mx5cartalk.com

Hey, i have had my NA for a couple of months now, and it had 16 inch wheels when i got it ... so a couple of weekends ago I bought and installed some 14 inchers, i think they are 14x7, quite light (each wheel + tyre is around 29lb) ... and they have 195/60/14 - slightly higher profile than id like.

I have noticed that, especially at closer to highway speeds, i.e. 70+ km/hr, the steering seems way too light, and it doesnt self centre, so it means that driving on the highway now is way more 'fidgety' than it was with the 16" wheels, it takes way too much concentration to keep it in the lane..

so i had a wheel alignment last weekend and it didnt really help... why would the wheels make this kind of difference?

Firstly, what was the specs of your alignment?

You need to take the car to a proper alignment shop who knows what they are doing.

In short it will be the tyres and their profile causing the difference, and the fix is the appropriate amount of castor.

Dann

Damn!
Too slow

Dann

Unfortunately I dong know the specs of the alignment, I got it done at Bob Jane and while I was there I looked online to see what ppl were saying about alignments and they said that most bob janes are no good. Damn. Was too late by then. I had already worked out by that stage that it was probably going to be a waste of $55.

Is it worth taking it back to bob Jane and telling them I'm not happy ie not self centring?

Well for the moment we'll go with the poor alignment theory...

If it was me I'd just find somewhere better to go and notch that one up to the lesson board. The money loss is a shame but with a bit more info under your belt and taking it to a good alignment shop it can only make you recognise the difference even more.

As Dan has said you should find yourself a good alignment shop who knows they're stuff and who are happy to align to some requested specs.

If you add your location to your profile someone here may have a good suggestion for a place to go in your area.

Have a read through >this< thread to get an idea of whats a good place to start with your alignment, and when you go, take with you some specs you'd like to aim for, to suit the driving you do in your car. I've asked for different settings all the alignments I've had so far, working towards what I like and seeing how a change affects the car... take it to a shop who knows their stuff and they'll know to expect you bring your settings with you after a while

slug_dub wrote:If it was me I'd just find somewhere better to go and notch that one up to the lesson board.

Thanks for the advice mate. Yeah i think i'll look around for a better place. Don't think im going to get much luck taking it back to Bob Jane.. I'll check out that thread you linked.

I have the Workshop Manual for my model, can I just give that to a proper alignment shop and they can set it back to factory settings? Sorry i'm a bit of a noob when it comes to alignment.. If i take it to a reputable places like Heasmans in Sydney, are they likely to tell me they cant set it back to factory because of wear? I read somebody else on the net in a forum saying they took it there and Heasmans said it would need new parts ..

If you drive it a bit sporty, google 'lannys alignment'. Print it out, take it to a shop you do this alignment, and I want a printout when your done.

If they are iffy, move on.
Ive been there before, they took my money, sent it in, 15 minutes later I got it back with the sheet and an explanation that those specs arent possible. I promptly demanded my money back. Told them they are either useless or full of sh*t and went to the next place.

The problem is tyre shops only do toe in at the front usually, because your average family barge driver cant tell any better, and many cars don't have the ability to be aligned like our little 5s.

So many will just tell you, 'oh, yeah this year model cant do it, only earlier/later/sports models can do that.' Which is rubbish, they just dont have an aligner who has ever heard of castor before.

Its hard to find a good aligner. Put your location in your profile, and your car model and mods in your sig, that will make it much easier for people to give you advice.

Where I get my alignments done?
At 3.30 this arvo im showing up to a friends panel shop with a 6 pack, and hes letting me align my own car on his brand new 30k aligner

Dann

A good alignment shop may very well inform you of any worn or on the way out parts of the suspension, which is probably a good thing if there are any bad bits on the car... after 20 years there's a reasonable chance of worn components... but thats not to say the need to replace stuff is definite or immediate! Knowing about the condition of the components will be good so you have an idea what you may need to get work on in the future, so its worth getting the shop to give you a heads up on that.

If the shocks are original they may be quite worn (well, 20 year old shocks probably *are* pretty worn!) but I imagine the springs would be fine. As long as the shocks are not leaking or obviously in serious disrepair they can serve until a time in which you decide to replace or upgrade. The main component that might be a bit beyond it is the rubber bushes that are in all the rotating areas where the suspension arms meet the subframe of the car. They do make a significant difference to handling and ride comfort, and if they are really crappy it is worth considering a replacement of those at some point, but it is a reasonably major job and not particularly cheap.

However unless there's a very immediate problem with the components you should still be fine to get a decent alignment and the car will behave better for it.

The specifications in the workshop manual would be fine to use if you didn't want to try getting more aggressive with the settings just yet, but from memory they are reasonably conservative. Compare them with peoples notes in the alignment thread I linked and see what you think. Some of the specs listed in the thread may be harder to hit running on stock suspension components so you may not be able to push as much camber as some have listed but I don't think that would be a big loss at this stage.

If your car does not have powered steering I do recommend as much positive caster as you can get and sacrifice camber on the front wheels to get it, as this will make for improved steering response. A little negative camber front and rear, 0 toe on the rear and maybe just a little to no toe on the front I think should make for decent handling and make the steering steadier for you.

My car has over 320 thousand kilometers dríven and none of its stuff has ever been replaced yet but it still behaves fine, and will until I throw new stuff on there, so the age of the car shouldn't be too limiting on the capacity of the car just yet.

I can't imagine Heaseman's would be a bad place to go but hopefully somebody in the Sydney area may have a suggestion for you. MX 5 Mania should be able to suggest a place too I guess...

Spinning wheel in Waterloo....a tops place for mx5's

Regie wrote:Spinning wheel in Waterloo....a tops place for mx5's

Thanks heaps for the tips So i've booked in for Saturday at Spinning Wheels with Stuart. $55 lesson learnt. No more Bob Jane unless the Spinning Wheels makes no difference. In which case next time I'll get you to do it Dann

spinning wheel is tops. if you don't like the way the car drives afterwards, just keep taking it back and they will tweak it until you're 100% satisfied.

So I went to Spinning Wheels yesterday earlier than I thought on a "surprise" day off, and Stu did my wheels, gave me a setup for "Spirited driving" as i suggested and told me it might wear the tyres a bit quicker but I said that's okay, my wife won't know that.

Don't have the specs here at work, but Bob Jane had given me toe out, so Stu gave me toe in, a lot more stable now, took it topless (the car, not me) through the Royal yesterday arvo, such a beautiful arvo, feels great now

Excellent! A good alignment makes a lot of difference, and nice to hear that its was only the poor alignment making it feel weird.

Yeah mate, although he did say the tyres aren't doing me any favours, i got some white Advan RG.. another guy there at Spinning Wheels reckon they look good but they came with Nankangs and 195/60/14 is the lowest profile i can get easily for the 7" width so Stu reckons i should switch to 15s soonish.

Also he said my car's been lowered, a previous owner has either reset the springs or cut it or something.. That was news to me, i thought that was the stock ride height. i mean, it's not ridiculously low.