[sniperd]

I took my 89 5.0 in to get an alignment, It was pulling slightly right, And when I got it back it was pulling slightly left. I made the huge mistake of letting my wife pick the car up and she said the mechanic said something 'needed to be ground down' so he couldnt get a perfect alignment.

Anyway, Does this make sense? I would think that if it pulled right then it could be aligned besides pulling left.

Anyone know what he was talking about? Do I need MM caster/camber alignment plates? How hard are they to install?

[GT347SC]

If the alignment has never been touched before then he may have been talking about the rivits that are in the oem casher camber plates. they would have to be removed to make any adjustments.

[superbean]

Or if it's lowered enough, the stock camber plates will limit adjustment..

[flyin ryan]

I believe the closer you get to an 1.5" drop the more cc plates would help.. after the 1.5" drop you def need them but each car is a little different

[78mach1]

Originally Posted by GT347SC If the alignment has never been touched before then he may have been talking about the rivits that are in the oem casher camber plates. they would have to be removed to make any adjustments.

in order to align at all you need to drill the rivits.

what he is talking about is grinding out the tower......BAD IDEA!

install some caster/ camber plates and then go back. it makes it much nicer,

i have installed and aligned dozen and its cake with plates

[78mach1]

Originally Posted by flyin ryan I believe the closer you get to an 1.5" drop the more cc plates would help.. after the 1.5" drop you def need them but each car is a little different

ya he defiantly needs them, as soon as you drop it, the camber cant be adjusted enough to compensate so your inner tire is going to wear much faster.

[ReverendDexter]

+1 for CC plates.

Getting a performance alignment make a night/day difference in the handling of these cars.

They're not hard at all to install, the only difficult part is removing the top nut of the strut, and getting it out of your way and compressed while you get the CC plate put in. An impact wrench will make the first part of that MUCH easier.

Once you do get them installed, my suggestion for alignment is as much caster as you can get (4+ degrees), 0 toe, and whatever is stock for camber (-.5 degrees, I think). If it's a daily driver, you might choose to go a hair toe-in for a little more stability in highway cruising.

[JBIGBOOTSY]

I toe in 1/8" cause of soft rubber control arm bushings, unless you want perfect alignment while your car is parked.

[sniperd]

Thanks for all the comments, I will definitely go with the plates.

Im surprised that you cannot align the car much without aftermarket plates. I always assumed you use the tie-rod adjustment's to do alignments. I had to replace mine and I assume I had messed them up (one thread in too much, or too little on each side). Could that be the issue?

[R0B0T]

you use the tie rods to adjust toe, you still have caster and camber to worry about as well.

[R0B0T]

Originally Posted by ReverendDexter An impact wrench will make the first part of that MUCH easier.

you should never use an impact gun on a strut that you plan on re-using, it wears out the rubber seal in no time at all.

[sniperd]

Originally Posted by R0B0T you use the tie rods to adjust toe, you still have caster and camber to worry about as well.

Isnt toe what keeps the car straight at speed?

[R0B0T]

Originally Posted by sniperd Isnt toe what keeps the car straight at speed?

caster can also effect the car going straight.
camber usually won't effect the cars ability to drive "straight" that much, it's more for keeping the wear on the center/whole tread of the tire, when you see a tire wearing on the inside edge, that's camber.

you can change the caster angles from the manufacturers recommended angle and have it go straight, but both sides need to have the same amount. same with camber, but it's usually best to keep the manufacturers recommendations for camber.

and as for setting positive or negative toe, i always just get toe close to .00 degrees and leave it, never noticed a difference. when the car is driving, the toe changes anyway. if you guys don't believe me, next time you're aligning a car, push on one side of the tire, it will drastically change the toe and it will return close to what it originally was, but it doesn't go right back to the same angle, so it's pointless spending excess time setting the toe exactly the same on each side. just get them close (i don't like being .1* or more off, i keep it closer than that) with the steering wheel straight, and close to the center line on the graph, it will be fine.

[sniperd]

So, Could there be truth to the fact that the guy couldnt get it to go straight? It pulls to the left like a mother, And it's very annoying.

[R0B0T]

post the printout

[78mach1]

toe/caster/camber can all cause a pull. caster is the only angle that cant effect tire wear

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by 78mach1 toe/caster/camber can all cause a pull. caster is the only angle that cant effect tire wear

That's not entirely true. A large amount of positive caster will increase your scrub radius, which will increase overall tire wear.

[R0B0T]

Originally Posted by 78mach1 toe/caster/camber can all cause a pull. caster is the only angle that cant effect tire wear

right, but camber doesn't effect or cause a pull as bad as caster.

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by R0B0T right, but camber doesn't effect or cause a pull as bad as caster.

Caster's only going to cause pull back to center, though.

[R0B0T]

Originally Posted by ReverendDexter Caster's only going to cause pull back to center, though.

and when one side has say 2.3 degrees of caster and the other has 1.1, it will cause a definite pull because the 2 sides aren't pulling to center the same amount.

i would assume that if you could drive straight and never make a turn at all, it wouldn't cause a pull to the side, but in real life where you're rarely going perfectly straight, you let go of the wheel and it has a definite pull.