Alignment issues 70 series

Post by **SonicAdventure** » 25 Oct 2018, 13:53

For a long time, my car would only track straight down the road on a highway if you had the steering wheel cocked at about 12:30-1:00.

I had to replace a tire the other day and I had the guy do an alignment. Now, with the steering wheel dead center the car will go straight for 30-40 feet at low speeds on a flat concrete parking garage surface, but at highway speed / conditions, the wheel has to be cocked at say 11:30, on a highway if I dead center the wheel it pulls slightly to the right.

I know he did something, because it is steering different and I think it’s an improvement over the way it was. However, I don’t know enough about alignments to ask him some follow up questions. Do you think it’s possible that he did a road crown adjustment? What is typical steering characteristics at 60 mph on a highway with a car that has a road crown adjustment in the alignment? I want to follow up with him but I don’t want to sound dumb ... lol

Thanks.

dj_v70 · Post by **dj_v70** » 25 Oct 2018, 16:42

This sounds normal. Normal alignment is setup to track straight on flat road which should should give same response on the crown of the road. When you were driving down the highway, were you driving on the 'crown' (straddling highest point of road)? If not, try it again doing that. Car should track straight. If not, you could have a suspension/steering issue (because you said you track straight on flat concrete at lower speeds).

Post by **SonicAdventure** » 26 Oct 2018, 06:43

Yeah it’s wierd. It will go straight in my parking garage which is almost completely flat and in parking lots, but when driving in he right hand lane on an expressway, I have to tilt the wheel slightly to the drivers side to maintain straight track at 50+ miles and hour.

This car has been in at least one front end collision years ago according to Carfax, but I have no idea about the extent of the damage. It also has 256K miles on it, and most of the suspension parts (struts, tie rod ends, etc) are old and need to be replaced. I did the passenger side control arm 2 years ago, along with the sway bar links that attach to the struts on both driver and passenger side.

As I said, I know the mechanic made an improvement to the steering set up but the fact the wheel is slightly tilted left at highway speeds makes me feel something is still not right.

Two mechanics have told me that if I intend to keep this car I need to do the struts and tie rod ends in the near future as both are compromising ride quality.

Maybe this is a situation where he is doing the best he can with what he has to work with? I’m wondering now if somehow my frame might be bent or something else major outside of an alignment is out of order and the mechanic failed to notice it when he did the alignment.

Post by **abscate** » 26 Oct 2018, 08:58

When I run down to Bryn Mawr on I76 I496 etc I don't have any offset from road crown - if it is doing it on all roads, something is bent in the front. That being said I just did control arms and tie rod ends on my T5 and the handling improvement was amazing.

I would get the front end up before winter and get it done!!