Lowered My T Sport

[admanirv]

Got my t sport lowered on thursday with pi springs 40mm lower.

Question, i knew it would need tracked again, the garage did it for £14.95 done with computer lazer thingy.

Tho it veers slightly to the left, im thining maybe a should check my tyre pressure too, either that or it needs tracked again!?!

It should go in a stright line or follow steering wheel direction.

Little bit bumpy, which i should notice, grips better tho. This is the first time ive lowered a car.

[opelfruit]

It could be tire presure, but if everything checks out see if it differs on different roads, the camber of the road can make your car veer to one side, especially if the steering is more sensitive.

If its not that then it may need tracking again :)

it will be more bumpy, the springs have less distance to compress and are no doubt stiffer than the stock ones.

[cfc1]

After lowering any car, tracking is sometimes not enough.

Look at this thread it should answer most of your questions m8

[Ryan1985]

Ad, I reckon this is completely normal, usually the inside of the road is rough with bumps and wee tiny potholes and your wheels will just follow the path of bumps and things, think its called tramlining! Also, as opel said, the camber of the road contributes to it aswell so I'd say nothing to worry about!

The tracking should be fine mate!

[GSB]

Ad, I reckon this is completely normal, usually the inside of the road is rough with bumps and wee tiny potholes and your wheels will just follow the path of bumps and things, think its called tramlining! Also, as opel said, the camber of the road contributes to it aswell so I'd say nothing to worry about!

The tracking should be fine mate!

←

If the struts are anything like my MR2, then tracking wont be enough, as it only adjusts one aspect of the wheels geometry. You also need to check camber and other aspects like castor, thrust angle etc... You need a 4 wheel alighnment carried out. These are usually carried out with the aid of laser opticals and cost about £60- £70.

[dimitrios]

hi mate,you will need a 4wheel allignment on your car after lowering it.

YET,according to UK road specifications,UK vehicles must pull sligtly to the left when the steering wheel is set alone,for safety reasons.That is in the case the driver falls asleep/dies then the car should stop to the left/slow lane.

I have learned this the hard way,since my car is a lhd and I thought it was pulling for another reason.

[Baby Yari]

hi mate,you will need a 4wheel allignment on your car after lowering it.

YET,according to UK road specifications,UK vehicles must pull sligtly to the left when the steering wheel is set alone,for safety reasons.That is in the case  the driver falls asleep/dies then the car should stop to the left/slow lane.

I have learned this the hard way,since my car is a lhd and I thought it was pulling for another reason.

←

DIES, i like that!

But surely that cant be right?? If you buy a car, you expect it to go in a straight line? None of my previous cars have ever pulled to the left after being tracked.

And i surely wouldnt wanna be pulled to the left if i was in the fast lane of a 3 lane motorway!! Could be slightly dangerous...............

[rossnova]

I work in a Tyre & Exhaust garage & we also do tracking. This is a must when u change the suspension ie spring, shocks, bushes etc. If u have had the tracking adjusted after the springs have been changed & it still pulls, then you should take the car back after a couple of hundred miles & get it re-checked!!!!

We operate a garentee period for this & most places that have the facility to do tracking operate this garantee also.

Take it back & find out if they do!!!

If the tracking is done properly then the car should run in a straight line.

Hope this helps you.

PM me if u have any difficulties & il talk u through the TRACKING process & you can watch the guy when hes doing it & then you will know if hes doing it properly

[GSB]

Just to prevent confusion on this subject...

When you go into 99% of tyre places, the service they offer as "tracking adjustment", actually covers only one aspect of the wheel alignment... Toe.

However, in changing your springs, you've undoubtedly had to alter other settings in the suspension and wheel alignment. In particular, the camber.

By doing a simple tracking adjustment you wont set or even measure the camber angle, which is just as important in terms of tyre wear, handling and directional stability. To cover the camber, caster, thrust angles and all the other settings that are so important to handling, you need to carry out a full four wheel alignment check, which is not the same thing as "Tracking".

Hope this clears the fog a little.

For more, try clicking here, Its just one of dozens of sites that attempt to clear the confusion of wheel aligmnent.

Incidentally, I personally consider correct wheel alignment to be so critical to my cars performance, that I have a regular check made every 6 months... If you want your car to handle at its best, then its a vital maintenance job. Maybe not so often as me, but at least once!

[admanirv]

Well thanks everyone, thats certainly enlightedning me.

How much should i be paying for a full 4 wheel alignment? ANd how long should it take?

[rossnova]

You should expect to pay around £35 to £40 to have this done.

Depending on how bad it is, they should only take about 20 minutes to do it

[admanirv]

You should expect to pay around £35 to £40 to have this done.

Depending on how bad it is, they should only take about 20 minutes to do it

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i rang up a spot yesterday, they said it would cost £25 for a full 4 wheel alignment.

But they said theres no point as they can only alter the front toe, they could do back but would need the castors (Adaptor things) - think the guy said.

He basically said theres no point, im getting confused now.

Think i need to ask for something exactly specific, and ask if he checks aligns the various bits.

Far as i understnad by this thread, adjusting front toe is not enough,as it veers slighly to the left.

i also notice i get a clank seem it happen when i speed up quicly, but doesnt happen all the time? any ideas, i hear the sound from the drivers side.

[breezer]

get some pix up :)

[cfc1]

GSB has got it spot on.. only it's not always called 4 wheel allignment.. it's very often called a GEOMETRIC check.. VERY different from tracking.

GSB

If the struts are anything like my MR2, then tracking wont be enough, as it only adjusts one aspect of the wheels geometry. You also need to check camber and other aspects like castor, thrust angle etc... You need a 4 wheel alighnment carried out. These are usually carried out with the aid of laser opticals and cost about £60- £70.

The price here will be around the price you would expect to pay.. if they say £25.. it's probably not a GEOMETRIC check getting done.. cars with trackrod ends on the back can have the rear TOE settings done on the rears (same as the front).. this is what i know as 4 wheel allignment.. this can cost around £25.

admanirv

i rang up a spot yesterday, they said it would cost £25 for a full 4 wheel alignment... But they said theres no point as they can only alter the front toe,

This will be because your car won't have trackrod ends on the rear.

rossnova

I work in a Tyre & Exhaust garage & we also do tracking. This is a must when u change the suspension ie spring, shocks, bushes etc. If u have had the tracking adjusted after the springs have been changed & it still pulls, then you should take the car back after a couple of hundred miles & get it re-checked!!!!

Ater getting this sort of work carried out on any car.. the parts can take a few miles to "settle in".. a recheck after a short period of time would be advisable.

That's a good site that GSB has linked you too (was looking for a simillar thing the other day when i posted the similar thing in an earlier post)... most (if not all) info is there.

[admanirv]

Okay thanks for the cfc1, i got my car tracked and drve for about 30miles, then 2 days later i did a 340mile drive.

So im thinking just tracking will be sufficent now?

Or as its known "a geometric check" which cost me about £60 - will this definelty sort out the pulling to the left?

Coz i dont want to wreck my tyres there top of the range Pirelli hmm £65 each, so dont want to waste money

[ratus9]

hi

if you had the car tracked with the laser light which is just a waste of time and when the guys don't know how to track your car this happen to me and they did it three time steering wheel was of center so i went to get it tracked using a computer which displays the info on screen found it was out by 3mm so had it done sorted but it still pulls on some and i 've got the tte springs fitted and thinks its just they way the car is...

here's what you should look for our local garage has the 811/dsp600 not had it done as its new in in http://www.hunter.com/pub/product/alignmentsystems/index.htm

£25 quid sorted...some can charge £60+ like toyota....

[cfc1]

Okay thanks for the cfc1, i got my car tracked and drve for about 30miles, then 2 days later i did a 340mile drive.

So im thinking just tracking will be sufficent now?

Or as its known "a geometric check" which cost me about £60 - will this definelty sort out the pulling to the left?

Coz i dont want to wreck my tyres there top of the range pirelli hmm £65 each, so dont want to waste money

←

If you get (or have had) a geometric check done.. that SHOULD sort out any allignment problems.

If you HAVE had it done, AND received a printout. the printout should tell you what the front Toe settings are.. So in FUTURE (every 6 months) get the tracking set to the Toe settings on the print out, NOT THE FACTORY STANDARD SETTINGS.

[admanirv]

Okay thanks for the cfc1, i got my car tracked and drve for about 30miles, then 2 days later i did a 340mile drive.

So im thinking just tracking will be sufficent now?

Or as its known "a geometric check" which cost me about £60 - will this definelty sort out the pulling to the left?

Coz i dont want to wreck my tyres there top of the range pirelli hmm £65 each, so dont want to waste money

←

If you get (or have had) a geometric check done.. that SHOULD sort out any allignment problems.

If you HAVE had it done, AND received a printout. the printout should tell you what the front Toe settings are.. So in FUTURE (every 6 months) get the tracking set to the Toe settings on the print out, NOT THE FACTORY STANDARD SETTINGS.

←

okay, best thing is for me to ring up garages and book it in for a geometric test then it wont pull to left. Hopefully then ill be sorted.

AS you say alll normal setting will have gone outta the window, coz i bet they just looked at a standard yaris specifications too!

[scionic]

Generally when doing suspension work you want to replace shocks and struts as well to match the spring rate of the new springs.

Springs and shock/dampeners should always be fitted as a matched set.

I suspect this is your problem as it sound like the bounce and rebound are what are causing the steering irregularities, not alignment. An alignment problem would have the car tracking incorrectly even on a flat, bump-free road and it would pull to one side or the other.

Shocks/struts are what control the amount of bounce and rebound. You need some that are up to par with your new springs or to have the new ones adjusted if possible.