i just swapped out my a-frame bushings with solid ones, and lubed up the bushings. now that it all together my front tires are leaning in towards the frame on the top and kicked out on the bottom. what could cause this
tire lean?
- Thread starter 3caminoman
- Start date
This "tire lean" is camber in alignment-shop terms. By your description, your camber is too far negative. A little negative is OK even though the OE specs probably don't include negative values, but if it's far enough negative for the average individual to see it's too much.
I suspect that the old bushings gradually took a permanent set over time that had been periodically compensated for by front end alignments. The new bushings simply moved the chassis side of the control arms to the places they should have been in all along. Other possibilities include changes in your front end ride height by either adding or removing weight or by not getting the springs correctly indexed in the lower arms when the suspension was re-assembled.
It's pretty much guaranteed that your toe setting will also be off, since changes in camber (what you've seen) will cause changes in toe (that you probably wouldn't see unless you knew how to either measure or look for it).
Get this corrected before your front tires develop a bad wear pattern that you might not be able to "undo" by tire rotation.
It is normal to have alignment specs shift somewhat any time that the suspension is disassembled for parts replacement.
Norm
I suspect that the old bushings gradually took a permanent set over time that had been periodically compensated for by front end alignments. The new bushings simply moved the chassis side of the control arms to the places they should have been in all along. Other possibilities include changes in your front end ride height by either adding or removing weight or by not getting the springs correctly indexed in the lower arms when the suspension was re-assembled.
It's pretty much guaranteed that your toe setting will also be off, since changes in camber (what you've seen) will cause changes in toe (that you probably wouldn't see unless you knew how to either measure or look for it).
Get this corrected before your front tires develop a bad wear pattern that you might not be able to "undo" by tire rotation.
It is normal to have alignment specs shift somewhat any time that the suspension is disassembled for parts replacement.
Norm
thanks alot, that makes since. thats why I love this site. No matter what the question is, someone always has an answer. thanks again.
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