2002 X/C AWD Car out of alignment but techs cant tell me why

matty3420 · Post by **matty3420** » 14 Aug 2014, 10:27

Ok, I am new to volvo's and my brother in law got me hooked. Have an issue when I purchased the car the alignment was way off. I took it in today and they stated they could not get it 100% corrected. He stated the driver side hub assembly needs replaced, that both the control arms are bad, passenger front sway bar needs replaced, and he thinks the reason they can't get it close to perfect is because the struts currently on it (which are newer) are not the right ones for the vehicle. What I'm trying to figure out is where I can start to fix the camber issue for the front. The rear alignment is fine.
Here are the read outs from the alignment shop before and then after:
Driver front: -2.5 deg 13/32"
Passenger Front: -2.4 deg 7/16"
Combined front: 27/32"

After alignment:
driver front: -2.5 deg 1/16"
passenger front: -2.4 deg 1/16"
combined front: 1/8"

From what I understand the camber degree should be around -.3 deg.
I do not know what I need to fix to correct this issue. I'm a diy guy and tires aren't something I know about. I do know the toe is correct it is just the camber that is out of spec.
Any help you can offer would be great.
Thanks

draser · Post by **draser** » 14 Aug 2014, 11:15

Need to make sure all bushings, ball joints are in good order - no play. Then the shop needs to do a baseline reading. Are tires wearing on the outside only?

Post by **rmmagow** » 14 Aug 2014, 11:35

Bad lower control arms on my V70 really wrecked a set of tires quickly. If the struts aren't correct I'm guessing you have a bigger problem though. Front ends on these cars need to have parts in good condition. Do you have ant wheel bearing hum? Have you tried the wiggle test to feel for front-end play?

matty3420 · Post by **matty3420** » 14 Aug 2014, 13:14

Draser,
so basically check the control arms and if loose, replace. The old tires wore terribly on the outside. Had to replace them with new tires today
mmagow,
the hub assembly will be replaced tomorrow hopefully.

Post by **oragex** » 14 Aug 2014, 15:28

On the original struts, there is a camber adjustment using the two lower bolts of the strut. Actually, only the upper bolt has an horizontal adjustment for the camber.

draser · Post by **draser** » 14 Aug 2014, 16:48

The strut bolts allow for an adjustment of about 1 degree. Based on your readings it sounds like worn suspension components.

Post by **precopster** » 16 Aug 2014, 04:49

The adjustment is actually by the factory elongating the upper knuckle hole. The strut's holes are perfectly round. When you scribe them before removal you actually scratch the knuckle which is made of alloy.

nwsst@ · Post by **nwsst@** » 15 Aug 2016, 03:54

If your struts were by some chance replaced with struts for a standard V70 then they will be too short,
Alignment will suffer.