On The Road Alignment

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Amskeptic
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On The Road Alignment

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Jul 22, 2007 7:25 pm

If your tires appear to be working too hard, i.e. warm treads or extra-black while on pavement, or you see wear occurring:

Paint a stripe of any enamel across the tire with a brush.
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Drive five miles after paint has had a chance to dry. No hard corners or stops, please. Now check each tire.

Left front
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(left front here is showing wear on outside shoulder, due to smooth tread blocks, this is not too much toe-in, but rather a tad too much positive camber)

Right front
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(same is true for the right front here, but this tire is also showing stress on the outside shoulder due to heavy urban braking, there is clapboarding on the outside tread block, almost like ratchet teeth)

Left rear
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(notice that it is the inside tread that has scrubbed off the paint, this suggests maybe too much negative camber but considering the extra weight being carried, I'm not too concerned)

Right rear
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(this tire is better than the left rear, and my last alignment specs bears it out > the negative camber reading on the right was - 1.4* and the left was - 1.5* . . even this subtle a difference shows up on the paint test)

Timely front-to-rear rotations will easily keep these tires from wearing too strangely, the rears are working down the inside shoulders then will get the outsides down when moved to the front and vice versa.

Remember to check your wear patterns in a safe and legal place,
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. . . and remember to enjoy the day.
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BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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soulful66
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Post by soulful66 » Wed Jul 25, 2007 8:57 pm

Colin,
Thanks for the great write-up! Wasn't there a trick you mentioned to me about looking down at the front hub caps to ensure proper adjustment of one of the front end angles?
Best Regards,
John
'72 westy 3TC
'73 westy 1700 dual solex
'79 westy 2000 F.I.

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77_Bus_Girl
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Post by 77_Bus_Girl » Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:13 pm

You've got one pretty bus there Colin... =D>

Yeah - thanks for the write up. I'm going to give that a try!

edit - what's going on in your back seat? headrests? Do you have better pics of that?
Love your bus.

77 Westy

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:58 pm

soulful66 wrote:Colin,
Thanks for the great write-up! Wasn't there a trick you mentioned to me about looking down at the front hub caps to ensure proper adjustment of one of the front end angles?
Best Regards,
John
Assuming your front end or wheel arches have not been smacked, you can set your toe-in using the wheel arcs next to your hubcaps as you sight down directly over the centerpoint of the wheel.
Da tinks we has to do, ya know?
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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