Any car people here?

[AgentJean]

I had my right CV axle replaced and now my end alignment is off. If I have the steering wheel center, I drift right. I called the shop where I got the work done and they said the alignment could be out(duh) the things is I had an alignment done a month ago when I got my tie rods replaced(same shop too). After I brought that fact up, the guy said I could have a radial pull. The guy also said CV axle replacements wouldn't mess up the alignment. Is that ture?

I know I don't have a radial pull because I swichted the 2 steering tires around and the drift is still to the right, it should have started going left or centered out after the rotation.

Any suggestions?

 

[funboy6942]

The pull you may be feeling could be road pull. If it only happens on some roads I wouldnt worry about it. All roads are slightly curved to let rain water run off, some roads are worse then others and no matter how good your alignment is you will get a pull to the right.

Food for thought.

 

[Zenmervolt]

The rear tires are perfectly capable of inducing a radial pull too.

And barring a catastrophic accident, it's effectively impossible for the alignment to be changed during a CV axle replacement.

ZV

 

[AgentJean]

The pull happens on all roads. I'm going to switch around the two rear tires and see what happens. If that doesn't "work" car's going back for a new alignment, which is still under warrenty.

 

[AgentJean]

Here's a update.

After switching around the 2 rear tires I was still getting the pull to the right so I took it to Pepboys for a realignment(the original alignment was still underwarranty). They tell me that the alignment they can do is fine but my driver side front tire has a negitive camber. They showed me what they were refering to and you can see that the tire tilts inwards at the top.

They said that my car type( 99 Nissan altima) doesn't have support the ability to adjust like other cars do. They also said the only way the tire would be messed up the way it was if something hit my car. Well as far as I know my car was never in an accident(it's used)

They recommended that I get the control rod, a strut and a 3rd part replaced(I don't remember off the top of my head what the 3rd part was). They quoted me $1,000 to get it fixed. Personally I think they are full of it.

 

[ElFenix]

ah, bent suspension bits. that'll do it.

 

[AgentJean]

Oh yeah. I forgot to add. After they did their little alignment check and gave me my car back, when I drive it the pull is now towards the left(it was pulling to the right when I dropped it off)


Weird huh.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: AgentJean
Oh yeah. I forgot to add. After they did their little alignment check and gave me my car back, when I drive it the pull is now towards the left(it was pulling to the right when I dropped it off)


Weird huh.

maybe pepboys is breaking things when you take it in to them.

 

[AgentJean]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: AgentJean
Oh yeah. I forgot to add. After they did their little alignment check and gave me my car back, when I drive it the pull is now towards the left(it was pulling to the right when I dropped it off)


Weird huh.

maybe pepboys is breaking things when you take it in to them.

Maybe they are, no one ever seems to noticed the tilted wheel when they did the Oil change, the tire rods, or the CV axle.

 

[slag]

Negative camber is easily fixed by elongating the holes on your strut mount and/or using cam bolts.

Nearly any shop that does alignments should be aware of this procedure and yes, it works great.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Any shop that tells you that your alignment is fine, but your camber is off has no business working on cars. Camber is part of the alignment and it is IMPOSSIBLE for the alignment to be OK with the camber off.

If they sold you an "alignment" that didn't include camber adjustment, then shame on you. Might as well buy an oil change that doesn't include changing the filter.

ZV

 

[AgentJean]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Any shop that tells you that your alignment is fine, but your camber is off has no business working on cars. Camber is part of the alignment and it is IMPOSSIBLE for the alignment to be OK with the camber off.

If they sold you an "alignment" that didn't include camber adjustment, then shame on you. Might as well buy an oil change that doesn't include changing the filter.

ZV

The way the guy put it was, they can do cambers on cars that support them(like Fords)
He was trying to sell that my model doesn't support that type of adjustment.

Maybe I'll stop by there again today, get a written estimate of what is wrong and needs to be done. Take my car to the shop where I usually get all the "major" work done and see what they say and then raise holy hell if the fix was something Pepboys should have been able to do to begin with.

Only reason I had pepboys do the alignment was because of the tie rod replacements.

 

[slag]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Any shop that tells you that your alignment is fine, but your camber is off has no business working on cars. Camber is part of the alignment and it is IMPOSSIBLE for the alignment to be OK with the camber off.

If they sold you an "alignment" that didn't include camber adjustment, then shame on you. Might as well buy an oil change that doesn't include changing the filter.

ZV

Not all cars have the ability to adjust camber with the given hardware and those cars require additional work that may or may not be included in the traditional alignment that you pay for.

p.s. I never changed the transmission filter on my 96 maxima when I replaced the fluid.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: slag

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Any shop that tells you that your alignment is fine, but your camber is off has no business working on cars. Camber is part of the alignment and it is IMPOSSIBLE for the alignment to be OK with the camber off.

If they sold you an "alignment" that didn't include camber adjustment, then shame on you. Might as well buy an oil change that doesn't include changing the filter.

ZV

Not all cars have the ability to adjust camber with the given hardware and those cars require additional work that may or may not be included in the traditional alignment that you pay for.

p.s. I never changed the transmission filter on my 96 maxima when I replaced the fluid.

Never heard of a car that didn't have adjustable camber with independant suspension. Learn something new every day I suppose. I mean, I knew that live axles and such weren't adjustable but I hadn't seen non-adjustable independant suspension.

ZV

 

[goodoptics]

According to ALLDATA on your 99 Altima front wheel alignment:

Camber, caster and kingpin inclination are preset at factory and cannot be adjusted.
If camber, caster and kingpin inclination are not within specification, inspect front suspension parts. Replace damaged or worn out parts.

 

[308nato]

Its all non adjustable but there should be a shim or eccentric kit available to square it all away(cost for parts/installation extra) and get it all aligned properly. They should have offered you this in the estimate. Moog probably makes one.