I just bought a WRX, its used and has been lowered and has 17' Axis Se7ens on it. The tires are Falken Azenis 225/45 17. I am having a problem getting the car aligned, the shop tried aligning it once to factory specs and now it really pulls to the right now.

It turns out that the lugs were wrong and I needed a wheel centric ring. Those are coming in on Monday.

The tire shop said that the tires might need to be balanced, and if that is not it then it could be a defect with the tire and I might possibly need new tires to fix the problem. I just wanted to make sure that they knew what they were talking about since they already made the alignment worse.

Also sine the car is lowered with bigger rims on it, could the alignment need to adjusted to something other than factory specs to make the tire ride flat and have the correct alignment. Possibly adjust camber, caster, or toe.

Thanks for any advice in advance,

Phil

 

It is most likely the hub centric rings that are throwing office your balance, without those many wheels do not fit properly and so the tires don't roll smoothly.

They should definately check the balance of each wheel.

The oem alignment settings should be fine and pretty easy to get unless something is bent.

Is the wheel slightly cocked to the right as well as pulling to the right? This can be caused by the left spring coming out of its lower purch on the left side, but the alignment guys should be able to see that.

Unless something is bent, your set up is good and those are decent tires. My bet is the rings will do the trick, put those on before you try anything else. Same thing happened to me when I got some new wheels.

Good luck and enjoy the car!

Jim
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What would Scooby do?

 

if the car is lowered, there is no way you're going to get factory alignment settings in the rear with stock hardware. up front, you should be fine, but the rear isn't really adjustable.

 

thanks for the help guys. Hopefully the rings will do the trick. I'll let you know.

 

Muppet is correct about the rear, I was thinking of the front problem only. You may want to check to see if the guy who you bought it from put camber bolts in the rear to help with getting more camber. They are concentric bolts that move the wheel in and out to allow changing the camber setting.

The bolts usually run about $40.00 and they go in the upper bolt position at the bottom of the rear strut. You probably can't see if they are different although some have a screw driver slot for adjustment on the end.

When you take it to the alignment place, tell them to check the upper bolt on the bottom of the rear struts to see if camber bolts are in place . . . if they aren't you will want to get some.


Jim
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What would Scooby do?

 

I also agree with muppet and I dont think you want the factory camber specs if you want it to handell better. Add some -camber and your car will handell better. Put more in front than rear. Im at -1.5 on the front and -1 in rear (with rear canber bolts) and S03s but I havent been there long enough to say how they are wearing. Other people with same setup claim no uneven tire wear since toe eats tires not camber(within reason).

Also if the allignment shop made it worse than when you brought it in I would go somewhere else unless they are planing to do the second allignment for free (I would think not). Im not saying they definately are the reason but it sure sounds like it.

 

-1.5 isn't going to chew up tires, trust me on this one. i've been running that and more for a while, and its fine. i tend to destroy the outer shoulder of the tire before wearing out the inside.

and yeah, stock alignment specs are for your granny. i'm running -1.8 front right now, and when finish with the alignment folks this afternoon, i should have -1 in the rear with 1mm of toe.

 

You must be running pretty hard in the curves to be wearing the outer shoulders out with that much - camber. Do you autocross?

 

yeah, i do auto-x on occasion. i also tend to go driving about once a week up in the hills. tires don't really seem to last too long for me