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Is a 4 wheel alignment necessary?

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    Is a 4 wheel alignment necessary?

    Hey guys I was just going to get a alignment but do I really need a 4 wheels alignment. I don't think there is much to go wrong in the rear end but what do you guys recommend. Thanks.

    #2
    You have a solid rear axle...For all intensive purposes it is not adjustable. the front will simply be aligned in relation with the rear. most shops will advertise alignments as 4 wheel alignments, even if they only touch the front.

    Also make sure you find a trustworthy shop...they are hard to come by. a lot of places will do half ass alignments, and even less will dare touch the camber/caster adjustment. If you can ask for the before and after print out sheet.
    -Phil

    sigpic

    +1982 Ford LTD-S Police Car. Built 351w, Trickflow 11R 190 Heads, Holley Sniper EFI, RPM Intake+ Hyperspark dizzy, WR-AOD, Full exhaust headers to tails. 3.27 Trac-Lok Rear. Aluminum Police Driveshaft. Speedway Springs+Bilstein Shocks, Intermediate Brakes, HPP Steering Box.

    +2003 Acura CL Type S 6-speed

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      #3
      Great thanks for the extra info.

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        #4
        always ask for the print out when you get an alignment...if they say no go elsewhere
        sigpic


        - 1990 Ford LTD Crown Victoria P72 - the street boat - 5.0 liter EFI - Ported HO intake/TB, 90 TC shroud/overflow, Aero airbox/zip tube, Cobra camshaft, 19lb injectors, dual exhaust w/ Magnaflows, Cat/Smog & AC delete, 3G alternator, MOOG chassis parts & KYB cop shocks, 215/70r/15s on 95-97 Merc rims

        - 2007 Ford Escape XLT - soccer mom lifted station wagon - 3.0 Duratec, auto, rear converter delete w/ Magnaflow dual exhaust

        - 2008 Mercury Grand Marquis Ultimate Edition - Daily driver - 4.6 2 valve Mod motor, 4R75E, 2.73s. Bone stock

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          #5
          Also that insert cheap price is just for a toe and go. Expect to pay extra for camber/caster.
          2020 F250 - 7.3 4x4 CCSB STX 3.55's - BAKFlip MX4
          2005 Grand Marquis GS - Marauder sway bars, Marauder exhaust, KYB's
          2003 Marauder - Trilogy # 8, JLT, kooks, 2.5" exhaust, 4.10's/31 spline, widened rear's, metco's, addco's, ridetech's 415hp/381tq
          1987 Colony Park - 03+ frame swap, blown Gen II Coyote, 6R80, ridetechs, stainless works, absolute money pit. WIP

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            #6
            Some great advice here. +1 to everything as someone who's done alignments at a couple different shops.

            85 4 door 351 Civi Crown Victoria - Summer daily driver, sleeper in the making, and wildly inappropriate autocross machine
            160KMs 600cfm holley, shorty headers, 2.5" catted exhaust, 255/295 tires, cop shocks, cop swaybars, underdrive pulley, 2.73L gears.
            waiting for install: 3.27's, Poly bushings, boxed rear arms, 2500 stall converter, ported e7's, etc

            06 Mazda 3 hatch 2.3L 5AT (winter beater that cost more than my summer car)

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              #7
              I just had my race car aligned at NTB. The rack they use is a very impressive setup. No way to screw that alignment up. And, at NTB you can stand right there with the dude as he is making adjustments.
              sigpic
              2009 GM, 45,000 miles
              ADDCO Sway Bars, METCO Control arms & Watts link, KYB CVPI shocks, 3.27 Track Lock, GT500 wheels, Eagle F1 Supercar tires, Walker dual exhaust, AFE Cold Air intake, ADTR ported upper manifold, Stillen Sport Rotors, Hawk HPS pads, Hypertech Programmer, 93 tune.



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                #8
                The idea of a 4 wheel alignment in our cars case is to align the front wheels to the rear. Basically, if you just have a 2 wheel alignment, the front is all good, but the rear may have some damage, bent control arms, etc. Camber and Caster in a box panther sucks balls. 92+ for the win.

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                  #9
                  I had to have mine done 4 times before someone adjusted it right. The first time the toe was done. I went back and asked why the caster and camber numbers were way out of spec, and was told "its not adjustable". I have big brakes on my car, and it has 2 sets of adjustments so thats BS. The second place didn't tighten one of the control arms and it shifted on me some 800 miles from home. I tightened it as best I could with the tools I had, and took it back when I got home. Don't know what they did, but it pulled. I went somewhere else, and they made it drive right. I don't have a printout, but the car goes down the road perfectly straight with no quirky handling habits and it doesn't chew the tires so as far as I'm concerned, its good.
                  86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
                  5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

                  91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

                  1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

                  Originally posted by phayzer5
                  I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

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                    #10
                    " all intensive purposes" It's for all intents and purposes [i get it mixed up all the time] The other one I used to have trouble with was "6 in one hand half a dozen in the other"
                    But actually... IS there a way to correct anything in the rear?
                    My right rear toe is at .14 and my left rear is at -.07; is that far enough out of spec to say that something's the least bit bent?

                    And yeah, for $80, the technician gets paid $15... when I do alignments, sometimes, they are half-assed. I can't spend 2 hours on it and make a fair wage. And if something's more than a little frozen, where a propane torch won't get it (or there's a rubber bushing on the other side of that eccentric cam), I don't mess with it. We've had more headaches than appreciative customers, trying to deal with rusted hardware. Or if it's a truck that got lifted, and I have to mess with the torsion bars to correct things, or tear components apart to install aftermarket adjustments and shims, etc., it's easier just to say "it's not adjustable..." and move on to the next job, than price it all out only to have it turned down anyway as too expensive.
                    Last edited by BerniniCaCO3; 05-30-2012, 12:24 AM.

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                      #11
                      hey by the way, I was looking at my '90 box setup... the upper control arm has those two slots, right? I corrected caster by twisting it (moving just one slot outwards), and that sortof makes sense: it effectively shifts the upper ball joint backwards, which directly impacts caster. But it also screws up camber. It looks like the slots only move in and out, not side to side? So I can only get camber or caster correct, but can't fix caster without screwing up camber...? Or am I missing something?

                      I'll be taking the upper control arm off entirely, tomorrow; which may show me more.

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                        #12
                        I had mine done at pep boys last summer cost me $60 they did camber,caster,and toe, and gave me a printout. That was over 15,000 miles ago and all is still good.
                        2002 Mercury Grand Marquis LSE, Sylvania Zevo LED Headlights, MSD Blaster Coils, K&N Cold Air Intake, Dual Exhaust, 3.27's - Dally Driver

                        1983 Lincoln Continental Mark VI, Smog Delete - Summer Cruiser


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                          #13
                          Originally posted by BerniniCaCO3 View Post
                          hey by the way, I was looking at my '90 box setup... the upper control arm has those two slots, right? I corrected caster by twisting it (moving just one slot outwards), and that sortof makes sense: it effectively shifts the upper ball joint backwards, which directly impacts caster. But it also screws up camber. It looks like the slots only move in and out, not side to side? So I can only get camber or caster correct, but can't fix caster without screwing up camber...? Or am I missing something?

                          I'll be taking the upper control arm off entirely, tomorrow; which may show me more.
                          you're not missing anything, and pulling those arms won't show you anything you haven't worked out already. Basically you play with it to get the best balance and call it good. The lack of adjustability is probably the single biggest reason why they went to cam adjusters starting in 1992.
                          86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
                          5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

                          91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

                          1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

                          Originally posted by phayzer5
                          I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Had my car aligned at work. Our rack is shit though. Car went straight down the road, but no matter what we tried we couldn't get the steering wheel straight. About an hour at Scott's with Ivan's eyeballing and slight tweakage of tie rod ends made it perfect!

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                              #15
                              Just did my front suspension: I like to indulge, and had it all apart, so in addition to new polyurethane bushings, did ball joints (uppers probably were still just fine: lowers had no play yet but where gravelly when turned), and sway bar endlinks and frame mounts (endlinks were ready to rust through!), and new springs just because.

                              Bought the "lifetime alignments" at firestone; the guy got it to:
                              camber -.10 -.15
                              caster 3.25 3.45
                              toe .03 .05

                              can't really complain!
                              Maybe new bushings helped align things better?
                              Or just having them apart and wire brushed, make the top arms easier to adjust to where they needed to be without binding.
                              Or that the guy who did the alignment was 50+ years old and knew what he was doing better than I do yet

                              Happily the upper control arms were really pretty rust-free, protected up top, perhaps.
                              rear toe eccentric cams are the bane of my workday, they always rust fast.

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