Front suspension - alignment of "top"

[SileNceR]

Hi,

just wondering if it's possible to "mess up" the alignment of the top of the front suspension. My LHS front wheel sits too far out at the top; Because the car is lowered, it's not really positive camber, but I guess more positive than the camber on the RHS?

I wonder if I've somehow put it together out of alignment while cutting the springs (in the car)

Yes yes, I know, don't cut the springs.... I'll probably get some H&R springs soon; in the meantime I have this tyre munting itself against the guard.

[BertjeConti]

Seems not possible to me.
Wheel alignment should not change if only the springs are shortened.

Cutting down springs is indeed a worse thing to do.

[Jeroen]

Guess the tyre/wheel spec may be off, causing your issue?

[SileNceR]

I think the wheels might be bit too wide; but it's more that the LHS is worse than the RHS (by about 10mm!)

[SileNceR]

Tyres are 205/50r15 if that's any help.

[nas80]

yeah you cant change the camber on these its fixed.

[rob0r]

I've cut many springs, as all the other replies, you can't change the alignment. Is the spring seated correctly in the spring pans? Does it dislocate on jacking?

[Jeroen]

Wheel specs, offset especially?

[nas80]

Maybe it's a bent strut.

[SileNceR]

I'll have to pull the wheel off to check the specs; I had a better look last night and it's actually contacting the edge of the BBS bumper at the front. I can't see that it's catching anywhere else; so I'll hit that with a file and hopefully that will resolve it.

I am pretty well convinced I need to come up with some sort of coilover setup for the vehicle now to give me some adjustability and to control body roll anyway, so as long as this temporary fix works I'll be happy enough in the meantime.

If the swaybar bushes in the control arms were worn, could it pull the whole control arm assembly forward slightly causing it to sit closer to the front bar on one side of the car than the other? I assume if that happened, the toe in created by that could have been aligned out before I got the car (and wouldn't have been noticed with the car at standard height)

The springs are held captive in the strut and seated correctly IIRC.

[nas80]

Take the spring off and measure from the collar of the strut tube to the disk on both sides. Is there a difference there shouldn't be. Then measure from the control arm nut on each side of the subframe to the disk. There should be no difference there either.

I'm convinced you have either a bent control arm or a bent strut tube. In the nicest possible way when you read this sentence if you are going to hit something with a file then that isn't the solution. You should stop bodging and do it properly or not bother.

[nas80]

You know sometimes e21frame rails flex if they are weak or under strain. I'd be on a flat surface measuring the distance of the front section of the frame rails to the floor.

[SileNceR]

Thanks for the suggestions, I will measure and compare each side. I think biggest issue is wheel offset is wrong; as they also hit on the RHS at full lock on the footwell area of the vehicle; meaning they are scribing too large of an arc.

I guess before it was lowered this would have been masked by the centreline of the wheels being level with the widest part of the arches, instead of further up in the arch as they are now.

I'll check to see if anything is warped though; because either way both sides should be the same.

[nas80]

what are the offset and sizes of your wheels?

[SileNceR]

Wheels are 6" ROH Casino in 15". Offset isn't marked on them but I measured 90mm back from the outer face of the bead lip on the inside of the wheel (without a tyre off I'm not sure how thick the bead lip is, if we assume 5mm then offset would be around -8 if I am calculating correctly and understand what I'm doing)?

There's also the possibility that my front bumper is pinching the guard edges closes to the wheel arch, as I did the bumper bolts up too tight in an attempt to avoid having to fabricate a replacement front mount for the bumper (because my radiator is wider than the chassis rails and hence the bumper can't mount to the original chassis rail brackets)