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  #21  
Old 04-11-2019, 05:12 AM
JBF JBF is offline
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Interesting. I figured changing the tyre pressure will change the way that the tyre sits on the road and therefore the angle that the wheel sits at. I guess we are talking about tiny angles and massive forces (gravity + mass of car).

Oh and an American to English translator wasn't required, that made perfect sense..
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  #22  
Old 04-11-2019, 10:22 AM
ard ard is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JBF View Post
Interesting. I figured changing the tyre pressure will change the way that the tyre sits on the road and therefore the angle that the wheel sits at. I guess we are talking about tiny angles and massive forces (gravity + mass of car).

Oh and an American to English translator wasn't required, that made perfect sense..
Most modern alignmnets are done with a machine that clamps a 'fiducial' onto the wheel itself. A three legged assembly with a angled reflector. This essentially translates the angle OF THE METAL WHEEL ITSELF to the machine. The tires simply hold the car up in the air, they don't 'constrain' nor hold the wheel at some odd position. You will see them roll the car back and forth, as it sits on a roller plate- this lets the car 'find a neutral position'.

Obviously you want all 4 tires the same size, and approximately at normal pressures. (Not two at 40 and two at 20). But a few PSI, or even an alignment on old tires should not have a big impact. IMO

Last edited by ard; 09-16-2019 at 03:33 PM.
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  #23  
Old 04-11-2019, 10:59 AM
JBF JBF is offline
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All done. The guys were really good and took their time to get it as close to what I requested as possible, let me hang around and watch, see where the adjustment points are etc. The previous state had significantly more front toe than spec and the rear was towards the upper end of the range.


In terms of feel, I can feel a difference for sure. I'm not sure how much is due to the alignment and how much is down to new rubber.

+ Steering feels lighter and more responsive - especially at low speed.
+ Does not seem to 'tramline' so much (follow the grooves worn in to the road by trucks etc).
- Feels less 'planted' or 'locked-in' when cruising down the motorway, I guess expected with significantly less toe-in than before.

Turn-in/cornering also feels a bit different; I'm not sure whether it's better or worse. Some might say it feels more responsive and turns in more quickly, some might say it feels less stable.

This is a very loose analysis after driving home 50 miles (30-40 miles motorway). I imagine it will take me a little while to adapt and for the tyres to bed in a bit.

Overall happy, now time will tell in terms of wear on the front outside edges. Only covering 5-6k miles per year it might take a while.

I'm running at 34 PSI all round; previously ran 32 all round. I'll have a play with different pressures over time.

For the benefit of anyone else looking for a good garage in South East London in the future I used 'Wheel Power' in Brockley/Lewisham.
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Last edited by JBF; 04-11-2019 at 11:08 AM.
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  #24  
Old 04-11-2019, 11:18 AM
ard ard is offline
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Nicely done.


Did you post up thread your mileage, tire model and wear pattern?


AT your mileage, you will change tires due to age and sidewall cracking before you wear these out!


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Old 04-11-2019, 11:28 AM
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I didn't no, but then I didn't' have the previous set from new (they must have been 6 months old when I brought the car 3 years ago) so I don't know how many miles they had on them in total. I put ~20k on them. Rears were evenly worn with around 3-4mm left on them - the issues they had were cracking (inside the main tread rings) and a few gashes. Fronts were also pretty decent, around the same left on most of the tyre apart from the outside edge which was really scrubbed. They were Bridgestones and I've gone to Dunlop now for a change.

Personally I think the old tyres would have been ok for another year but the MOT testing centre (don't know if you guys have a similar annual roadworthiness test) insisted on failing it. I think they were hoping I'd just pay them for a new set of tyres but I specifically did not as I don't want to support that model of business generation

Thanks for all of your help ard. I'm surprised you don't have a sticky thread with all of this info in it.
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Old 04-11-2019, 12:11 PM
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Thanks for posting the before/after JBF.

I printed the 'after' specs and will show this to the shop. Figure I should get the alignment checked after installing lowering springs and front camber arms.
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  #27  
Old 06-28-2019, 08:44 AM
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Question.. how much of a difference does it make if it's a square set up or staggered for alignment specs?


I switched from staggered to 20" squared and I'm experiencing excessive wear on my driver side front tire. I don't remember specifically hitting anything but it is possible I bumped something with my snow tires on during the winter. I noticed a noise coming from driver side front wheel and after installing my new summer wheels the noise was still apparent. I thought perhaps it was a wheel bearing but my Indie says it needs an alignment and is not the bearing.



Are JBFs specs above what I should have an alignment shop aim for (Thanks for posting JBF!)?


Thanks
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  #28  
Old 06-28-2019, 10:57 AM
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IMO tire sizes don't matter.
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