Hello all
Looking for a suggestion on this issue
I inspected my tires today and noticed wear on inside of both front tires, searched the web and it says its caused by positive camber.
upper shock supports and shocks have been replaced along with all ball joints, and on advice of mech who did ball joints upper control arm bushings on driver side.
Question ..is this an adjustment that I can perform myself. running a tire pressure of 35 lbs. all around, no visible wear on rear tires and front wear is even on both tires no shake rattle and roll of any kind on steering.
would welcome any suggestions, maybe all I need is a wheel alignment, can any shop eg, Good year do this ?
thanks in advance for any suggestions
Jeremy

 

The wear you describe on the front tyres is normally caused by the toe being out of specification.

While camber could cause such wear, it would be caused by excessive negative, not positive camber.

It would be best to have the vehicle aligned by a competent alignment specialist shop.

 

This suspension is pretty basic. The camber alignment is done by restoring the ride height. Check the Vehicle Spec Book on jagrepair.com for the correct measurement between the center of the wheel to the top of the wheel arch. This is typically too low on most of our cars because the upper strut bearing contains poor quality foam that collapses over time. Most buy the after market mount from Welsh Ent (check eBay). The upgraded part seem to last. The tell-tale signs are foam crumbs around the shock tower, and the shock top somehow not being centered in its bearing, as seen from the top of the shock tower (just open the hood and check).

The other issue is the collapsed lower shock bushing. It deteriorates and lets the suspension sag, resulting in negative camber again. Seems like you have already addressed that.

Just to mention it, there are (expensive!) eccentric control arm bolts from Jaguar. They provide very little improvement and do not address the root cause. My understanding is that they are used as a last resort, typically after some form of an accident.

Just to state the obvious, if your upper bearing and ride height somehow come out to be in spec, it would be a good time to check the toe..

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

Hi all
Ok took my car into a reputable shop for alignment, they say cannot adjust front passenger side (negative camber) I need to replace the cam bolt with an adjustable one has anybody heard of this? fmertz seemed to mention something about this, any other input welcome
Cheers
Jeremy

 

Did the shop find any evidence of damage to the suspension?

 

no not that they said. I have replaced shocks, upper mounts all 4 ball joints and some control arm bushings that were worn, front end is sitting at just over 15" when measured from center wheel to well rim on both sides

 

Those of us who have replaced the shocks and shock mounts in these cars typically find that camber and caster return to within normal specs. As previously mentioned, you may simply need a toe adjustment. Did your alignment shop print out a chart for you showing your car's current specs for camber, caster, and toe? If not, find a decent alignment shop that will do so....

 

Received this sheet after they finished not sure I understand how to interpret

 

Yes, the front camber is outside the spec.

It appears they were able to correct the front toe, but not the back toe.

 

Thanks NBcat
think the eccentric bolt will help, the tech who performed the work seemed to think so

 

It can as fmertz mentioned in post 3 above. First the Technician should determine if there has been any damage to the suspension components on that side causing the camber to be outside the specification.

 

thanks again I've been underneath cant see an issue and most every important part replaced, checked the upper mount to see if bolt still centered, looks ok I will order the bolt to have on hand and get a better look under when my mechanic goes to install it then take back to alignment center they told me N/C for return visit.

 

Please post back with the results so it can help another forum member in a similar situation.

 

l think the eccentric bolt will only give a max of about .15 degrees.

 

As fmertz suggested, a common cause of excess negative camber is low ride height. It should be near 15 3/4 inches from wheel centre to fender. Since you report you already changed the shocks and mounts, low ride height could be attributable to saggy springs. I had to replace mine to get ride height back to spec which also cured excess camber. Subjectively, the car handles much better too.

I don't think the eccentric bolts will have enough range to get you back to spec.


Andy