i need to know how crucial is allingment of the rear wheels to the front wheels

i have had a completely adjustable suspension set up made for my xr2 front and rear, it was all set up and the rear wheels were alligned true to the fronts by moving the rear axle left or right to suit but now its alligned it is causing clearace issues in the inner/outer arches, i have loads of room on 1 side on the inner arch and none on the outer and visa versa (sp)

so how crucial/beneficial is this? as it would solve a lot of issues for me to align the beam by giving an even 50-50 clearance against each wheel arch rather than being true to the front wheels.

opinions please

 

how do you know the front wheels were straight?

 

More probable that the shell was made out of true when new mate. the actual alignment is probably spot on.

 

well the fronts cant be moved left to right as the driveshafts determine how far in/out the wheel sits, only the camber/castor/toe can be changed so that makes no difference

i no the shells are not true by a long way to start


the question is......will i benefit/notice the advantage (if any) of the rear wheels being aligned with the fronts rather than aligning the axle to sit the rear wheels nicely in the arches?

 

Its absolutely crucial that the front and back alignment is running true.....first thing to check is the corner to corner measurement, this will quickly tell you if the car is out of alignment.

Get the car on a nice level surface, with the front wheels straight, transpose the centre line of the tyre/wheel down onto the ground, push the car back and then measure the marks diagnally corner to corner, a couple of mm wont matter but it should if you do it acurately give you an idea of how far out the car is.....if its out after that i'll tell the best way to check and adjust alignment....

A car can measure fine alignment wise, but still be crabbing..


HTH

Ian

 

a small difference would be ok,but as it seems you are talking large gaps,then i would have it checked,lazer aligned.a good body shop should be able to do this for you.

 

the suspension alligned when i had all the components made for the car and fitted


i think il get it fully checked over again, as bye eye it looks like 1 front wheel has more camber than the other so maybe the whole thing was not done accurately

 

it's all about thrust angles and the like, plus you have things like the ackerman steering principle that may or may not affect the amount of turn you have
on a short wheelbase vehicle it tends to be much more crucial to get this right
you've also got to make sure that the wheels follow themselves else the car tends to have crabbing issues

so yes, i'd say the rears are just as important as the fronts

 

get down toms and have a chat snr will know what to you can and cant do

 

liverpool based company BEST YOU CAN GET not sure where you live though read there site info

We currently use the Hunter DSP 600 4 wheel aligner with the extended lift.

http://www.4wheelalignment.co.uk/

 

The hunter stuff is not bad...

The BMW kit is what I would choose to use.

You don't even start to check the suspension angles untill the ride high is spot on.

Alex

 

thats the plan then,

im going to get the ride height how i want it at the front and back (possably turret the rear for coilovers) then i get it all re checked andset up again

cheers