Wheel alignment tech said that passenger front wheel needs more positive caster

[somerandomguy1]

Good afternoon,

I went to get an wheel alignment on a 1990 toyota corolla.
I put the car on the alignment machine and the alignment tech said that the passenger front wheel is an eigth of a inch more behind than it should be. He said that in order to fix that a body shop can pull the control arm forward an eigth of an inch on with a tool called a portapower to get the caster back in factory spec

He said the camber and toe in are adjustable though the caster would have to be adjusted by a body shop. Why dont wheel alignment shops adjust the caster also?

Now i will contact the mechanic who i have gone to and ask about this?

Cheers

Jorge

 

[Razorsharpe]

Good afternoon,

I went to get an wheel alignment on a 1990 toyota corolla.
I put the car on the alignment machine and the alignment tech said that the passenger front wheel is an eigth of a inch more behind than it should be. He said that in order to fix that a body shop can pull the control arm forward an eigth of an inch on with a tool called a portapower to get the caster back in factory spec

He said the camber and toe in are adjustable though the caster would have to be adjusted by a body shop. Why dont wheel alignment shops adjust the caster also?

Now i will contact the mechanic who i have gone to and ask about this?

Cheers

Jorge

Cars with McPherson strut suspensions don’t have adjustable caster. You likely have something bent on that side. Was it in an accident? Big pothole or curb hit? Does anyone else but you drive it?

The alignment tech is saying he can’t get it into spec as it isn’t adjustable via normal means.

 

[bdcardinal]

Cars with McPherson strut suspensions don’t have adjustable caster. You likely have something bent on that side. Was it in an accident? Big pothole or curb hit? Does anyone else but you drive it?

The alignment tech is saying he can’t get it into spec as it isn’t adjustable via normal means.

Well there is. For some applications you can get adjustable top mounts. But yes, the most likely reason is a bent component.

 

[JimPghPA]

I would be concerned that bending it to correct one thing would also cause others to become out of speck and would have the alignment checked very soon after any bending was done.

 

[Blinker]

Something could be bent, or something could be misaligned. Has the engine sub frame assembly been removed at any point in its life? I assume it has a front sub frame anyway, I’m not familiar with a 1990 Corolla.

Ive seen plenty of cars with subframes installed slightly tweaked after an engine/transmission removal. A misaligned subframe can cause all sorts of alignment issues, caster being a big one.

 

[somerandomguy1]

Cars with McPherson strut suspensions don’t have adjustable caster. You likely have something bent on that side. Was it in an accident? Big pothole or curb hit? Does anyone else but you drive it?

The alignment tech is saying he can’t get it into spec as it isn’t adjustable via normal means.

I veered off road into the brush once, and was stopped suddendly by the brush, no cometic

 

[Trav]

Well, that answers that question.

 

[eljefino]

I had a good alignment tech drill/ nibble the top strut mount and slide the top of the strut rearward.

Just because they can measure it, doesn't mean they can fix it. Be glad he told you what's wrong and what the next step to take, is. A worse shop would say "the factory left it unadjustable" and good luck to you.

 

[somerandomguy1]

I also live where there are many large potholes and where the roads would be considered off road in the USA.

I also hit a curb with the right side tire recently and the right side tire exploded, i wasnt even going that fast, maybe had to do more with the fact that the tire was inflated at 60 psi.

The transmission mount was adjusted also recently and the motor was removed slightly from the car as some nails or screws were added to the transmission mount area as the transmissiin mount was making a noise so it was adjusted and the noise was lessened after the adjustment. When this adjustment was made, the engine was jacked up to make the repair so that could of have made the change to the caster.

Yes my mom and my nephew drive it also too.

Cheers

Jorge

 

[grjr]

I also live where there are many large potholes and where the roads would be considered off road in the USA.

I also hit a curb with the right side tire recently and the right side tire exploded, i wasnt even going that fast, maybe had to do more with the fact that the tire was inflated at 60 psi.

The transmission mount was adjusted also recently and the motor was removed slightly from the car as some nails or screws were added to the transmission mount area as the transmissiin mount was making a noise so it was adjusted and the noise was lessened after the adjustment. When this adjustment was made, the engine was jacked up to make the repair so that could of have made the change to the caster.

Yes my mom and my nephew drive it also too.

Cheers

Jorge

I would think that if you are driving off road all the time then your alignment is not so critical. Take the car to a mechanic and see if they can identify any parts that are bent on that corner

 

[PimTac]

In your recent thread about going off the road you mentioned things not lining up and such.

The Corolla is bent.

Trunk wont latch shut after accident

Good morning, I drove into a small ditch headon and fell two feet into it, luckily ther ñe.was some.branches that cushioned the head on sudden stop, fortunately i or the vehicle occupants didnt suffer any harm. The vehicle also didnt suffer any apparent.harm though.afterwards i saw the.the...

bobistheoilguy.com

 

[Trav]

Off roading with a Corolla usually doesn't end well.

 

[somerandomguy1]

It is a rare occasion when i drive the corolla off road.

In your recent thread about going off the road you mentioned things not lining up and such.

The Corolla is bent.

Trunk wont latch shut after accident

Good morning, I drove into a small ditch headon and fell two feet into it, luckily ther ñe.was some.branches that cushioned the head on sudden stop, fortunately i or the vehicle occupants didnt suffer any harm. The vehicle also didnt suffer any apparent.harm though.afterwards i saw the.the...

bobistheoilguy.com

Might be, will check with mechanic and body shop.

Cheers

Jorge

 

[Lubener]

Caster issues will not cause excessive tire wear. If he can get the toe and camber in specs, see how the car handles. If it is acceptable, I would leave it. I wouldn't put a lot of money into a 31 year old Corolla and to have frame work done will be expensive.

 

[somerandomguy1]

Caster issues will not cause excessive tire wear. If he can get the toe and camber in specs, see how the car handles. If it is acceptable, I would leave it. I wouldn't put a lot of money into a 31 year old Corolla and to have frame work done will be expensive.

I live in nicaragua. Labor costs are orders of magnitude less expensive than than in the US.

It appears a portapower is a hydraulic puller. I wonder where exactly on the car the pulling would best be applied to move the the passenger side wheel an eigth of an inch forward, the passenger side control arm maybe? How many tons would the hydraulic puller need to be to move the passenger side wheel forward an eigth of an inch? 4 ton puller maybe enough?

Cheers jorge

 

[somerandomguy1]

Maybe the alignment tech didnt know what he was doing as i rember when he entered tje vehicle configuration into the alignment computer he entered it as a corolla wagon, glad i caught him though and told him that it was a corolla sedan. Who knows what else he might of got wrong.


Cheers

Jorge