[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

Recently TASS conveyed that they are unable to align my front right tire and they need to change the front right shocker. Is It correct?

Doubtful, shock absorber don't have much to do with the alignment at all. What s the problem with your right front tire?

Jeroen

[IndigoXLGrandDi]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Doubtful, shock absorber don't have much to do with the alignment at all.

I don't know if I am correct but as per my experience the Damper might be culprit here.

Long back (might be 2-2.5 years ago) the camber of Right Front Wheel was noticed negative during WA. At that time I listened to the mechanic and got the Upper Arm Mounts in Chassis "pulled" towards outer side (wheel side) instead of replacing Damper to bring the camber in positive value.
When I replaced the Front Dampers LH and RH in last dec (2013), the Camber went past the positive "range". Means the camber is positive but out of range specified by M&M.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by IndigoXLGrandDi

I don't know if I am correct but as per my experience the Damper might be culprit here.



Long back (might be 2-2.5 years ago) the camber of Right Front Wheel was noticed negative during WA. At that time I listened to the mechanic and got the Upper Arm Mounts in Chassis "pulled" towards outer side (wheel side) instead of replacing Damper to bring the camber in positive value.

When I replaced the Front Dampers LH and RH in last dec (2013), the Camber went past the positive "range". Means the camber is positive but out of range specified by M&M.

Camber doesn't get adjusted through the damper as far as I know.

Jeroen

[wanderernomad]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Doubtful, shock absorber don't have much to do with the alignment at all. What s the problem with your right front tire?

Jeroen

The tire has un even wear on the outer wall. Had been through some bad roads so gave the car for alignment and tass said that they could not adjust the front right. They will change the shocker and then try again. I told them to wait and let me see how could that save the day. I was also a bit bugged that they changed the cooling fan worth 7200 when all I had asked was for them to check my temp sensor. The fan was not working because of a blown fuse.

[IndigoXLGrandDi]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Camber doesn't get adjusted through the damper as far as I know.

Sorry if I was not clear enough.
What I wanted to convey is that due to the worn out damper, the ride height of FR RH got lowered. Hence the FT RH wheel fell towards inside but not FR LH and the resultant camber of FR RH came negative but FR LH was still in Positive Range. When I replaced the damper, the ride height became equivalent to that of when the car was new which resulted in excess positive camber in case of FR RH since I got the Upper Arm Mounts "pulled" outside.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by IndigoXLGrandDi

Sorry if I was not clear enough.
What I wanted to convey is that due to the worn out damper, the ride height of FR RH got lowered. Hence the FT RH wheel fell towards inside but not FR LH and the resultant camber of FR RH came negative but FR LH was still in Positive Range. When I replaced the damper, the ride height became equivalent to that of when the car was new which resulted in excess positive camber in case of FR RH since I got the Upper Arm Mounts "pulled" outside.

Hey, why all the pulling, when the clear cause is a bent strut which is causing the camber to go out of spec ?

[Jeroen]

Again, and again, shocks/dampers have no, or at best negligible, affect on ride hide. They, the term is a bit of a give away, dampen the vertical movement. Springs/coils determine ride height. Over time they might wear out, or more commonly, break. In some suspension designs the spring/coil rests against a spacer plate. Those plates can wear out especially if they are made from non feral material. spacers can adjust the ride height as well.

Any change they changed the, cheap, spring and or spacer and charged you for the ,expensive, damper?

Jeroen

[harry10]

When is the alignment and balancing done for a new car for the first time? Is it 5k or 10k?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by harry10

When is the alignment and balancing done for a new car for the first time? Is it 5k or 10k?

There is a difference. You only need the balancing done when you start feeling some vibration. No vibration means everything is honkydonky.

The allignement is different. If you have any steering/tracking problems you need to get the allignement checked. Sometimes vibrations can be caused by an out of allignement as well. But its quicker and cheaper to balance the wheels first to rule out any balancing problems.

Back in Europe/USA I rarely had the allignement of my cars checked, unless something did not feel right, or when a tyre started to show an uneven wear. Here in India having the allignement checked appears to be a much more regular thing, what with the road conditions as they are.

I'm not sure if you should have it done from a preventive mode. Steering problems and uneven tire wear are the obvious reason to have allignement checked. A bit of uneven wear isn't a big thing, especially if you rotate your tires regularly.

Be interested to hear some more Indian perspective
Jeroen

Jeroen

[amit1234singla]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Camber doesn't get adjusted through the damper as far as I know. Jeroen

In macpherson strut front suspension, which is most common on mass production Indian cars (and guess elsewhere as well), damper is also the part which connects wheel hub to top chassis of the car. So a left / right bend in the damper will cause camber issues and a front / back bend will cause caster issues. In many cars camber and caster is not adjustable so bent damper needs to be changed to rectify the alignment issue.

Agreed, a straight, just worn out damper will unlikely cause an alignment issue. It mostly would be due to something else.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by harry10

When is the alignment and balancing done for a new car for the first time? Is it 5k or 10k?

I asked this cos my City has run 5800 km and I read somewhere wheel alignment should be done every 5000km. However, I don't feel any issue with the alignment right now so I was wondering should I get the alignment and balancing done or wait for car to reach 10000km. Any inputs?

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by harry10

I asked this cos my City has run 5800 km and I read somewhere wheel alignment should be done every 5000km. However, I don't feel any issue with the alignment right now so I was wondering should I get the alignment and balancing done or wait for car to reach 10000km. Any inputs?

If you drive in bad road conditions nothing wrong in doing an alignment check at 5k for a new car. Balancing you can wait for 10k kms.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by amit1234singla

So a left / right bend in the damper will cause camber issues and a front / back bend will cause caster issues. In many cars camber and caster is not adjustable so bent damper needs to be changed to rectify the alignment issue.
.

Well, it depends a bit on the design, there are many variations. Still, all cars have camber and caster adjustment on the front wheels at least.

how would you bend a damper without inflicting some major damage to the other suspension components and the wheel well as well.

Jeroen

[mail4ajo]

Like to know how is alignment and steering centering related. After my last alignment, my steering went off center. It was corrected, but the steering is not perfectly centered. No pull to either side, but centering is slightly off. Is this an issue?

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by mail4ajo

Like to know how is alignment and steering centering related.
=======Is this an issue?

Not a big issue, apart from being a small irritant to enthusiasts