Alignment Problems.

[Elisha]

hey guys i need some advise.i took my car yesterday to get a slow leak in my front left tire fixed and balanced. the mechanic showed me something really interesting.....two of my tires were worn off from the inside and one had the belt frigged up.so i ended up changing all 4 tires so there wasn't going to be a mismatched tire.

i also got it aligned and the tech showed me something interesting.my front right tire had a reading of -1.58 degrees....which was causing the car to pull right a little even with proper alignment and bad tire wear.

i had my alignments done by the dealership in the fall last year and they never brought this to my attention which makes me think that it must have happened later on after.

i only remember one really bad pothole that could have effected that tire and i was very concerned when i hit that one thinking it could have dented my rims as well.

but my question is how serious is this problem?is this hard to fix? do i need to replace something?and how much cost are we talking about?

[elwesso]

Have you ever replaced your upper links.. Thats probably what the problem is.. Get on that bandwagon!!!

Changing your upper links should take care of a lot of the problem. unfortunately the camber isnt adjustable...

[Elisha]

Have you ever replaced your upper links.. Thats probably what the problem is.. Get on that bandwagon!!!

Changing your upper links should take care of a lot of the problem. unfortunately the camber isnt adjustable...

i changed the outer rod on it last year. so what does the upper link do?and does it cost alot?

[maxnix]

Dealer or anyone should have given you a printout of before and after alignement specifications including OEM.

[driverdriver]

Did your tire wear in from the inside to the outside? My front passenger tire went bald. I didn't notice it but my brother did. At that time my car was just out of warranty, it happened after I hit a major pot hole. The dealer put in a new front strut as well other parts associated with it. I paid something like $800 for parts only. I drove around on it for two months with a used tire before getting it fixed because it would dissolve the tread quickly on a new tire. After I got it fixed I put on some nice new tires.

[elwesso]

Upper links should be about 100 each...

[Elisha]

so is does this mean that this cannot be fixed without replacing any part?no fine tuning or adjustment can be done?there has to be an alternative!!!

[rwhyde]

So this reading of -1.58 degrees is that camber and he couldn't adjust it out?? Just need to know what it is measuring and then potential fixes can be determined. It is probably wear related. If that is a camber measurement then that is how much the top of the wheel/tire is tilted in toward the engine and how much the lower/bottom of the tire is splayed out. This exposes more of the inner treads to wear than the out treads and you look for the parts should be holding the wheel more vertical when viewed from the front of the vehicle looking toward the back. Like the guys said, an upper link of some sort.

[Elisha]

the guy at the tire place said that ther was not adjustments available at all.he was saying that it could be a weak spring or shock.

i'm not a car guy so i have no clue.

i just wanted to ask for expert opinion before i spend alot of money and get screwed like i always do.

the dealership did not give me any alignment report when i did an alignment with them but at the same time i don't see how they could fail to mention something like this.

my tire was wearing off on the inside only didn't seem like it was working its way out at all but not sure.