once you have the wooden spacer made up, measuring the angle was simple, using a spirit level ontop of the wooden spacer. To work out how much each sided needed to be adjusted I placed the packing washers between the level and the wood at the same height as the eye bolt.

i have probably made this sound more complex that it was. Once you have the wood, and a level piece of ground it works. a slight variation in the surface really does mess up the measurement. I tired it first on my drive which drops 40mm over 2 meters. I get completely different results compared to a level surface.

[meganwilkinson2008]

Absolutely brilliant many thanks to mowogg that was what was worrying me,working out how many washers i needed. Out of interest did you need less one side to the other ? Thanks again clear as day that description.

[mowogg]

Yes I did need different number of washers each side. I understand that this was fairly typical from new.

[bmcecosse]

As above - but to double check your results - turn the car round and measure again. Don't use the 'U' washers that let water in.... Ok for a trial fit etc - but once you know what thickness you need - change them for solid washers, which does of course mean a bit of a strip down. Good chance to fit poly bushes while in there......

[meganwilkinson2008]

Thanks for all the help.Found that one side which has had a chassis leg fitted at some time had no washer at all and needed one to level the other needed three.Have been for a run and the steering feels the best ever.when i got back home i put it in the garage the other way round and checked it again and they seem to be bang on just need to get the tracking checked again.Thanks again.

[bmcecosse]

Well done - the tracking will be WELL out now !