Four Wheel Alignment

[JakeL]

Hi, I just had all my struts replaced, ARB bushes, rear springs and rubbers, and front strut top mount and bushings replaced. All good, and was driving fine but for peace of mind I got a four wheell alignment done. Now the steering wheel is no longer straight when going down a straight road. Speaking to the manager of the place that did it he seems to be saying that to get it straight something else will have to be out. I thought everything was set after the steering wheel is locked straight? Has anyone else come across this on these vans?

 

[testpilottimmy]

They are talking rubbish, either the steering wheel wasn’t straight when they set it or the rear toe is off to one side and the van is crabbing. This should be sorted FOC if you have paid for a full alignment. Do you know what alignment rig they used Did they give you a print out?

 

[Jabberwocky]

Would your post be better in the T4 technical section? I can move it for you if you wish.

 

[B J G]

First part of setting up steering is to set steering wheel in central position and clamp it, then aligned from that point onwards.
final printout will show Front and rear axle settings and most import in this case is the alignment to the vehicle centre line, If wrong the vehicle 'crabs' when going straight ahead.

Problem that I found with alignment operators is that they can just adjust to 'within' tolerance rather than trying to get as close to exact figure as possible. eg + or - 10% rather than +- 1%.

 

[JakeL]

Yep I got the print out, attached. When I went back today to get it fixed I was told to live with it.
I sadi exactly the same thing about the sterring whel being set first then everything else aligned after that, but was told they can get the sterring wheel straight but it will be more sensitive to camber and not drive in a straight line, then i wastold it was my tyres and I should switch them left to right. Unbeleivable really when I paid for a four wheel alignment, it's not eing unreasonable is it wanting my sterring straight?

Apologies for the bad spelling

 

[B J G]

Figures look similar to mine.

Tyres can cause your issue as I've had that happen after a wheel swap around but it all sorted itself out after a day or two.

 

[testpilottimmy]

print out looks good apart from the left castor which they may not be able to sort.

how much is the steering wheel out by?

 

[JakeL]

It’s about 5 degrees or more, if you place the wheel straight the van veers off quite severely

 

[JakeL]

Oh and I swapped the tyres, made no difference.
Is the general opinion that they set the steering wheel wrong?

 

[v-tec]

The final figures are ok, that caster on the n/s is only a little out, but actually in your favour as it will help keep the van out of the kerb with roads with a lot of camber,
all that needs to be done is one track rod needs to be lengthened and the other side shortened by the same amount, it may only be half a turn on each, and depends on what direction the steering wheel is out,
This could of all been avoided if the steering wheel had been set straight and locked at the start of the geometry

 

[v-tec]

So if you steering wheel was the shape of the letter T Would the bottom of the T be towards 5 o clock or 7 o clock

 

[JakeL]

So if you steering wheel was the shape of the letter T Would the bottom of the T be towards 5 o clock or 7 o clock

7 o clock

 

[JakeL]

Your print out is for a T5 but your signature is T4

I didn’t know I had a signature, but yes I have a 95 T4 2.5 5 cylinder as well as my Cali

 

[testpilottimmy]

Oh and I swapped the tyres, made no difference.
Is the general opinion that they set the steering wheel wrong?

Yup, They should be rectifying this for you for free IMHO.

 

[v-tec]

7 o clock

So if you look at the pre adjustment reading the n/s was toe in 20 minutes and the o/s toe out 1 minute , your front toe was actually in spec and if The steering wheel was moved to the left so you had toe in of 9 minutes on each wheel the steering wheel would have been straight before the alignment was done,
definitely needs rectifying FOC

 

[Alan Andrews]

Are you in the AA or RAC? post a message to their support centre and ask them to comment.

When you get the reply copy it over to Autosport and get them to comment.

Tell them you will be posting a complaint on Facebook etc.

I suspect they were slack in setting up and clamping the steering wheel in the first instance.

 

[Racerke600]

Hi there,

can't really help with you issue, but i've got a question concerning the alingment in general.

i've got my cali aligned a while ago and the first problem that i noticed was, that the vehicle database to choose from didn't contain the california as such.

so i had a look toghether with the technician and my best guess was the caravelle with half load.
since the cali is about 2450kg.

I can see you had the same profile, but when I look at other alignment reports sometimes they say NO LOAD.

When i study the numbers, the main difference apears to be at the rear toe settings/tolerances.

My rear toe is about +17' and +19' , ideal would be +15' according to the half load setup.

But when I look at other people's alignment reports they have their rear toe settings setup to 05' at the rear and the front as the NO LOAD profile indicates.

so i'm a bit puzzeled now, what is the right rear toe setting for the cali?

05' or 15' ?

i guess they made the LOAD vs NO LOAD profile to maybe have an alignment with load on board, and that when you unload you have the right spec. but with the cali you just can't unload your extra stuff ;-)

 

[B J G]

Mine set as a Transporter T6 2017 Half Laden

Had it set to Garage figures but still didn't feel right on the road.

Reset to 5' on front and 15' rear. Actual readings were 5' on both front, 17' LR & 14' RR

Normal non holiday load onboard, ie no water stored but all other bits & bobs onboard.

Been happy with that setting.

 

[v-tec]

Racerke600, I take it that yours is left hand drive, When i do a geometry at work our machine always asked for the ride height for each wheel to be entered on the set up page, also wheel diameter,, quite often the data specification for the near side will be slightly different to the off side, obviously the Cali is based on a transporter chassis, that’s why ride height measurement is a more accurate way.

 

[Algor]

AARGH! My pet hate! My Maserati came from the factory with a straight steering wheel and 4 new tyres, 1 pot hole later I had to endure a very expensive and annoying chain of events. 23,000 miles in I am on my 3rd set of tyres at £250 a corner and still don't have a straight steering wheel, 2 different Maserati dealerships said it's fine and kwikfit!!!! I won't go there again! I spoke to a mate yesterday who is having a similar problem with an AMG G Wagen. Maybe it's a dodgy software issue but the set up's being offered at the moment are not right in the UK.

 

[pjm-84]

Had mine done the other day after going across to coilovers.

Front are the same. The rears are different. Mine at 0,06' for both.

My rear chamber settings are in the red but at =-1.44' / -1.45' so similar to yours which are in the green (just noticed mine is no load but with 1bv 2mh sports suspension).

Yep had mine tracked 4x after lowering. I ended up adding a few turns to the track rod ends after driving to Wales (and brought the steering wheel back straight on the return trip) but subsquently felt guilty (As I confused myself before rectifing) so had it checked only to be told its only a fraction out but the steering wheel is off to the left, which we have corrected.........nooooooo

 

[Shadrack]

Hi, I just had all my struts replaced, ARB bushes, rear springs and rubbers, and front strut top mount and bushings replaced. All good, and was driving fine but for peace of mind I got a four wheell alignment done. Now the steering wheel is no longer straight when going down a straight road. Speaking to the manager of the place that did it he seems to be saying that to get it straight something else will have to be out. I thought everything was set after the steering wheel is locked straight? Has anyone else come across this on these vans?

I had a laser aligned last year front and back, it took the technician three road tests to get the steering wheel as it should be. He commented each time but fair play he stuck at it and got it spot on.
A couple of hours plus in total but I was still only charged the £50.

so it can be and should be done as part of the job.

 

[paul_f]

A friend had problems with his Mercedes - this place sorted it for him. It was a fair drive for him but Mercedes couldn't do it

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[AndyWT]

With modern steering systems it’s essential for the steering wheel to be centered as most have center biased assistance and if you have stability control and/or lane control the steering wheel position sensor has to be correctly calibrated.

This is of course a waste of time if the tracking and castor/camber are not correct, locking the steering wheel is one thing but has to be corrected later as adjusting tracking or castor/camber puts loads on suspension bushes and the steering system which is released as soon as the van moves.

It docent matter how fancy the laser equipment is it’s still down to the guy doing the job.

Even my old T4 with hydraulic assistance has to have the steering wheel correctly aligned to the steering rack and straight ahead otherwise it runs down the camber.