Tires, effects on steering wheel at lowered hieghts

C

cobra98lsc

Registered
Doodes,
You have all seen my posts on the alignment issues,etc.. Strut rod to frame bushings etc.

Well weve done it all and car still cocks wheel to left when lowered and straightens on the highway.

No pull handles pretty good after alignment.

When lowered drives tight straight and better than ever.

My front tires i have are only 6 months old but due to all this mess the outer edge of the driver side is gone and the passenger edge still has some tread left.

The question of the day is... could the camber change at raised hieghts cause the tire to ride on the road differently and that be causeing the crooked wheel? My front camber is -1.02
 
RE: Tires, effects on steering wheel at lowered hieghts

I had noticed odd tire wear on my car since i have lowered it, but it's on the inside edges of the tire, not the outside.
 
RE: Tires, effects on steering wheel at lowered hieghts

When you say "lowered" are you referring to the automatic lower height at freeway speeds or have you actually sensor lowered your car?

My car has stock factory height, and alignment was done at the lowered "park" height, (same as highway lowered height). It tracks perfectly straight with centered steering wheel at both heights, and absolutely no abnormal tire wear at all. I still can't imagine what would be changing so much that causes a crooked steering wheel at different heights on your car, unless 6 months of bad alignment has caused belts in the tires to shift, etc...

John
[link:www.goldengatemark8.com|Golden Gate Mark VIII Website]
http://mark8.org/users/johnaec/Mark_VIII_s.jpg
'97 Mark VIII LSC
'96 T-Bird 4.6L
 
RE: Tires, effects on steering wheel at lowered hieghts

I'm actually getting some wear on my tires from what appears to be excessive negative camber. It's strange becuase although my car is lowered about 2.5 inches it was alinmed immediately after and I had the front camber set to -0.8. I'm pretty pissed that they are wearing like that especially with such a mild front camber, it's well within the stock spec too. Also a note about the wear, it's on the inner edge, not scalloped or antying, just wearing noticbly faster than the rest of the tire.
 
RE: Tires, effects on steering wheel at lowered hieghts

My car is aligned at its freeway/parked height
drives good there
wheel goes cocked to the left about 10-13 degrees when in raised up mode

Yes it is sensor lowered front/rear 23.5 from fender to lower rim lip in front and 23 from fender to lower rim lip in rear... sitting pretty level. It raises about 1/2 inch above that when in raised up mode.
What perplexes me is that the front driver side castor cannot be braught into spec anywhere near 4.8 or 5.5 I had to settle for 3.6 on driver side and 4.3 passenger side with the split of .7
The passenger side easily came in to 4.8 but the passenger side wouldnt.
So to make sure chassis was square i measured the distance from the front/rear axle centers on each side and set the castor to make chassis square. IE equal wheelbases on both left and right sides.
Is the K Member adjustable? Like say if you loosen all the bolts holding the front end to the chassis? I wonder if mine has been pushed back somehow ?

Anyway the specs are -.02 toe on both sides -1.2 camber and the castors above. Rear is on TCCOA aggressive specs.
Car drives really well straight and tight only when lowered.
Not as tight when raised up and wheel being off center doesnt help.

On yours it sounds like -.8 camber is fine but toe might be toed out a litte to much if eating inside edges.
 
RE: Tires, effects on steering wheel at lowered hieghts

The k-member should be aligned with the body via the pilot holes between each pair of the bolts that hold it to the frame.
 
RE: Tires, effects on steering wheel at lowered hieghts

So therefor that shouldnt move.

And is not adjustable etc.

I think I would have less trouble aligning the General Lee after a jump than this mother........ :):)
 
RE: Tires, effects on steering wheel at lowered hieghts

Well, it shouldn't move once the bolts are tight.
To align the k-member, you have to stick a pin
in that pilot hole and then the frame.

It doesn't have a pin installed or anything,
so if the bolts are somewhat loose it could've moved.
 
RE: Tires, effects on steering wheel at lowered hieghts

That makes sense..

So it probably moved

I could tighten 6- of the 8 bolts more than one full turn they werent real tight.
 
RE: Tires, effects on steering wheel at lowered hieghts

BTW Rotated Tires took ruined edge ones to the back and put good ones on front now raised or lowered doenst affect the wheel at all!

Damned tires are ruined from all the crappy ass alignments.

Going to put on some MB Motoring Vapors, Chrome 18 8.5's with 255 40 ZR 18 Continental Sport Contacts.

What you guys think?
 
RE: Tires, effects on steering wheel at lowered hieghts

Used to love this car.. i bought 2 of them new.. first a 97 non LSC then i got the 98 LSC

Lately i just hate it..

Facing a lot of issues though.
Trans is leaking at the pump, stator support and pump rings etc.
130k hard miles
Its a J Mod trans i built myself around 40k miles so has close to 100k on it.Need refreshing, bushings,clutches,steels,pump,convertor etc.
Rear end is history 4.10's but stupid shop didnt set right the first time,then i rebuilt again and now full of metal and making noises and leaking again.
T-STAT stuck last month and guage never moved off the center of normal wasnt until i stopped at toll booth did i hear my engine souding like it had a bag of marbles in it. and smoke,,yes oil smoke pouring from the motor,then of course boil over.
Replaced fan and t-stat,new stat was defective and had to do 2 times.
ALways ran Mobil 1 and that saved the motor but now i hear a tapping/clerk clerk clerk that i never had before at lights etc.
Heater core isnt heating for squat
Water x over tube is leaking and finally found one used.
Driver seat is dead tracks forward/back
Front end needs paint and new bumper
Hid's are acting funny when they first fire up
NEON TAIL IS DEAD
Front rotors warped again
Needs tires...so might do new wheels and tires.
For about 4k in parts I can fix her back up but hell is it worth it?
And thats if the motor holds up.. i am scared of it now since that overheating thing happened. It sounded so bad i though i lost the engine for sure.
 
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