Wheel Alignment

[greeneyes]

Today we put the Altezza Girl's yellow banana over the wheel alignment machine.

In common with many adjustable rear suspensions, adjusting the rear camber is easy one way and very hard the other. So the alignment guys will add negative camber, but break the adjuster or just ignore adding positive camber.

The camber adjusting bolt is the one at the left hand end of the lower suspension arm, the one that goes from the diff to the bottom of the wheel hub

here

It is the one nearest the wheel and sits on the edge of the shadow.

It is sitting in an eccentric (off-center) washer, and as you turn the bolt & washer the bolt travels around in a circle. Coming inwards lifts the car and gives positive camber, going outwards lowers the car on the arm and gives negative camber.

Going out with the weight of the car pushing the bolt outwards is easy, but forcing that eccentric washer to lift the car up as the bolt comes up and along the lower arm is very difficult.

The solution is to jack up the car so the suspension hangs, then loosen the nut off, turn the bolt to maximum inwards and then lower the car back down. This is what we did on the alignment machine, after I gave the guys a hard time about not adjusting it. It took a long crowbar to force the bolt up and in, even with a jack taking some of the car's weight.

It is best to do this at home just before you take the car for an alignment. Mark or note the position of the washer, then jack the car up until the wheel hangs, loosen the locking nut and spray liberally with CRC or WD40 or similar. Work the washer in each direction to make sure it is loosened up, then return it to it's marked position.

Watch the guys doing the alignment and make sure the camber is correct on each side.

At the front, watch them do the toe-in. With the IS tendency to scrub the inner edges of the front tyres bald, (toe-out) have them make sure the toe-in is at the toe-in side of the allowances, not on the toe-out side of the error. We set both front wheels to 0.5deg toe-in, although the guys were going to leave it as something like 0.1deg. Both of these were within the factory settings. (which Diane should have on the slip and can put below..:) )

keith

[Altezza Girl]

Alright, I hope this is what you mean Keith, :) here goes....

Target Data Difference Left/Right for XE10 series

Rear Axle

Camber: +0.75 to -0.75 deg

Toe: +0.18 to -0.18 deg

Front Axle

Castor: +0.75 to -0.75 deg

Kingpin Inclination: +0.75 to -0.75 deg

Camber: +0.75 to -0.75 deg

Toe: +0.09 to -0.09 deg

[SSML]

Hi Keith :

thanks for ur detailed info.

I am still not sure which bolt is the camber adjusting bolt.

There are at least 2 bolts (may be 3) near the edge of the shadow, and I am not sure where is the diff.

Is it(1) the highest bolt (the one closet to the wheel balance weight, facing right side)?

Or, (2)the one a bit lower on the big flat horizontal suspension arm (facing backward)?

Or,, (3) the lowest on connect to a round rod going diagnoly.

Also, Is the purpose of loosening up the bolt before go to alignment to let the technician easier adjustment of the bolt? or any other purpose?

If I supply the alignment data (from altezza Girl)to technicians,they should be able to do the setting?

thanks again

SSML

[greeneyes]

Is it(1) the highest bolt (the one closet to the wheel balance weight, facing right side)?

Or, (2)the one a bit lower on the big flat horizontal suspension arm (facing backward)?

Or,, (3) the lowest on connect to a round rod going diagnoly.

The lower arm is the big steel channel going from middle of car out to the wheel. The two vertical plates of steel in the upper right of the photo are where the diff is and the arm is bolted to those.

Part of the way to the wheel is a tiny bolt through the arm, and this carries the sway bar link, the small vertical rod visible.

Further out towards the wheel is the big bolt through the bottom of the shock/spring setup.

Furthest out is the bolt in the off-center washer that holds the arm onto the wheel hub. This is our target bolt.

Running diagonally forward from below the lower suspension arm is a round steel bar that holds the suspension in place longitudinally. You can just see both ends of this bar

The hole for our target bolt is actually a slot cut in the lower arm, and as you turn the bolt head it turns that off-centre washer, which moves the bottom of the wheel in and out. Being a round washer, it also moves the car up or down at the same time.

If you make sure it is turning freely before a wheel alignment it will help the tech do it, but it is more important to make sure he actually does the adjustment and doesn't wreck the washer/bolt or skip it altogether.

The figures from Diane show the range acceptable to Toyota, and thats where I meant to have the toe-in on the "inner" part of the range, not the toeing-out part of the range. So aim for the +.09toe-in, and don't let them leave it on say, -.06

Hope that helps

keith

[Serran]

this is an excellent thread with very useful info...

so i thought i might add my experience with my current setup..

front

camber (l,r) : -1.06, -1.12 degrees

toein (l, r) : +0.6

rear

camber (l,r) : -1.3, -1.36 degrees

toe in (l, r) : +0.9

these are taken as the borderline acceptable to negative camber and toe-in combo.

worth nothing that this was a custom spec with my 19x8's/lowered springs/shocks/ and was given min/max different to what keith mentioned. so at the end of the day.. get the initial setup checkedout by lexus guys coz they know this car! then u can use the printed results and info gathered from them and take it to an aftermarket place.

[greeneyes]

Tell us how the tyres wear after 6month Serran.

Certainly with that toe-in you shouldn't scrub the inside of the tyres off.

ta

keith

[Serran]

i hope not! :-)

here were my previous settings with very aggressive inner tyre wear (especially in the rear)

font:

camber (l,r) : -1.06,-1.06

toe-in (l,r) : 1.2, 0.6

rear:

camber (l,r) : -2.48, -2.24

toe-in (l,r) : +0.9,-0.6 (whoaa) and this was 2 weeks after i did a wheel alignment at [B]tempe tyres! i should have been at the console monitors when they did it!! or maybe it was that driving on the old road.. i did drive pretty hard to keep up with matt :P

just goes to reiterate keiths previous comments on this exact issue.. ask for a print out and check.

will let you know on my next rotation keith..