Tracking

[MiD 0]

Having just had new Goodyear Eagles put on the car all round I now feel i should get my tracking done. The tyres i had on before were an eclectic mix in various states of wear and seeping air from all over which meant that the pressures were all over the shop.

 

Before the new tyres I noticed the steering wheel was never aligned straight when the car was going straight, I put this down to the the existing rubber but now with the new tyres and even though I've only done a few miles the problem remains. I've read the various threads on wishbones etc but feel that elimanting the simpler things is the way to go. Shortly after buying the car I took it in to an independent Peugeot/Citreon workshop and asked the fella to check everything over and whilst he brought my attention to a couple of area front steering was not one of them.

 

What I'm after is any recommendations for a good place in Nottingham to get the tracking done, I have all the major chains close by. If I'm going to get it done I would need to do it tomorrow as I head North on Saturday.

[Beastie 1]

There are several reasons which could explain the steering wheel not being straight:

 

Someone could have put the wheel back on the column in the wrong place

 

Something on the steering system or body shell could be bent or out of line

 

The steering tie rods are set at unequal lengths.

 

 

The last reason is far and away the most likely cause. The tie rods are the rods coming out of the steering rack onto which are screwed the track rod ends. It is essential that the length of the rod between inner and outer rod joints are identical. If these lengths are not identical then although the track in the straight ahead course may be correct the track on turns will be quite incorrect and tyre wear will occur.

 

Most garages and tyre depots in my experience adjust the track on one tie rod only. This enables them to get a correct reading on their tracking gauge although the steering geometry is in fact now incorrect. It's quick, it's lazy and it gets the next job in the workshop sooner. During my time in the trade I have met very few operators indeed who even understand why this is a problem!

 

My advice in your case would be a little DIY before you get the car tracked: Jack up the front of the vehicle and support it properly. Remove both front wheels. Remove the inner ends of the steering rack bellows from the rack casing. Now measure (as accurately as you possibly can) the distance from a known point on the inner ball joint to the centre of the tie rod end. (Don't measure to the locknut or to the machined face onto which the locknut tightens: Someone may have fitted rod ends of different manufacture which vary in overall length - always measure to the centre of the TRE). You will almost certainly find a small differnce in the lengths of the tie rod ends - even 1/8 inch is enough to cause a small amount of tyre wear (sorry - I'm still imperial!) Halve the error you find and lengthen the short rod by this amount and shorten the long rod by this amount. Make sure the locknuts are tight and put everything back together. You will probably find that your steering wheel is central now.

 

Next find a garage / tyre centre who is prepared to let you watch them do the job. Ask them if they will adjust on both sides to correct the track and watch them do it. They should mark each tie rod (eg with chalk) and make sure that they turn each by exactly the same amount when making adjustments.

 

 

Best of luck!

[MiD 0]

Thanks Beastie for the comprehensive reply. Unfortunately I do not have a garage and live on a main road so any DIY work on the car is of an extremly minor nature. I actually did wonder if the steering wheel had been put on askew, seems far too simple but not to be discounted. I may telephone a few garages and ask them if they adjust both sides when they do the tracking.

[GLPoomobile 958]

There are several reasons which could explain the steering wheel not being straight:

 

Someone could have put the wheel back on the column in the wrong place

 

Something on the steering system or body shell could be bent or out of line

 

The steering tie rods are set at unequal lengths.

The last reason is far and away the most likely cause. The tie rods are the rods coming out of the steering rack onto which are screwed the track rod ends. It is essential that the length of the rod between inner and outer rod joints are identical. If these lengths are not identical then although the track in the straight ahead course may be correct the track on turns will be quite incorrect and tyre wear will occur.

 

Most garages and tyre depots in my experience adjust the track on one tie rod only. This enables them to get a correct reading on their tracking gauge although the steering geometry is in fact now incorrect. It's quick, it's lazy and it gets the next job in the workshop sooner. During my time in the trade I have met very few operators indeed who even understand why this is a problem!

 

My advice in your case would be a little DIY before you get the car tracked: Jack up the front of the vehicle and support it properly. Remove both front wheels. Remove the inner ends of the steering rack bellows from the rack casing. Now measure (as accurately as you possibly can) the distance from a known point on the inner ball joint to the centre of the tie rod end. (Don't measure to the locknut or to the machined face onto which the locknut tightens: Someone may have fitted rod ends of different manufacture which vary in overall length - always measure to the centre of the TRE). You will almost certainly find a small differnce in the lengths of the tie rod ends - even 1/8 inch is enough to cause a small amount of tyre wear (sorry - I'm still imperial!) Halve the error you find and lengthen the short rod by this amount and shorten the long rod by this amount. Make sure the locknuts are tight and put everything back together. You will probably find that your steering wheel is central now.

 

Next find a garage / tyre centre who is prepared to let you watch them do the job. Ask them if they will adjust on both sides to correct the track and watch them do it. They should mark each tie rod (eg with chalk) and make sure that they turn each by exactly the same amount when making adjustments.

Best of luck!

 

Beastie - I'm glad you have posted these comments. I posted a topic over a year ago about this as I thought the same, and the opinions varied (but I still think the same).

 

Basically, Haynes says always adjust the track rod ends equally. The Peugeot dealer I phoned said the same. And if you think about it logically you will draw the same conclusion. However, just as you have said, most places are too lazy and will only adjust one side to get the tracking correct in the straight ahead position. The opinion on the frum at the tme was that although this is not correct, the differnce it actualy makes in the real world is so insignificant as to be unnoticeable - I say this is bollocks!

 

This all happened after I had my tracking done at a place in Welwyn Garden City. A few months after it was done I had the car on stands and noticed one track rod end was wound out about 1cm more than the other. I called the garage up and the guy offered to have a mechanic expain it to me if I came down. So I went down there at lunch time and one of the guys had a car up in the air doing a 4 wheel laser allignment and he discussed it with me. I explained to him why I thought it was not correct, and in return he totally baffled me with an explanation of how a 4 wheel allignment is done (went right over my head!). So we agreed to disagree.

 

Anyway, Mid, what you need to do is check your components as Beastie suggested. Get the car tracking done BUT insist that they adjust the rod ends so that they are as equal as possible and tell them you will check afterwards and will not be happy if they don't do it properly. I have also been told that you are better off finding somebody who can do the tracking with old Dunlop guages as most places have thousands of pounds worth of laser tracking equipment but the spanner monkeys don't know how to use it properly

 

After the tracking is done, you'll need to straighten up your steering wheel. Lever the Gti badge off and undo the nut (think it is 13mm). Find a nice straight level road and drive slowly along. Stop, pull wheel off, move it slightly as required, put it back on and drive forward again. Keep doing this until you are satisfied it is straight and then tighten the bolt back up.

Edited February 8, 2007 by GLPoomobile

[MiD 0]

Beastie and GLP, as I'm going for a pint in half an hour I would buy you both one if you were there. I've read what you wrote and decided that rather than go to the usual high street chain and ask for my tracking to be done without really knowing what I was doing I would find some place that would do it properly re your advice.

 

Checked yellow pages and found a place that emphasised wheel alignment rather than tyre sales. Did a google search and found that someone in the Lexus (!) owners club recommended them. looked up the web site and it seemed they did all the proper work.

 

Have just spoken to a fella and have it booked in tomorrow, should take about 30 minutes for £32+VAT. he didn't treat me as an idiot when I asked my questions and when i said a 205 GTi he asked if it was the 1.9 or 1.6. Hopefully it works out

 

Cheers

 

A link to them, see what you think.

 

http://www.alignment-services.co.uk/

[Beastie 1]

The opinion on the frum at the tme was that although this is not correct, the differnce it actualy makes in the real world is so insignificant as to be unnoticeable - I say this is bollocks!

 

I'd agree with you. Sorting out tyre wear is one of the most frequent jobs I get to do. A customer of mine recently purchased an XK8 as a second owner knowing that it had a tendancy to wear front tyres. There was a sheaf of invoices for new tyres and for tracking and re tracking at a Jaguar main dealer (which had better remain nameless.) The tie rods were different lengths. Adjust tie rods, set track and road test. No more tyre wear. The same thing had happened on my CTI: 2 previous owners, a sheaf of bills from each of them for new front tyres every few hundred miles and an even bigger sheaf of bills for tracking at loads of different establishments: Tie rods unequal and even the straight course track incorrectly set. I got a cheap CTI out of it and my last set of tyres are now coming up to 30000 miles

 

MiD - Alignment Services have certainly got the right talk but like any place they will only be as good as the people who are doing the work: The main thing is that they sound okay when you ask them some informed questions. A company like that is creating its market by offering to get things right so it is at least in their interest to ensure a proper job!

[MiD 0]

Well thats my tracking done. The garage let me watch them doing it and they did work on both sides. Also gave me a computer print out which might as well be in Swahili. A quick ten miles through town then a blast on dual carriageway gives me the impression that the steering is tighter, though this may be wishful thinking Combining this with brand new rubber on balanced wheels things are working out nicely and my steering wheel is now aligned with the direction I want to go in.

 

Paying cash also saved me the dreaded VAT!