4 wheel alignment - HELP

[alnug]

hello all,

I did a 4 wheel computerised alignment as it was the same price as a normal alignment and got a print out too. I know it is quite pointless because my rear is torsion bars and front is only Toe adjustable, but i wasnted to see what the overall tracking was like.

The front was fine camber and toe wise, however the rear was not so good, both camber was out and the toe out for one side seems out by a bit as well...thats probably why my car drifts to the left.

My question is can this be improved? Bobrte...are you there....how does Renault check this? is there anything that can be done?

 

[lofty]

it a huge con,

the print oput simply is proof fot the fitters that there is no come back, i.e it was straight when you left here, also there is not adjustment at the rear, and no one in thier right mind would have the time or inclinication to adjust the camber,

tracking is setting straight anything that has been taken up in the rack, no more no less, dont pay more than £15 for it, also the old dunlop gauges are better IMO,

if you dont believe me then fine, but its a fact

 

[alnug]

NO no i dont mean its a con they did a good job, the reason i took it to another place was becasue when i had renault do the tracking the sterring wheel came back off center and the steering just did not feel right......after having it done at this place steering wheel is straight and steering feels fine.

The question is mainly about the offspec toe at the back...was just wondering if any peeps have checked alignment at back?

 

[Just Bob]

Hi alnug.

I have read your post and can only confirm that the rear suspension is NOT adjustable. Unless you are suffering with a particular handling problem or excessive tyre wear, I would leave it be. The only real cure would be to replace the whole beam axle and even then it is not assured that the measurements would be correct.

We use a SUN 4 wheel alignment tool and we have to measure the underbody heights as laid down in the manual. If these figures are only guessed at (to save the technicain time) the readings may be false.

All Renault models tend to be camber sensitive (road camber that is) and do have a tendancy to drift to the left on heavily cambered roads. Another cause generally, is front tyres. Try swopping the front wheels across the axle to see if the car now pulls to the right. If so, then its a tyre problem. If you have directional tyres, only do this as a test, dont leave the wheels in these positions.

Hope that helps.

Bob RTE

 

[alnug]

cheers for the reply, do i take it that dealers have different systems? Just curious

 

[kevt]

Since we are on the topic of camber setting, my front left camber setting is at 1 degree neg and my front right is at 50 mins neg. Beside the tires being wornup unevenly, should I be concern with the setting? I use my Clio(1.4) mainly for street driving and once in a while on the track.

Thanks...

 

[DTWD]

When i got my alloys fitted they did a 4 wheel alightment and told me my front 2 where out. They altered it all and now the steering wheel is off centre. I have no idea if the driving is ok or not as it changed the feel of the car when i had the wider wheels fitted. It annoyed the hell out of me it not being straight at first, but now i got used to it its fine. But it might be advantages to get it checked again I suppose.



Paul

 

[kevt]

Paul, when I was doing my wheel alignment, they only set the toe of both the front tyres. I know that the back camber and the toe cant be adjusted but kinda surprise that the front camber cant be adjusted too...at least that is what I was told when I was doing the alignment. But they did centre my steering wheel after the alignment.