divil

I just got my car aligned on Wednesday, then did a track event over the weekend at Putnam Park. Steering was straight after the alignment.

After a few sessions on Saturday, I thought my wheel was a little off center on the straight, but I wasn't sure if the straight is perfectly flat. Later, on the way home, it was very clear that the steering wheel is now turned to the right when I'm driving straight. The car still tracks straight...so it's as if the whole steering rack moved to one side. I have read that old steering rack bushings can allow this to happen, but I replaced mine along with the rack last year. Is it possible for the rack to move with fairly new rubber bushings?

Anything else I can check?

mytrplseven

It's possible that the rack bolts weren't tight enough and it moved.

Van

Probably the camber has changed - if the strut pinch bolts are over-tightened (or under-tightened), the cornering forces can cause the camber to change in the front. Your right front has either gained negative camber, or your left front has lost negative camber: camber adjustments will throw off toe (steering tie-rod) adjustments.

divil

Thanks guys I'll check both of those things. Van, would the camber change not cause a pull to one side?

Dougs951S

Speaking generally, no, caster differences side to side are what causes pull.

KevinGross

I think Van's diagnosis is a great place to start. The eccentric camber bolt and the plain bolt next to it do not retain clamping force when reused (loosened, retightened) and you should consider replacing them as part of an alignment. I find it also helps to put a washer under the bolt head and nut, which is not how it comes from the factory.

This assumes that in the DE you didn't hit anything, for example bending a tie rod. But you'd have told us, right?

Kevin
Catellus Engineering

divil

No I didn't hit anything...I *did* go off onto the grass, but the grass at Putnam Park is smoother than some tracks I have been on. I just drove stragiht off on purpose because I knew I couldn't make it around the turn. But in any case I had the steering issue before that.

I have had quite a few alignments without those bolts ever being replaced so I will get some new ones at least.

ilikemy944

Interesting, I had the same thing after the trackday last week. I didn't even touch the grass but I ran all over the gators..

I've torn the car apart again to replace more stuff and found trailing arm bolts hardly what I would call tight so I associated the change to potential movement there. Just had it aligned 2 days before the event.....

I'll add those front bolts to the list as well since that sounds like exactly what happened to me. Car tracks straight as an arrow but felt somehow different.

Stephenwz968

Mine did the same thing when the rack bushings were worn, I'd replace those as a precaution if you haven't already.

divil

I have replaced them already. I had a quick look at them since...no obvious sign of anything having moved. The one on the passenger side does seem a little soft but I am not sure that one really takes the stress anyway. The bolts are tight too...I was able to move the lower one on the drivers side a tiny bit with a wrench, but it wasn't exactly loose...Clark's Garage says "about 17 ft/lbs" and I'd say they're all at least that. I would consider replacing them with Delrin, but I don't think this should be happening with new rubber mounts.

The camber bolts don't seem loose to me, but I suppose that doesn't mean they wouldn't move under extreme forces. Anyone know where I can find replacements?

Also, this may be nothing, but...

One thing I did not mention because it didn't seem relevant until now: I bought a SmartCamber gauge about a week before I had the alignment done. I am interested in learing to at least check these things myself, and in the long term even set the car up completely myself. I played around with it a bit without going to too much trouble to get a perfectly level surface or anything. It indicated my parking space was 0.1 degree off level. But I was surprised to find that it showed *way* more negative camber on the right side, front and rear. For instance, the FL showed -0.3, and FR was -1.0. The rear was off by even more. I didn't think that could be explained by the mere 0.1 error in the ground...but still I thought I shoudn't read into it too much, since I needed a full alignment anyway due to a caster imbalance. When I got the car back, it tracked nice and straight. I checked the camber again... exactly the same as before. Now, after my track weekend, I am seeeing -0.5 on the FL (up from -0.3), and still -1.0 on the FR. So by my very amateur measurements, it looks like I have gained *negative* camber on the left - the opposite of what I should expect based on Van's theory. Even if I put this change down to me not getting accurate measurements, it's still weird that I have consistently way more negative camber on the right.

Van

I think you found your answer... Thinking it through again, I was backwards on the sides.

If the left has more camber, because the tie-rod is a fixed length and in front of the strut (pivot point), that will give the left wheel more toe out. Which will make the car steer to the left. You have to turn the steering wheel to the right so that the toe angles are equal on both sides to drive straight.

divil

Ah that makes perfect sense. I have a bit of suspension work to do soon so I would have had to do an alignment anyway.

Van

P.s. you can get the camber bolts from Pelican or Paragon or Suncoast...