WRX alignment question
 

The tires on just the left side of the car wear on the outside edge, kind of cupped. The right side wears perfect. Would this alignment cause that?

How is caster specified? The service manual specifies caster tolerance as (common difference +/- 45 minutes).
Does the left caster being at the limit mean the wheel is pushed back, like it hit something?

Do you think they adjusted the toe in on the front or just turned the steering wheel a little?


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1174630124.jpg

Here is what the service manual says it should be for a Turbo Sedan... See if my terminology is correct

Front

Camber (tolerance +/- 45 minutes) Should be -25 minutes Mine is

• LEFT -0.6 degrees or -36 minutes
• RIGHT -0.2 degrees or -12 minutes

Caster (common difference +/- 45 minutes) (what does common difference mean?) Should be 3 degrees 35 minutes Mine is

• LEFT 2.8 degrees or 2 degrees 48 minutes(2 minutes out?)
• RIGHT 3.1 degrees or 3 degrees 6 minutes

Toe-in Should be 0 +/- 3 mm (Each toe angle: +/- O deg. O7' 30”) (Total toe angle: +/- O minutes15 seconds) Mine is

• LEFT -0.6 degrees or -36 minutes
• RIGHT -0.2 degrees or -12 minutes

Kingpin angle (assume that is SAI) (tolerance: +/- 45 minutes) Should be 14 degrees 35 minutes Mine is

• LEFT 14.5 degrees or 14 degrees 30 minutes
• RIGHT 14.6 degrees or 14 degrees 36 minutes

Rear

Camber (tolerance +/- 45 minutes) Should be -1 degree 30 minutes Mine is

• LEFT -1.4 degrees or -1 degree 24 minutes
• RIGHT -1.5 degrees or -1 degree 30 minutes

Toe-in Should be 0+3 mm (Each toe angle: +/- O deg. 7 minutes 30 seconds) (Total toe angle +/- O"15') Should be -25 minutes Mine is

• LEFT .02 degrees or 1 minute 12 seconds
• RIGHT 0 degrees

Can't answer your question, but an ex-coworker of mine bought a new Subaru 4 door turbo. A few weeks of driving and he developed a problem. He had to bring it into the dealer and they apparently had a really hard time getting it aligned properly. Took them a few days to get it right.

Good luck!

Dave

?

It's simple. Take it to a (competent) WRX suspension tuner. Should be easy to find one (through nasioc or somewhere) in your area.

Pay the man ~$120 for a decent alignement and enjoy the results. I did when I bought mine (new). They all benefit from a proper setup.

I was trying to understand what the alignment process was.

nevermind.

Don't understand your question, exactly. According to the printout, your alignment looks OK, now. All "actual" (presumably meaning "current"?) numbers are within the tolerance ranges. As long as they didn't input the wrong vehicle into the computer, I'd think that that's OK.

Doubt they would "just turn the steering wheel a bit" to make a change. At least, that's not how it's supposed to be done. Don't think the lasers and computer would let that work.

Don't know where you're getting your tolerance values that you've published, as they don't match what the computer printout reads.

What do you mean by "cupped?" Both front and rear tires? A little too much toe-in could cause accelerated wear at the outer shoulders of a tire. Cupping usually means that there's an actual concavity to the wear pattern. Is that what you're experiencing?

Set the front to zero toe and up to -1º camber on each front if they can get that much.

Your symptom says too much toe-in or too little camber. The alignment numbers don't show that, but who knows.

And there are a lot of complete bozos running high tech alignment equipment. Don't like what you're getting? Go somewhere else.