PDA

View Full Version : Alignment issues - not slammed



njpnoy05
11-28-2012, 05:18 PM
I have d2 coilovers installed. 2 months ago when they were first installed I was pretty low - barely closing the wheel gap on all four corners. Alignment was done but I felt like the guy didnt know what he was doing. I can clearly see there was still some toe in. So I raise it up to stock height pretty much and get another alignment from someone else. Different mechanic tells me he can't zero out the toe on my passenger side and I'm seeing the wear in the tire. Anyone have any idea why he can't zero it out?

I also replaced tie rod ends at the time of the coilover install. When I told him that he said that my rack and pinion needs to be centered?

black05ep
11-28-2012, 06:57 PM
All i can think is one side was adjusted so far that you have no more room. All he should have has to do is back out the inner ford and readjust everything.

ep3colin
11-28-2012, 08:19 PM
Some fuckers are dumb as shit, last time I got my alignment done he zeroed the toe (close enough at least) but when I drove off my steering wheel is crooked, and it was straight when I went in that day

Go to firestone and get a lifetime alignment

njpnoy05
11-29-2012, 06:31 AM
All i can think is one side was adjusted so far that you have no more room. All he should have has to do is back out the inner ford and readjust everything.

He said that there were no more threads left. So the tie rod ends should be taken out and then reinstalled that way it's even on both sides?

differentK
11-29-2012, 07:48 AM
i ran into the same issues when aligning my car- i picked up DV race custom adjustable tie rods- problem solved.

http://www.dvrace.com/tierods.html

b_ron
11-29-2012, 08:14 AM
Some fuckers are dumb as shit, last time I got my alignment done he zeroed the toe (close enough at least) but when I drove off my steering wheel is crooked, and it was straight when I went in that day

Go to firestone and get a lifetime alignment

I have this lifetime alignment, and they hate it when you lower your car. There's only 1 around me that actually has wooden blocks for their alignment racks for those who are lowered (not slammed), which my buddy works at.
Firestone also don't do custom alignment, they just do factory specs.

I've been to 4+ different firestones around me. Few do alright, one did pretty bad, one says they cant do alignment on "modified" suspension and refused.

njpnoy05
11-29-2012, 10:26 AM
I could see having trouble getting a proper alignment when lowered (tie rod angle, excessive toe in/run out of threads to zero toe, getting on the alignment rack), but I raised the car back up to stock height and my tie rod still ran out of threads.

b_ron
11-29-2012, 04:31 PM
On both sides?

njpnoy05
11-29-2012, 06:46 PM
No just the passenger side

Her-Name's-Ally
11-30-2012, 07:48 AM
weird what type of outer tie rods are you using? oem?

wayfastwhitey84
11-30-2012, 07:51 AM
You need to find a shop that knows what they are doing. I have fixed more than one "alignment" that firestone has done, just saying.

njpnoy05
11-30-2012, 11:49 AM
Moog tie rod ends. The shop I went to is reputable on b20vtec.com and he's owned an ep3 and works on Rsx's

wayfastwhitey84
11-30-2012, 02:52 PM
When i was running BC n+ I was low and NEVER had a problem aligning mine. Take of the Moogs and put some oem quality ends on it or get inverted TREs

SkareKrow
12-02-2012, 12:12 AM
When i was running BC n+ I was low and NEVER had a problem aligning mine. Take of the Moogs and put some oem quality ends on it or get inverted TREs

Hey Whitey. I had a question about the buddy club n+'s... Ill pm you.

¶SK¬

wayfastwhitey84
12-05-2012, 09:33 AM
Hey Whitey. I had a question about the buddy club n+'s... Ill pm you.

¶SK¬


ok

njpnoy05
01-12-2013, 07:04 PM
Just wanted to bring this back up to see if I should unscrew the tie rod end to get more threads...but I'm thinking as I unscrew the tie rod end I'll be adjusting it to have more toe in; what I need is more toe out to get it back to zero. What if I turn the steering wheel to adjust the length of tie rod when when I'm installing the tie rod ends? Tires are balding on the outer side of the tire. Stock height...not slammed. If you guys want pictures of my height and of the tie rod end to show that I have no more threads to screw into to get toe out let me know.

Her-Name's-Ally
01-12-2013, 07:59 PM
that means you have + camber which = no bueno. get and alignment and camber adjustment together. its about $90. count threads and make sure each tie rod is the same distance before you do so

njpnoy05
01-12-2013, 08:18 PM
Aright so unscrew the tie rod end so that it's even on both sides and then get an alignment...just want this to be done right

Her-Name's-Ally
01-12-2013, 08:51 PM
Assuming you're using the ones they should be symmetrical

tinman5
01-13-2013, 08:28 AM
You are encountering the same problem I did when I switched coilovers. On my Super Streets even with a drop of about 2.5" everything aligned properly and to spec. However I did notice the passenger side was close to maxed out on toe adjustment while the driver side still had plenty of threads left.
Flash forward (or backwards I guess), my passenger front strut blows its oil seal so I pick up a set of Function Form 2's. After install without messing with any other settings I could see the passenger side was toed in even before replacing the wheel.
I let the coils settle for a few days before setting the height again and replaced both rod ends with new ones and sure enough, even with the rod end fully threaded, the passenger side was still toed in. Enough pull to the left that when driving the steering wheel went from the 12 o' clock position to about 2 o'clock while driving straight. Not good at all.
My temporary solution was to go back in there and remove the jam nut. This bought me a much needed thread or so. At this point the front end was noticeably straighter, but still just outside of spec. I went in there again and with a cut off wheel removed 2 full threads from the tie rod. At this point I was able to set the front end to zero(ish) toe. She drives straight and true but there is a tad bit of wander only on heavy braking and I think that is more camber related than toe.
All that being said, she aligns to spec BUT there is no jam nut on the passenger side. I have since had a friend make me an adjustable rod. Nothing fancy, simply cut a stock tie rod near the center, removed about 2 inches and welded in a bolt to one side and a nut on the other. The two pieces are then assembled with a jam nut in between to lock in the length just like the rod end is secured to the rod. Simple and effective.

SkareKrow
01-13-2013, 09:54 AM
Reading through this entire thread... Sounds like the problem I had with my Toe it was litterally toe in and rubbing in the / \ fender wells... This was though after I did my 5 lug conversion on my 02 ep3 to an 03 DC5-S... Well after a few weeks of trying to figure it out. I even got Deviant Race Tie Rods and fixed the toe... But since it fixed it.. From this / \ to this | | perfect 0-0 ... about 5 months later I almost killed myself... My stainless Steel Brake lines Burst.....


From so much more Turning Ratio... So I finally had a buddy tell me. You might have had the horrible luck I had at getting ripped off by buying Bent Knuckles.... Kept me wondering for a whole week...


So I lifted my ep on stands and started distmantling the entire braking system...

I found a guy parting out An 06 DC5-S well I pulled everything off of it... I even took one of my front knuckles and his knuckle was Straight. Mine was slightly bent....


Well got home and started putting it all back on and I even removed dvracing Tie Rods and well put the stock ones back on and Then took it for an alignment... Tada. Firestone by the way.

Perfect Toe, 0-0 all around.
Try checking if your knuckle might be bent. Just a thought.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

njpnoy05
01-14-2013, 11:40 AM
Reading through this entire thread... Sounds like the problem I had with my Toe it was litterally toe in and rubbing in the / \ fender wells... This was though after I did my 5 lug conversion on my 02 ep3 to an 03 DC5-S... Well after a few weeks of trying to figure it out. I even got Deviant Race Tie Rods and fixed the toe... But since it fixed it.. From this / \ to this | | perfect 0-0 ... about 5 months later I almost killed myself... My stainless Steel Brake lines Burst.....


From so much more Turning Ratio... So I finally had a buddy tell me. You might have had the horrible luck I had at getting ripped off by buying Bent Knuckles.... Kept me wondering for a whole week...


So I lifted my ep on stands and started distmantling the entire braking system...

I found a guy parting out An 06 DC5-S well I pulled everything off of it... I even took one of my front knuckles and his knuckle was Straight. Mine was slightly bent....


Well got home and started putting it all back on and I even removed dvracing Tie Rods and well put the stock ones back on and Then took it for an alignment... Tada. Firestone by the way.

Perfect Toe, 0-0 all around.
Try checking if your knuckle might be bent. Just a thought.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

I never even thought of that..I did a 5 lug conversion too.

SkareKrow
01-14-2013, 12:18 PM
I never even thought of that..I did a 5 lug conversion too.

Believe me a nightmare and my 5 lug which I thought was cheap for 300$ ended up coming to cost over 1000$ and Im not done yet. want to get front drilled and slotted rotors. =) hopefully my long story helps.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

njpnoy05
04-22-2013, 02:56 PM
Installed OEM honda tie rod ends, lowered my car, and got an alignment:

Front toe
Driver side toe: -0.05 degrees
Passenger side toe: 0.20 degrees

Front camber
Driver side camber: -1.0 degrees
Passenger side camber: -0.3 degrees

I told the guy to adjust the camber first but he didn't even touch it and only adjusted the toe. Same issue..he ran out of threads on the passenger side. Will more negative camber on the passenger side bring the toe out a little bit closer to zero? I'm trying to fix this issue before I throw on my new set of tires

rd02SiR
04-22-2013, 03:45 PM
bring it to a real professional. You are going to pay more, but they know how, and do things the proper way.

SkareKrow
04-22-2013, 04:03 PM
bring it to a real professional. You are going to pay more, but they know how, and do things the proper way.

:smile:

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

rd02SiR
04-23-2013, 06:10 PM
I just came back from the alignment shop after the Buddy club RCA and new tie rod ends.

Camber -2.5 front -1.5 rear

0* toe front and back.

Car handels great now, much more predictable mid corner.

Hasbro
04-23-2013, 06:37 PM
I just came back from the alignment shop after the Buddy club RCA and new tie rod ends.

Camber -2.5 front -1.5 rear

0* toe front and back.

Car handels great now, much more predictable mid corner.

I'm curious to see the wear and mileage you get on your tires with -2.5/1.5. Are you still on Star Specs? Is this all road? I'm moving to ZIIs and just went to about -2 camber.

rd02SiR
04-24-2013, 08:06 AM
Really, the tire wear is pretty decent. My tie rod ends were fucked, so I had one tire get eaten, but the rest are doing good. Been running -2.5/-1.5 for some time now. It's the toe that eats tires.

Yes I'm on star spec z1. Thinking of going to a 225/45/16 ZII. but affraid of rubbing.


Sent from my awful auto correcting iPhone using Tapatalk

Hasbro
04-25-2013, 11:25 PM
Really, the tire wear is pretty decent. My tie rod ends were fucked, so I had one tire get eaten, but the rest are doing good. Been running -2.5/-1.5 for some time now. It's the toe that eats tires.

Yes I'm on star spec z1. Thinking of going to a 225/45/16 ZII. but affraid of rubbing.


Sent from my awful auto correcting iPhone using Tapatalk

Good to hear. That's the size I'm going with. I'm debating trying to have my Kumho XSes survive until the Rivals come out with 225/45/16s this summer. My 225/50s on 8.5" with +37 offset required a little work, not much and they are the same width as the 45s. The rears also needed 5mm specers and the fronts are 10 mm wider from the R lca.

slo_k20
05-14-2013, 07:15 PM
I lowered my car on Rokkor (Raceland) coilovers last May and encountered the lack of toe adjustment problem as well. Some guys have not had the issue with their oem tie rod ends but not in my case. Problem solved with T1R Inverted tie rod ends, ep3 spec. Don't make the mistake of buying RSX spec ones like I did, it can be a little unclear on some vendors' websites.

Also, I took my car to a normal privately owned alignment shop because the toe was sooooo bad. After dealing with them, I have experienced lots of headaches lol. I recently found a tuning shop in my area that does alignments and specializes on lowered cars. So find a shop that knows what they are doing!