I don't know much about this subject, but I have a 1990 camry and I have a 4 wheel alignment done. I have the Firestone lifetime alignment for this car.

I'm almost positive there are adjusters back there if I recall correctly when I changed the stabilizer bar links and some bushings.

Also, unless I'm getting taken out to dry, I have print-outs of "before" and "after" results that show all 4 wheels being aligned (camber/toe). I'll try and get an image scanned soon.

I think the older the car (worn out suspension and other parts) the more likely you would need an alignment. Just my thoughts on the matter.

And to share a recent horror story (last week). I bought firestone firehawk gt's and put 5,000 miles on them. Last week I went to have the rotated and balanced checked. ALL FOUR OF THEM WERE CRACKED/TORN....on the inside of the tire. 7-9 inch long cracks and chunks of rubber were missing. They tried to blame me for driving around with deflated tires. Long story short, I have 4 new Bridgestone Ecopias at no additional cost, and I will never buy from them again just for trying to accuse me of something stupid. I will only USE them for my alignments, they're going to hate me! hahahhaa.

 

I too have purchased the lifetime alignment plan. Love it.

There is camber adjust in the rear end... The old set of tires on the '91 had some excessive inner-tread wear because NOBODY around here listens to me for car advice- they ask and promptly ignore all of the (usually) accurate advice I have to give. I'll admit to having limited experience, but I'm 19 and cars are expensive these days.

There is an honest 4-wheel alignment. Don't get it done there. Go to a Firestone and purchase the lifetime alignment service. It includes a lifetime rotation and balance as well. I highly recommend it. I don't recommend the Firehawk. I have a Firestone economy tire mounted on the '91. I've put ~10k miles on them and there is virtually no wear, but... You gotta remember- Firestone tires are last year's Bridgestone tires.

Edit: I forgot to say. I paid ~$208 with tax for my lifetime 4-wheel alignment service. I need to buy one for the All-Trac, too... It really needs an alignment.

 

I know that there is a toe-in adjust for the rear. I just had my car aligned and asked the shop to let me watch while the mechanic worked.

The adjusting cams are at the ends of the rearmost suspension arms, towards the center line of the body. You just put a wrench on the cam nuts and turn. Viewed from the rear, clockwise = toe out, CCW = toe in, reverse that for 4WD. Spec is toe-in 4mm FWD, 3mm 4WD +/- 1mm. Of course in the shop they have the computer optical alignment system, measuring in angles. I think the most important thing is that the measurement is the same for both wheels.

I'm not sure about camber adjust for the rear. There is a specification (-35' FWD sedan, -5' wagon, -30' 4WD -- all +/- 30'), but I'm not sure how to adjust it short of replacing components.

I was surprised by how little is involved in alignment for this car. It's basically just the toe-in in the rear, plus wheel angle/toe-in for the front. Front caster could be adjusted with spacers, but it's a pain to do.

- Craig

 

Rear alignment *should* be done along with the front, but its not necessary if things are ok back there. The front and rear can be adjusted for toe and camber, and the front can be adjusted for caster, but that is difficult (like already mentioned). Caster adjustment only applies to wheels that steer.

Factory adjustment of camber in the rear is almost nothing, but you can add adjustable bolts to allow for more range of adjustment. Factory front camber can be done with the factory bolt and/or knuckle adjustments (depending on equipment).

I generally pay for each alignment as needed - especially since I don't run factory settings on any of my cars. I always watch the process to make sure things are done right. At this point though, I'm seriously considering getting my own equipment to do alignments at home - a few hundred $$$ to get the right tools and I can do it myself from now on...

-Charlie

 

Rear alignment *should* be done along with the front, but its not necessary if things are ok back there. The front and rear can be adjusted for toe and camber, and the front can be adjusted for caster, but that is difficult (like already mentioned). Caster adjustment only applies to wheels that steer.

Factory adjustment of camber in the rear is almost nothing, but you can add adjustable bolts to allow for more range of adjustment. Factory front camber can be done with the factory bolt and/or knuckle adjustments (depending on equipment).

Thanks Guys for the feedback. It looks like alignment adjustments can be made in the rear for my old 1989 Camry. I figured the car was too old.

The last time I went to Town Fair Tire even though I paid for a 4 wheel alignment they didn't adjust anything in the rear of the car. They handed me a printout of the 4 wheel alignment and wrote on it "no adjustment" for the camber and "Rear toe is frozen" even though the camber on both sides of the car and the toe on the passengers side were out of adjustment. They were most likely in too much of a rush to unfreeze/unstick the rear toe adjustments.:disappoin Here is a printout below...

 

I was an alignment tech, trained and certified by Goodyear's school in California and one of the first things you learn is to always do a four wheel alignment on a car were the rear is adjustable. You can try to compensate for incorrect alignment angles in the rear by adjusting the front but than the front wont be right and in some cases can cause unwanted side affects. Doing a two wheel alignment on a car with adjustment in the rear is lazy and something I would never do, or recommend. 50 bucks is a pretty good deal for a four wheel, or the Firestone lifetime alignment is also a good choice(I also worked a number of years at Firestone as a tech and performed alignments there as well).

 

Before doing alignment the control arm bushings, tie-rod ends (inner and outer) and ball joints must be inspected and replaced as necessary. The previous owner of my car had all front end messed up by trying to make at -home alignment without replacing faulty components

 

Copy of my alignment...Firestone always gives you a sheet after, if they don't, ask for it. They never have gotten everything within spec, it's always one or two things being off. I don't get bad tread wear so as long as they are close I don't raise a stink.

 

I see a lot in spec, the only problem I see is yore caster is off, wich is non adustable unless you pay extra for shims, or the lesser known trick on a gen2 camry of wacking the front sway bar bushings with a sledge hammer.

 

Where and what angle do I "Wack" to correct my situation? I changed those bushings out, so maybe I did something back then.

 

you can hit the mounts on the sway bar were they mount to the frame of the car, forward increases caster, back decreases it. it may not look like its doing much but i have gotten almost a degree of adjustment out of my own car that way, and then drove it for years after that, didn't see any adverse affects ether. Whiteline used to make bushings that had an offset molded in they basically did the same thing but without the whacking.

 

The caster will be off if the large control arm bushings are faulty; what relay matters is the cross-caster you want it to be within ½ of degree between L&R.
My toe was “out” 10 times then the specks, so I had shaved inner edges on the front tires.
The “adjustment” standards are tougher then the “inspection” standards by about 20%
Inability to adjust the alignment is normally caused by marginally worn suspension parts and/or loose alignment machine.
In order to adjust camber you need to have new tires; for all other inspections & adjustments you need to have straight rims

 

ok thanks...i'll do it just before i get another alignment and see what the readout comes out as. Heck, maybe one of the bolts are just loose or tightening up one or the other may do something similar.

 

Yeah - before whacking, try just loosening the bolts on the front swaybar bracket (bushing mount and larger bracket to the frame) on that side and pushing/prying forward and tightening them back up...

That probably won't be good for a whole lot though. It might be worth re-checking where you put the shims (if you have/had any on there).

-Charlie

 

My printout:

 

i like how the toe changed .04 degrees. check that adjustment nut, i bet one of them rounded the nut or something and then just did the printout. a proper shop would try at least to sell you a fix to 'unfreeze' your toe.

 

Yep, thats the mark of a lazy alignment tech. The quality of the alignment really depends on the tech.

 

If rear control arm bushing has too much play the reading must look like that. However if the car is returned to the customer without the explantion why setting cannot be done correctly, partial refund should be made(or at least 2 more attempts to correct the problem!)

 

You can file the holes in the strut to allow more movement with respect to the hub carrier

 

try new bushings/ strut mount before you do any permanent changes to the mounting point.