So I went and had some new tires put on my ride today. I went from a 205/35/18 to a 215/35/18 and what a difference! It is a little taller and wider and looks much better. I also had it aligned and I found I had a little problem.

The front aligned just fine, but the rear had some major toe. I don't know if it was positive or negative, but it's doing this /\ if that helps. The rear tires are pointing inwards. I have Megan Racing Springs (I know, not the best) on my car and am wondering if anyone else has had a problem with toe after dropping the box. They do make a shim kit for it, but before I fork out the $120 to fix it, I want to make sure that this is normal.

 

Uh, I dont think the rear has the ability to have toe adjusted. Maybe get a rear camber shim kit and put in on the two forward facing bolt, but that is just a guess

 

after i bagged mine at 3k miles on it, when i did the alighnment it had that same excessive toe-in and i never messed with it, now im at 32k and no tire wear issues at all, just make sure the front is in spec and you will be fine, but you can put the shims in if it makes you fell better but i wouldnt worry about it

 

Correct, the rear suspension is not adjustable as it comes from the factory. If toe or camber is out-of-spec the book simply says to replace the parts with new (it assumes that something is bent).



Tom

 

Tomas to the rescue again...

I did my alignment at the dealership a couple of weeks ago and it came out perfect...

 

I was aware that it wasn't adjustable. I would like to know if anyone has added a shim kit to fix the problem.

 

I dont know, I would have them recheck it to make sure it wasnt a glitch or see if, like tomas pointed out, something has been damaged

 

Hey Midge, you should also make sure that where ever you had your alignment done, that they had the alignment sensors installed correctly on your wheels. If the sensors aren't parallel to the face of the wheel, the alignment machine might "think" your wheels are toed out or in. This has happened at my job...

 

Remember, too, that the bushings on the suspension are soft in one direction, and one needs to position the vehicle properly on the test rack to make certain they are properly centered...



Tom

 

I honestly thought they were full of it when they told me that it was off. I have 18" rims, and as we all know, 35 series tires don't last long. I got almost 30,000 miles out of my cheap Nankangs and there was pretty even wear on the tire. They want me to drop another $120 on a shim kit to fix the problem, but I think I'm ok with not doing it. If I got 30,000 miles out of crappy tires, driving the way I drive, then I have a hard time believing that the toe is that out of whack. I'm going to watch my rear tires to make sure, but I'm not going to sweat it. Thanks for all the help guys!

 

what is the height you dropped the rear to?
it might have to do with rear axle beam having some negative camber at STOCK height and as you lower it, the entire axle beam pivots on the carrier bush and rotates the negative camber into slight toe-in.

anybody agree that my theory makes sense regardless if it's actually true on stock height rear negative camber

 

rear camber doesnt change on these cars when you lower then due to the solid rear axle, it not a independent suspension set up, although i really wish it was

 

Mike, as the axle tilts forward from the suspension being lowered (see the pic - it is pivoted well forward of the axle centerline), the toe does change because of the negative camber adding to the toe-in.

The amount added is very small, though, and shouldn't put the measurement out of spec unless the axle was already right on the edge.

BTW, lowering also subtracts some of the toe-in from the camber, so it changes, too. Again the change is minuscule, and shouldn't take camber out of spec, but it IS there.

(That's one reason the Repair Manual requires the ride height to be stock for the readings to make sense...)

This isn't a typical "live axle" that just moves straight up and down, but a "trailing arm, pivoted torsion beam with stabilizer bar" axle with somewhat different physics.

Tomas

 

thanks Tomas for clearing it up. Good to know it's minuscule, now I can run the rear spring seat with adjusters completely removed.

low down xb - I was not talking about camber change when it is lowered, please read my post again. Thank you.

 

I didn't need an alignment with the TRD springs and I am running 215/35/18s.....if there is not a rubbing issue, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Good Luck with your problem.

 

There's no rubbing or anything. I'm disappointed with how it went down. When I had the tires put on I told them that I wanted it aligned and I wanted spacers. Well, they were going to mount the new tires and put the spacers on, then align it, then balance the tires and get me on my way (Why in this order, I have no idea). What ended up happening was, I needed longer studs to fit the spacers safely, so they mounted the tires, then aligned it, then put the studs and spacers on, and then balanced the tires. It took them forever too! It wouldn't surprise me if they just had the alignment machine setup wrong. The guys were morons!