Merry Christmas guys.

Posted a thread a few months ago and was grateful for the response.

I curbed my 1996 TD100 Marea Weekend a few weeks ago while skidding on the ice. Although going slow, the force was enough to buckle the n/s front wheel which I changed from another marea model at the local breakers and had a new o/s tyre to match the new one fitted and tracking adjusted. However the car still pulled over to the left so went back and tracking was out. So had it adjusted again but still pulling to the left. Went to a different dealer, Kwick Fit who adjusted the tracking yet again as it had drifted out. However still pulling to the left.

Obviously the impact has put something else out of line. I installed new wishbones about 4 months ago, all good and the tie rod ends seem to be straight and not bent. Strut seems to be ok too. I was wondering if the impact could have bent the angle of the hub to the axle.

I would be grateful if anyone has any ideas as I'm chewing up my tyres quicker than the christmas turkey

Thanks in advance

Hats

I wonder if your new wheel has a different offset? Have you swapped fronts to rears?
Also have you had a 4 wheel laser track? Our Marea seems to be happiest when it does, the place I go to the kit prints out the caster and camber as well, you may find you have now got cross camber.

Renegade is right you need a four wheel check and make sure they look up the correct setting, many tyre dealers just set the tracking to zero or parallel when often the car manufacturer will specify a toe-in (or sometimes a toe-out).

If you kerbed it hard enough to buckle a wheel you should also make sure you have not bent something on that side, wishbones often get damaged that way and it is not always easy to see the damage because the wishbone is a complicated shape, inner tie rods (the rod that goes from the steering rack to the track rod end) also get bent although as they are straight to start with it is usually easier to see if they are damaged.

Another possibility is that the front tyres are too different as far as tread depth is concerned, a tyre with little tread has less rolling resistance than one with full tread (one of the reasons racers use slicks) if that is the case put the best matched pair on the front and see if that helps.

Good luck

If it keeps going out of track despite garages repeating it then that suggests a few things.

1. The garages are incompetent.
2. The rubber on the lower arms is damaged/perished.
3. A cracked subframe.
4. Damaged ball-joint for lower arms.
5. Loose track rods.

For even basic tracking (2 wheel) to keep going out there must be something moving in the system between subframe, lower arms, hub, track rod end, inner track rod, steering rack. If a part is just bent, it shouldn't move between tracking jobs unless it has become weak.

Thanks guys for your input. Apologies for the delay in responding.

I took my car back to kwick fit who only after a week said my tracking was back out again. I then took it to National Crash Repairs who put the car on a 4 wheel laser track check. From them I got a computer printout of toe, castor and camber settings and turns out that as well as the front toe the n/s rear camber on the wheel was out. The camber I understand is non-adjustable but I had the tracking reset again for the 5th time and drove it for a week. Still pulling to the left. I took it back to National Crash Repair and had it checked again but this time was told the tracking was OK and within all tolerances with the exception of the camber of the rear wheel. They adjusted the tyre pressure and said they could do no more but she still pulls to the left.

The rear wheel may seem to be the problem but the car was driving perfectly OK with it, before I curbed the n/s front wheel which would suggest there is still something out on the steering linkage and frame. Its just impossible to tell with the naked eye. Three garages have now looked and neither could find the problem.

I guess I will try to replace the rear hub, mountings or stub axle as obviously the wheel has been hit in the past. I asked the mechanic to rotate the wheel 180 degrees and then take another reading in the hope that it was just a wheel bearing but it was still out by the same degree. Anyone have any tips on trying to correct the camber on their mareas?

I checked the offset of the new wheel I put on the front and it appears to be the same as the other side. I'm not sure what woulkd be served by swapping the front wheels to the back but hey I've got nothing to lose.

Anyway thanks again Renegade8, Bpetersb and Hellcat. Anymore suggestions welcome.

Hats