I hit a pothole the other night & now my car pulls to the right when steering. I took it two local tire shops for an alignment. The first which is a local chain said they couldn't do it because they saw no way to adjust it. The second said I would need new tie rods & control arms in order to do an alignment.. I priced the parts & they around $1,600 & they want another $300 to do the work. Is there reasonable?

 

D, did they say exactly what is damaged? Control arms: yes they have ball joints and bushings but I don't think it'd affect steering unless you bent one - in sure it can happen but I've never read about it.

Tie rods directly affect steering, has a ball joint on the end. FYI its super easy to do yourself. Maybe Google the price for new tie rods for info?

Now I was thinking so hard about how control arms could affect steering i overlooked the obvious. Mechanic does his job checks for play before starting. Maybe finds play = new ball joint needed. While it can be done, not many mechanics out there who will put in the time and effort to press in a new ball joint in the lower control arm. Its a PITA. Hell even jaguar recommends just swapping out the whole control arm. Last I looked they cost nearly $4 or $500.

If you can say more about damage specifics that'd help.

John

 

lower Control arm bushings and ball joints can be replaced DIY - ball joint is a bit of a pain but with a 20ton press can be done

Tie rods super easy DIY

 

Fellow Hardeman Co Jag driver here!
Moved from Whiteville to Grand Valley 6 years ago- maybe we can have a meet at WalMart some nice day…

 

When I had my car in recently for a 4-wheel alignment the tech and the service advisor both stated that ONLY the toe on these cars are designed to be adjusted. The caster can be tweaked a little with the pivot bolt shims but that's about it. The camber is not designed to be adjustable. My 2 cents.

 

TropicCat.
Not going to to get into a heated argument about chamber, but will state, with some effort it can be adjusted to any thing your hearts desire.
Is it easy, nope, if you have the time and your own spring compressor and work with shim amounts on the top and bottom of the spring tower, you would be amazed how flat you can get the front tire on the ground.
If you don't believe me, Kelly (kstevusa) and I spent a good two weeks getting his to exactly what he wanted. I did say it's not easy, but we did prove with some initial measurements you can get it pretty close the first time for your car, note, I said for your car. The wear tear factor for bushings and springs that are relaxed might mean several times you may take apart the strut assembly and put it back.
That is why the alignment shops say no way.
Just as info, Kelly might come in with his version as he really did all the leg work on this.

 

The camber can be altered by a small amount in a few ways. 1st I replaced the upper mounts after taking a measurement on ride height. After the new Welsh Mounts. the ride height was 15 1/2". After a few thousand miles, I noticed the tires wearing on the inside edge and measured again. I was back to 143/4 to 14 7/8". The Springs were sagged so I purchased new Suplex springs and replaced them. The ride height reset to 15 5/8" and stayed there for 15-20K miles. No more strange tire wear. Recently noticed the shock mount bolt was off center on right front. Decided to test Wayne's new upper mounts. First, we took a baseline measurement. The shock bolt being off center did not effect the camber (just replaced the 2 Conti. front tires) They showed no abnormal wear pattern. The install of Wayne's mounts were good. After the install , the ride height showed 15 1/2". BTY, the Welsh inner part between the Clamshell (2 metal enclosures) were trashed. The 2 thick dounts between the Clamshell and springs were undamaged. Initially we used Wayne's entire assembly and finished with a low ride height. Since we had the original measurements, we removed the Red bottom donut at base of spring and returned to the OEM spacers and plastic incline ring. we discovered how the ride height is effected and how it effects the camber. By changing the distance from LCA Ball Joint to the UCA Ball joint, one can change the Camber. The previous New springs had restored the Camber to correct once they were added. Due to having correct ride height, before new upper mounts, we knew we need X amount of ride height to restore the proper factory spec. The 15 5/8" or 397mm was the figure we needed but required us to add the 7mm on top of the Clamshell inside the shock tower Once we assembled the spring, shock and various parts, the ride height settled at 15 5/8 or 397mm. We are confident the Camber is correct. To avoid any error, we removed the center caps and measured with calipers and marked the center with Sharpie. Using the Trolley jack and Laser level beam, allowed the precise measurement. Next project is to obtain a working DSC/ABS module.

 

Well done Kelly and Wayne....

 

I do my own toe in adjustment with a string line, I get better tire wear than the alignment specialists have done on my car!

 

I've used the same local shop here, in Monroe, La. for over 50 years...they have very modern digital alignment equipment...And do a great job. Other than a 1/2' alignment problem on my 2018 E-Pave, they have aligned my 3 SCCA racing British cars, an Alfa GTV & Graduate, a Fiat Abarth 500, 4 jaguars, and a 1949 MGTC...I think another competent shop could easily do this job.

Armand

 

Competent is the operative word, can't tell you how many times I've come out of an alignment shop with the steering wheel pointed in the wrong direction!

 

Good Day, Please allow me to ask another alignment question re my 1997 XK8.I recently replaced the front springs and the mounting assembly at the top of the springs (using the Welsh design). Right height is even from side to side. The issue is that the steering has a bias to drift or pull to the right. When I removed the upper wishbone pivot bolt, the spacer washers fell to the floor., even though I made an effort to keep them sorted. The left side of the wishbone had two thicker washers on both sides of the wishbone. The right side had two thick washers on both sides and also had a thinner washer which I installed on the side farthest from the front of the car. My question is what are these washer for - are they part of the alignment adjustments? If it is inappropriate to ask here, let me know and I'll start a new tread.

 

Yup, important that they go back the way they came out!

 

There are spacers/shims and what I call bushing seats. The spacers are flat washers with the same thickness across the entire washer. The seats are a thick stepped plate that fit into the hollow on both sides of each a-arm bushing. You should have 4 seats per pivot bolt. 2 seats per bushing. The flat washers fit between the seats and the subframe. Hope this helps.

 

So what's the drill on this "alignment" process? Add and subtract spring packers (flat black plastic spacers between the spring leveler [white plastic ring at bottom of spring] and the spring pan) until you get the camber correct? And how on earth do you measure the camber? Or do you make a change, drive to the alignment shop, pay them $100+, drive home, rinse/repeat? Or do make a change and then drive the car a thousand miles and examine the tire wear? This seems like a VERY expensive and frustrating process. There has to be a better way.

 

Well it took longer than I thought Rick for you to come back with a p===ey a$$ remark. We did say, if you are not going to do this yourself that no alignment shop is going to go to the trouble.
You need to get the car as close to the measurements discussed to give you the best shot at having the right Camber, that being 15.5 and 15.625 inches. Of course, each car may be a little different for precise 1 or 2 degrees negative camber but we are talking about getting it as close as we can with wear factors in bushings and springs. A simple straight edge on the rim of the tire with a degree wheel should really help after driving around for a bit.
What part of "it's not easy" did you not understand. If someones car is running a positive camber with wide wheels or a 5 or 6 degree negative, tire wear will become apparent in the first few thousand miles and it's time to do something about it and this is the way it's done, PERIOD! If you fine a better way, please tell everyone here.
Sorry Rick, but a negative attitude is not part of my makeup and although you do add thought in a lot processes, this time you are over board.