alignment advive

M4RV3

New Member
right guys need some advice now since rebuilding my front driver side corner after having a caliper seize up and lock my front wheel at 70 odd mph now it got a complete new set of coil overs hi spec big brakes new alloys and now it just needs the alignment doing but my problem is why is the drivers side wheel stick out out about half an inch further than the left hand side i'll add some photos in a sec
 

M4RV3

New Member
havnet changed the lower wisebone didnt think id be able to bend that and yeah the offset is the same
 

red reading

Active Member
the wishbone is design to fail before the chassis, compare it with the other side (off the car) and if in doubt change it and the hub carrier, i bent both hitting a kerb before
 

M4RV3

New Member
maybe i'll have to have a look would this push the bottem of the wheel out? as i cant seen to get enough camber or the strut now
 

PobodY

Moderators
Staff member
havnet changed the lower wisebone didnt think id be able to bend that and yeah the offset is the same
It's a pretty extreme example, but this was hitting a kerb (and it definitely bends before the chassis):


I changed both sides and miraculously had no more issues with tyres rubbing or the wheel not being central in the arch. - You'll obviously need to get the geometry set-up again; I'd suggest the toe-in needs some attention.
 

mikeyp

New Member
right i've had the same problem and i tracked it down to my wishbone. i measured it all from every angle and couldn't find anything wrong untill i just put my flat metal ruler along the front seam of the wishbone to measure the height above centre for the ball joint mounting. does that make sense?

so if the wishbone goes left to right as you look at it from the front of the car, i put the ruler skinny side aginst the seam of the wishbone (where the top and bottom parts are welded together) and let the ruler overhang the end of the wishbone. i then measured the height of the end of the wishbone above the ruler.

i found that the side that had, had a knock was higher above the ruler than the good side. basicly the wishbone had bent up at the end and caused the bottom of the hub to move towards the middle of the car a bit, cos the balljoint was at a different angle. the wheel also had more positive camber compared with the other side and the whole wheel was more inside the arch.
 

M4RV3

New Member
yeah that kinda makes sense lol will doubl read it tomorrow when im with the car and see if i can see whats bent and mines the other way my wheel is to far out at the bottem
 

PobodY

Moderators
Staff member
When I first had mine and the tyre was rubbing the garage told me the chassis was bent and I'd need to get it straightened. With a sick feeling I let some of the other members take a look, and they said it looked straight.

It was on a bit of a whim that I replaced that wishbone, and it made all the difference.
 

M4RV3

New Member
I've got my wish bone off andnit doesn't look bent not to say that it isn't but we will soon see when the the new comes but here it is anyway

 

PobodY

Moderators
Staff member
When the new one comes, put them side-by-side. It doesn't have to be very far out to make a big difference to the front-end alignment.
 

red reading

Active Member
nope it should be straight! that has had a shit load of force to bend that and your wishbone is bent as well looking at the photo there is a large dent in the front of it.
 
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