I rotated my tires this morning, they have just over 5000 miles on them, so they were due. Brand new yokohama s-drives. after i got them mounted and balanced (by a professional race team owner who does it for a living) i went to a local tire shop, and set up an alignment. they came back to me after 30 minutes on the machine, and said it doesnt need an alignment, all is fine, and that the corolla has something called a progressive cruise control or something to that effect, and that only a dealership has the tools and capability for to do the alignment. i have the car lowered on h&r race springs. drove about 15000 on previous set of rims/tires without any abnormal wear issues. driving habits have not changed from one set to the other. here is a pic of the new tires after 5000 miles:
this is the passenger front, left side in pic is outside of the tire, right is inside of the tire. drivers side is about the same.
Is this an alignment issue? if so, do i have too much camber? is it true that the corolla can only be aligned at the dealership? i hate dealerships, and have an affinity for not going there for service, unless i absolutely cannot do something myself.
I believe the guy was talking about the torsion beam in the rear when he said that he cannot adjust it. Take it to Firestone or the like and ask for a print out when they are done to get the rest of the alignment complete.
Toe cannot be adjusted on the corolla rear, as it has a rear torsion beam (not independent rear suspension). Also front camber cannot be moved, it is set at the factory. I guess that is what he is talking about.
rears were fine, the tire in the pic was from the front.
i know that the rear cannot be adjusted without removing the hub and shimming it, that im aware of. its the front that is giving me the problem.
i spoke to firestone today over the phone, and they said they should be able to do it, they didnt see why not. Ill be taking it in next week and having it done, and getting the lifetime alignment as well. for the time being, i have put my stockers back on with old tires. id rather chew up the $60 tires than the $150 tires anyday.
rears were fine, the tire in the pic was from the front.
i know that the rear cannot be adjusted without removing the hub and shimming it, that im aware of. its the front that is giving me the problem.
i spoke to firestone today over the phone, and they said they should be able to do it, they didnt see why not. Ill be taking it in next week and having it done, and getting the lifetime alignment as well. for the time being, i have put my stockers back on with old tires. id rather chew up the $60 tires than the $150 tires anyday.
Lifetime alignment is the way to go. Make sure to ask for the print out when done.
Are you getting any tugging or pulling in any direction when you drive normal or go under full throttle?
Sounds weird. However, I would say yes go to the dealership to get the alignment.
There is no "progressive cruise control" in the XRS. I think what they were talking about is the "engine speed sensitive steering rack", which increases steering weight (taking away power assistance) as the engine speed increases.
I get the alignment, steering gear and wheel balance once a year from Toyota in my XRS.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikered30
I believe the guy was talking about the torsion beam in the rear when he said that he cannot adjust it. Take it to Firestone or the like and ask for a print out when they are done to get the rest of the alignment complete.
Toe cannot be adjusted on the corolla rear, as it has a rear torsion beam (not independent rear suspension). Also front camber cannot be moved, it is set at the factory. I guess that is what he is talking about.
^^^
Incorrect. The front toe and camber can be changed. I know it because after last winter ended I was running negative camber on the front and the toe-out got changed from factory due to driving over very bumpy hardened icey roads everyday. The front wheels were tramlining over bumpy roads due to the negative camber.
When I got everything adjusted, the camber was adjusted back to factory settings and all before and after settings were shown in the print-out of the invoice. The tramlining was gone as well. Yes, the rear suspension even with the torsion beam can get some negative camber dialed in as well.
__________________ SSM 05 Corolla XRS 6 Spd VVTL-i 2ZZ-GE /04 Corolla S 1ZZ-FE (sold)
so the steering rack, will that need a special tool? does it even need to be touched when doing an alignment? sorry for my ignorance...
ive got an appointment at firestone next week for a lifetime alignment. will be taking it in every 6 months after that point to make sure its in correct specs.
as for another note, i bought the tires through discount tire, and got the tire replacement plan. Im going to do what i can to get two replacements out of that deal.
Yes from my conversation with the mechanic (and looking at the invoice), it is called "adjust steering gear". What it does is tighten the steering in relation to wheel rack and pinion so that the turning of the wheel becomes tighter with the amount of lock on steering (lesser lock to turn the wheels).
If you want a scan of the invoice, I can scan it with all the details of the maintenance that includes these things.
That is what I usually experience when they adjust the alignment, wheel balancing as well as retool the steering gear. The car no longer tramlines, the lower end of the wheels are not pointing outwards (negative camber) and the steering lock results in more tighter turns on the wheel.
p.s. If your car (like mine) is lowered significantly (by about 1.8 - 2 inches), the suspension needs to be readjusted to accomodate for the less suspension travel including the camber and toe since everything is set for stock height.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aceshi21
very good info, thanks silver!
so the steering rack, will that need a special tool? does it even need to be touched when doing an alignment? sorry for my ignorance...
ive got an appointment at firestone next week for a lifetime alignment. will be taking it in every 6 months after that point to make sure its in correct specs.
__________________ SSM 05 Corolla XRS 6 Spd VVTL-i 2ZZ-GE /04 Corolla S 1ZZ-FE (sold)
Are you getting any tugging or pulling in any direction when you drive normal or go under full throttle?
Sounds weird. However, I would say yes go to the dealership to get the alignment.
There is no "progressive cruise control" in the XRS. I think what they were talking about is the "engine speed sensitive steering rack", which increases steering weight (taking away power assistance) as the engine speed increases.
I get the alignment, steering gear and wheel balance once a year from Toyota in my XRS.
^^^
Incorrect. The front toe and camber can be changed. I know it because after last winter ended I was running negative camber on the front and the toe-out got changed from factory due to driving over very bumpy hardened icey roads everyday. The front wheels were tramlining over bumpy roads due to the negative camber.
When I got everything adjusted, the camber was adjusted back to factory settings and all before and after settings were shown in the print-out of the invoice. The tramlining was gone as well. Yes, the rear suspension even with the torsion beam can get some negative camber dialed in as well.
I was looking over my print out from firestone and it lists my car as a 2005 corolla, non XRS. There must be different front camber adjustments for the corolla because the front camber on a non XRS corolla is non adjustable, just like the rear toe is not adjustable, unless shimmed. The front camber can be changed by using cam bolts. So you were correct, camber can be changed, but bolts have to be used. I imagine not of alignment places want to deal with shims and or cam bolts.
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