Steering Alignment ... Am I asking too much?

[rogerwalker]

Whilst my CSR was back at Dartford recently (having a post sump change oil leak fixed 😔) I asked them to flat-floor it and set it up for road use - to avoid further sump issues!

 

Despite reports of all sorted, it was returned with the steering wheel alignment off by a good 20 deg .... unbelievable! Not even close.

 

Car has since been collected and they have had another go, but I am still not convinced. If I hold the steering wheel straight there is a noticable drift to the left that has to be corrected within a matter of seconds. I need to drive it again when the rain clears to be sure, but I would estimate that it is still out by 5+ degrees.

 

Am I expecting too much? I would expect them to be able to get this bang on.

 

Roger

[Stationary M25 Traveller]

I am very picky about steering wheel alignment. On the Seven, rough adjustment on splines of UJ at bottom of column. Fine adjustment by track rod end threads. Not difficult for them !

 

Assume it isn't a cambered road making it drift left ?

[Lee Fowler]

YHM.

 

Lee

[sicsr]

Quoting rogerwalker: 

Whilst my CSR was back at Dartford recently (having a post sump change oil leak fixed 😔) I asked them to flat-floorit and set it up for road use - to avoid further sump issues!

 

Despite reports of all sorted, it was returned with the steering wheel alignment off by a good 20 deg .... unbelievable! Not even close.

 

Car has since been collected and they have had another go, but I am still not convinced. If I hold the steering wheel straight there is a noticable drift to the left that has to be corrected within a matter of seconds. I need to drive it again when the rain clears to be sure, but I would estimate that it is still out by 5+ degrees.

 

Am I expecting too much? I would expect them to be able to get this bang on.

 

Roger

Assume it isn't a cambered road making it drift left ?Took me quite a few attempts to get mine straight so a pro should do it easier. Also what do you mean by flat-floor?

[Lee Fowler]

Quoting sicsr: 

Quoting rogerwalker: 

Also what do you mean by flat-floor?

 

Corner weights, ride height etc.

 

Lee

[sjmmarsh]

The drift is probably caused by the camber of the road. If you have a quiet straight road, try driving down the other side of it - it will probably still drift, but in the opposite direction.

 

Do you know what the toe was before and after the change (they normally give you a setup sheet)? I also suspect that you have less toe-in than before, which will make the car more susceptible to following the road (camber or tramlining). Toe-out makes this more noticeable, but is a more track biased setup.

 

Steve

[Mike Biddle]

Roger, if you want to have things set up professionaly, you need to go to a place that has a pukka alignment system.

 

I had mine done at Northampton motorsport recntly and would certainly reccommend them.

 

I have a photo of my settings on the screen of their laser alignment system, but I don't think I can post it directly, seems it must have a URL to do that.

[Richard Price]

You don't need laser alignment gear to sort wheel alignment.

However, you need to be sure that the rear is sensible before tackling the front.

I'd check the rear toe first, then, using string from the rear wheels to the front, work out if the rear toe is equal.

Once I know how the rear is, I'd move to the front.

The gear that I use to measure toe only cost a few quid to make.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, my own car will take a little more to realign at the moment.......

[tbird]

😬

 

 

Tim

[SLR No.77]

Alignment of the steering wheel has absolutely nothing to do with flat flooring, suspension setup etc. It is simply a matter of whether the mechanic can be bothered to correct it as everything else is being done. It's something that I'm extremely fussy about - the surest way to give the impression that you drive a naf kit car is for the steering wheel to be off-straight.

At 20 degs off straight it might be that the column can be moved a full spline to be closer, but if the wheel was originally set straight with the rack in the central position this should be avoided .... ie. check whether the limits of wheel rotation are the same in both directions. The correct order of adjustment should be steering wheel straight, rack in central position, track rods adjusted to align wheels, NOT the other way round.

 

Stu.

[Rattie]

For reference, the shaft is 36 spline, so one spline = 10 degrees.

 

Handy to know when Simon gets the Rapfix bosses welded on 90 degrees out 😬

[millsn]

I don't find that my seven 'pulls'.

 

Steering wheel alignment can be resolved but IME you need an interested indy preferably a seven specialist to ensure this is done right.

 

I also think there can be loads of things wrong with the front end of a seven which is worth getting checked or by a specialist if you don't feel able. This should be done before you adjust the tracking. Typical fail points: rack adjustment, steering column top joint, steering column ujs, loose rack attachment bolts, loose/missing camber lock nut and maybe track rod ends too.

[Shad]

It's well worth taking the time to learn how to do an alignment at home using string and rulers. It's not that difficult once you've done it the first time. This is the method I use for toe.

[millsn]

How might one learn?

[Shad]

Well have a read of the SELOC article I linked to above and take it from there. Here's what mine looks like:

 

http://niknak.org/g/cars/my-cars/02-caterham-7/alignmentfront.jpg/0/maxsize-800

 

http://niknak.org/g/cars/my-cars/02-caterham-7/alignmentback.jpg/0/maxsize-800

 

The distance between the strings in the front and rear 'poles' is exactly the same (quite important). Once hooked onto the car (front sits on the bottom of the rad, rear sits on top of the number plate light if I remember correctly) I use a ruler to get the strings parallel with the ends of the axles front and rear (after making sure the steering wheels is in the right position). It takes probably 5 or 6 trips around the car to get this perfect, making very small adjustments to the position of the poles.

 

From there you can measure the distance from the forward and rear edges of your rims to the string. The difference in values is your toe for that wheel. E.g. if you have 20mm at the front edge and 22mm at the rear edge then your wheel is toeing out by 2mm.

 

Then you can loosen your track rod ends and adjust as necessary BUT doing this is very likely to move your steering wheel very slightly, so you MUST keep going back to the wheel and checking it's pointing dead centre. Failure to do this WILL lead to the wheel not being centred when you're done.

 

Adjust, check wheel, measure distances to string. Rinse and repeat until you're happy and take it for a test drive. I've been doing this for the last couple of years and the results are, for all intents and purposes, perfect

 

 

NB: This is MY understanding and interpretation of the process. I'm not saying it's right, but it works for me.

[ACJ]

I agree with the method shad has just described. I use this to check the tracking on all 4 wheels so that the steering is central and correct.

 

My setup bars look a little different and do not sit on the car, rather on purpose made stands to allow me to track almost any vehicle but the measuring process is the same.

 

Just to add to the method, I always lock the steering straight using clamps on the column, usually resting against a chassis tube or the engine, whichever works. I have 2 clamps to stop it turning both directions.