03 Mach with a few troubles...

[reald00d]

Alright, I need some words of wisdom here...lol

Got a 03 Mach 1 not too long ago, it had a pull to the left..The car needed new tires anyway so I pushed the issue off and started purchasing tires. I first replaced the rear ...after some fun...>.> ...then I replaced the front. While replacing the front I asked the shop to do a alinment .
Took the dude over a hour anda half after putting the tires on, to then come tell me he couldn't do it..Said no matter what he did he could not get it to read right on the machine. And that he thought my frame was bent. (purchased the carfax moments ago, no wrecks reported) He assured me it was going to continue to pull and I needed to go to a body shop and have the frame looked at...After leaving I noticed he was right, car still pulls....but now...it pulls to the right....

I called the ford dealer near me and they said $90 to stick it on the same machine the other shop had already had it on..ran it by a local body shop who has worked on another car I had and they said nty and tryed sending me to som1 else....Help please and Thank you lol

[ken03w/mach1]

yikes..... dont sound good

[ken03w/mach1]

take it to ford , pay the 90.00

[gamatt]

Ask for the alignment results printout from the first shop and post them here.

[reald00d]

Thinking I may have to...Everyone who has heard the story is swearing its my tie rods..But I have no idea..=(

Wondering if the tire shop just doesn't know how to make the tires go straight...lol

[reald00d]

Originally Posted by gamatt

Ask for the alignment results printout from the first shop and post them here.

Went down the street and grabbed it

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i23/ibjosh/tiresa.jpg

[ramairmach]

The camber is IN on the left (out of spec)
The camber is OUT on the right (out of spec)

caster ?????????

left toe is only off 1-2 degrees (IN spec)
right toe is OUT (out of spec)

The bar graft print out is better so the customer can see whats out and why they need the alignment.

[gamatt]

Is the suspension stock? Aftermarket caster/camber plates?

I'm not an alignment expert, but from what I can tell you have too much negative camber on the left, and too much positive on the right. You want both sides around -.5 , if something is messed up with aftermarket camber/caster plates, I could see this happening and explain why the tire shop guy is having trouble.

Then your right front wheel is toed out while the left front is toe'd in, but put together they are toed out. Anyone should be able to fix this. Heck I do my own using this method: http://forums.corral.net/forums/hand...effective.html

[ramairmach]

Your RF toe setting is at -30 it should be around IIRC 18 same idea with camber/caster.

30 29 28 27 26 25 - 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 etc etc etc -30

.................................................. ..................^ your rf

[reald00d]

Originally Posted by gamatt

Is the suspension stock? Aftermarket caster/camber plates?

I'm not an alignment expert, but from what I can tell you have too much negative camber on the left, and too much positive on the right. You want both sides around -.5 , if something is messed up with aftermarket camber/caster plates, I could see this happening and explain why the tire shop guy is having trouble.

Then your right front wheel is toed out while the left front is toe'd in, but put together they are toed out. Anyone should be able to fix this. Heck I do my own using this method: http://forums.corral.net/forums/hand...effective.html

Not sure what is and isn't stock. I recently purchased the car only a few months ago with NO history ='(

Most of the car is stock from what I can tell. Looks like mostly cosmetic things have been changed.

[birdman941]

Whomever did the check did not do a caster sweep,
so there is no caster reading, no CAI or included angle,
no setback numbers, etc.
So the guy who put it on the rack and printed this,
did not even get the first step correct.
According to the numbers posted, it should pull to the right.
Without the other measurements, it is impossible to diagnose anything.

[reald00d]

BTW the pic I tossed up isn't the first one they showed me. The first one was like OMG...crazy difference. This is what I THINK they left it at when the dude gave up.

So I just googled all these new found words and im picking it up ...What you all are saying is, dude don't know what hes doing and I should pay the dealer to fix it


Right?...or is there somin else that doesn't cost almost $100 lol..

[reald00d]

Shameless bump.

[Mach828]

Post a few pics,

1. A pic of the engine bay focusing on the shock towers so we can see if it has stock CC plates

2. Pull the front wheel off and take a pic of the strut and spring

3. If you can't pull the wheel off yourself, then post a pic of the side of the car horizontal

Originally Posted by reald00d

Shameless bump.

[reald00d]

Sorry been outa town with no cpu =(
I shall post pics tomorrow =)

[reald00d]

Originally Posted by Mach828

Post a few pics,

1. A pic of the engine bay focusing on the shock towers so we can see if it has stock CC plates

2. Pull the front wheel off and take a pic of the strut and spring

3. If you can't pull the wheel off yourself, then post a pic of the side of the car horizontal

I dont wana load the page down with pics so ima just post the direct links

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i2...sh/springs.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i2...sh/spring2.jpg

This is the right tire ( looking at it from infront of the car. )
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i2.../righttire.jpg

And this is the left
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i2...h/lefttire.jpg

[smith30]

Looks like someone has messed with the stock caster/camber plates. You can see how someone drilled out the rivets that SHOULD be there. It also looks like everything is stock suspension wise from what I can see.

See how this passenger side one is pushed toward the motor? Due to the hole you can see on the left side of the regular bolt head:


And the drivers side one is also pushed toward the right by the hole you can see on the left side of the lower left bolt:


Maybe someone tried to correct something with doing this? and FYI, I just looked at my stock plates and I also have 2 studs with nuts and one regular looking bolt.

[reald00d]

BTW this was done at gateway they use to not look like that....they use to cover the holes..however I have no idea whats the normal look ha....I think a dude who didn't know what he was doing did my car and failed..kept saying my sub frame was bent...and take it to the shop down the street..who told me they were full of it and tried sending me somewhere else...I think I should just suck it up...spend the $90 and let Ford look at it......any thoughts?

[gamatt]

Originally Posted by reald00d

BTW this was done at gateway they use to not look like that....they use to cover the holes..however I have no idea whats the normal look ha....I think a dude who didn't know what he was doing did my car and failed..kept saying my sub frame was bent...and take it to the shop down the street..who told me they were full of it and tried sending me somewhere else...I think I should just suck it up...spend the $90 and let Ford look at it......any thoughts?

Yeah, you are going to have to get Ford to look at it. They have adjusted those strut plates as far as they can go in the correct direction and the numbers are still pretty far off. You've got something out of whack.