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Painful reminder to get your alignment done


Redsky

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So long story short I went in for my MOT on tuesday came out with 1 fail and two advisories (front marker bulb is dead so ive got the joy of replacing that this weekend -.-) But my front two tyres were advisories, I asked the mechanic if he was sure and he showed me that my front were practically down to the 2mm bar all over. I went back to the tyre place and questioned him about the tyres he said they should be good for 15-25K miles and mine had lasted 7500. After a bit more back a fourth I found out that they only do tyre alignments on the front wheels and they cant do it on all 4 so times ive been aligned there they were basing the fronts off the rears and well all the tyres were out. Went to a proper 4 wheel alignment place and got some almost funny results.

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Apologies for the blurryness on this one.

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So from what I understand of toe I was driving down the road with both front wheels badly pointing in so my fronts were scrubbing down the road absolutely ruining the tyres.

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So the plan now is, payday, 2 new tyres then a proper 4 wheel alignment, probably ask them to check the suspension components too while they have her up in the air check I havent done any damage.

 

The only question I have now is what to do about replacements, I could put my coopers back on the front which were pretty good or maybe I could put something like toyo proxes on since I think I want to do at least a bit of track this year, but obviously the toyos woudlnt last as long being softer.

 

Any reccomendations from the tyre gurus out there?

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Glad you posted this as it serves a warning to all ZED owners (and like most performance cars) just how important it is to have regular 4 wheel alignments done, given the state of many of our pot-holed roads, and not just in the interests of tyre longevity, but so you can enjoy the cars to their full potential   .

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2 hours ago, Ebized said:

Glad you posted this as it serves a warning to all ZED owners (and like most performance cars) just how important it is to have regular 4 wheel alignments done, given the state of many of our pot-holed roads, and not just in the interests of tyre longevity, but so you can enjoy the cars to their full potential   .

Yeah I will be honest I saw a post about tramlining and suddenly my brain kicked in and thought back and yeah i was tramlining like mad all down the roads. I got used to correcting it since i drove them so much but this explains why it was driving a bit off. Its been this way probably since i bought my 350 though so ive never had reference for it.

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2 hours ago, Ekona said:

Toyo proxes? No. Just no. Unless it’s the R888R for track, the Toyo range is garbage right now sadly.

 

For now, match the rears until you can afford to change all four. And then go MPS4. 

Fair enough, was just suggesting them as the man in the tyre shop liked them but then i went back and the other guy said MPS4. But ill throw your vote in for the MPS4 side :) but Yeah I think for now then put some coopers back on havent got a massive chunk of cash for all MPS4 right now xD. Goals though.

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26 minutes ago, davey_83 said:

What adjustment can be done for the rear of a standard 350z?

From the readouts i would assume toe and camber. He gave some specific bolts at the rear a good dose of WD40 to make sure they would move when he came to adjust them. Ill make sure to ask when i take my 350 in.

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From what I gather, nowt can be adjusted on the rear of a standard 350z. No point paying for "4 wheel alignment" if only the front axle can be adjusted, is my thinking. I think the rears are hooked up on the machine purely as a point of chassis reference to the front, showing thrust angle.

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1 hour ago, davey_83 said:

From what I gather, nowt can be adjusted on the rear of a standard 350z. No point paying for "4 wheel alignment" if only the front axle can be adjusted, is my thinking. I think the rears are hooked up on the machine purely as a point of chassis reference to the front, showing thrust angle.

Rear has camber and toe adjustment bolts as standard and most 4-wheel alignments you pay per adjustment.

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9 hours ago, davey_83 said:

From what I gather, nowt can be adjusted on the rear of a standard 350z. No point paying for "4 wheel alignment" if only the front axle can be adjusted, is my thinking. I think the rears are hooked up on the machine purely as a point of chassis reference to the front, showing thrust angle.

Yep rear camber/track can be adjust on the rear off a 350Z , we do see cars with the eccentrics bolts seized but we carry these in stock. Front off a 350Z you can only adjust track. We advise to have a alignment check every 6 months with the state of our roads in the UK.You be surprised how much the alignment will change. And make sure the Hunter Hawkeye system is used awesome system but we are biased as we have one of these excellent systems in house @ Abbey Motosport.

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Out of interest, how much was your check? My place can only do 2 wheel, but I'm friendly with a guy at my local ETS, and he said with his staff discount I'd be looking at £75 for the alignment. But I have nothing to compare that to, and google is impersonal, I prefer to ask you guys. 

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1 hour ago, Jay84 said:

Out of interest, how much was your check? My place can only do 2 wheel, but I'm friendly with a guy at my local ETS, and he said with his staff discount I'd be looking at £75 for the alignment. But I have nothing to compare that to, and google is impersonal, I prefer to ask you guys. 

If we run the car on the alignment ramp onto just check the alignment will be £30-00 inc vat

 

Full alignment on a 350Z is £120-00 inc vat. (3 adjustments)

 

Un-seizing adjusters is extra.

 

We can also carry out Corner weighting bump steer plotting .

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14 hours ago, The Bounty Bar Kid said:

Mps4 all the way. Ekona is our tyre guru and knows what's he talking about. Also I had mps4 on my zed. Definitely worth the extra £££.

Another endorsement for the MPS4, its looking pretty definitive to be honest xD. I think im going to check the price difference between the tyres i had on and the MPS4, im assuming there wont be any issues with coopers on the rear and MPS4 on the front?

 

@Toon Chris Small victories xD. From a brief google search thrust angle seems like it would be something really big to adjust but i could easily be wrong xD.

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10 hours ago, Redsky said:

 im assuming there wont be any issues with coopers on the rear and MPS4 on the front?

Not a good idea. Different tyres have different characteristics. So you may end up with a setup that's more or less grippy at one end meaning you'll have an unusual amount of understeer/oversteer compared to an all around setup.

 

Best to stick to the same all the way around. If it's only a short term solution then fine. I just wouldn't be tracking it or doing fast road runs on different axle configurations.

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3 hours ago, The Bounty Bar Kid said:

Not a good idea. Different tyres have different characteristics. So you may end up with a setup that's more or less grippy at one end meaning you'll have an unusual amount of understeer/oversteer compared to an all around setup.

 

Best to stick to the same all the way around. If it's only a short term solution then fine. I just wouldn't be tracking it or doing fast road runs on different axle configurations.

Coopers it is then. The rears held up a lot better than the fronts so i would say they've got a long way to go yet. I guess ill save up for a bit and get all 4 done. Although thinking about it it does make sense gripper on the front might make you back end want to swing out faster than normal.

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I ran Michelins on the front and Nexens on the rear of mine for 2yrs (came like this when I bought it) absolutely no issues, just drive according to conditions. Same folks that say you must have four matching tyres, would have you change your tyres at 3mm regardless. Not even Michelin themselves say buy new at 3mm.

 

 

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Yup, that's me then. No tyre manufacturer would come out and say "Hey, our tyres are ruhbbish when they get low, so change them early!" would they?! :lol:  Common sense dictates that a tyre with less tread is worse than one with tread. Well, common sense and physics.

 

With regards to mixed tyres, as long as people read the Sticky thread and understand the potential dynamic changes then that's totally their call and I won't criticise for it any more.

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Doesn't really matter what the tyre make is but I have driven long enough to know that a relatively powerful rear wheel drive car with tread depths around/below 3mm and standing water is not good news.

 

Fine if the roads are dry then the legal minimum is more than enough to cope, but sadly in this country that is an all too rare event.

 

I'd rather be safe than sorry. :surrender:

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Eye witness: Officer i saw everything, they were driving along allowing for the conditions then just came of the road but I'm not sure why....

 

Officer: See lad the car had tyres at 3mm, poor folks didn't stand a chance. Only a matter of time before this would of happen. 

 

5a636c9f65b61_Screenshot_20180120-1620562.thumb.png.026a0fb5df381e09f145a291665db7d0.png

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I will admit I think its the combination of the toe and almost being down to the 2mm bars on the front but driving over anything relatively smooth like the brick looking concrete you get made into those big riased speed bumps at T junctions I can feel the front wheels slipping and dragging it is wet though. Dont feel it on tarmac and at higher speeds but its really noticeable going slow. 

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