Alignment check
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From: engineman1 on 23 Apr 2010 16:01 The other day Iwent to the local express lube place for an oil change and lube for my '94 Ranger. They had a sign that said "free alignment check". When I asked them about this they said they had a device which checks your alignment as you drive in. How does this work? Is it accurate? What surprised me most was that they told me the alignment was OK. I have been noticing slight uneven tread wear patterns on the front. Engineman
From: MasterBlaster on 24 Apr 2010 02:20
<engineman1(a)aol.com> wrote: > The other day Iwent to the local express lube place for an oil change > and lube for my '94 Ranger. > They had a sign that said "free alignment check". > When I asked them about this they said they had a device which checks > your alignment as you drive in. > How does this work? More than likely just a two-pad "side-slip" tester that checks the toe. If the wheels are toed-in, as you drive over it the pads will be pushed apart. If you're toed-out, the pads will be pulled together. > Is it accurate? Sure, if you're only concerned about toe. However, you may have several worn or bent suspension parts, plus totally out of whack caster and camber, but with enough fiddling (or sheer luck), the combination of errors may "cancel each other out" enough to make the toe checker think everything's fine and dandy, ignoring the fact that the right wheel is tilted enough to scrape the hubcap on the ground, while the left is so far forward the tire is rubbing against the front bumper. |