Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: Diamond Black Geezer on 10 July 2015, 13:49:11
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Just thought I'd put them up.
As you can see from the 'before' settings the 'good' local place wasn't so good! (before I owned the car, but it went back about 6 times in 2 years, so they couldn't have been much cop!)
Got the impression of a very professional outfit, all the local taxi drivers take their cars there (told that by two Taxi drivers). The company has suggested that I go back later on today, as they had to heat up the back track rod bar to get it shifted, and once its cooled/settled, the settings may be out again a tad. I mentioned I was away at Billing this weekend, so due to the long journey they advised get in today if at all possible, otherwise early next week.
(http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm240/leflemmy/camber_zpsvltng0aw.jpg)
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There not very good either! :y
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I know, looking at previous posts. So what do I need to be saying? Seem to think it's something like 1.10.
The rear's my biggest worry, that seems like a lot of camber, to me?
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There not very good either! :y
;D
Far too much camber, and the thrust angle is off too... ::)
Absolutely no excuse for not getting the front toe even and the thrust angle to zero. Take it back and get them to try again. For free.
Front camber should be 1°10' or near as dammit too ;)
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I know, looking at previous posts. So what do I need to be saying? Seem to think it's something like 1.10.
The rear's my biggest worry, that seems like a lot of camber, to me?
Rear camber and toe share an adjustment so are always a compromise... but 1°40' rear camber with 0°05' toe should be achievable :-\ Absolutely no excuse for the thrust angle being anything other than 0° :-X
That said, if they bent the rear track rods, then they will never set correctly...
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One was bent, and they asked that I get it replaced, which I did (off a breaker, on 68k, best short-term option, given this was yesterday morning, I was in the scrapyard at two mins past 9am! :))
So the rear camber should be 1o40' ? wow, that's a big difference!
So, the only figure I'm missing is the front toe, what should that be?
Ta very much :y
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So less rear tow will help the rear camber, so some compromise to be had there but does need setting with ideally a full tank of fuel or equivalent.
Front camber as per Taxi Al says, should be -1.10 and be pretty much spot on.
Front toe should be slight toe in 0.05 is reasonable....can only set this AFTER camber.
But again, as Taxi Al has said, there is no excuse for the thrust angle not being 0
What springs do you have on the back, lowered ones?
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Yes. MV6 FL all round - second hand from (I think) a 2001 car, so probably 'settled' by now :y
Front suspension = new wishbones, track rods, dampers, droplinks the lot.
Rear suspension all original, but no signs of doughnut bush wear. Old oil leak had preserved threads on both rear track arms, but sadly one arm had been bent (not myself, I add!) so 68k replacement on the NS, which did take a fair it of heat to get free, apparently. (both sides soaked in WD40 for a 24 hrs or so prior)
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A false economy to fit a second hand track rod without first freeing it :-\ Renew both and try again :y
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Indeed, a complete false economy. However, working with the parameters, one of the parameters being time...
8 am at alignment place havig prior arranged at work if I work through my dinner hour can I be in as late as 10 am
8.50 after discussions etc, the bent rod is found.
9.10 I'm on the other side of the next town picking up my boiler suit, tools and boots from home.
9.30 I'm in the scrappy, underneath a 68k Omega.
10.05 I'm flying in the door of work, slightly late only.
fastforward to 10pm last night and...
It's raining, I'm soaked to the skin, and I'm just packing up the last of my sockets, with a finished car. This includes the 15 minutes I spent inside with 2 soluble paracetamols after smashing my fingers between the track rod end and exhaust. 50/50 whether I've broken a finger or not.
Periodically both rods have been sprayed with WD40 as best I can.
8am this morning I'm at the alignment centre again
9.10 I'm in work late again. I am never late for work. This annoys me.
4pm I'm getting off work early (you can tell how far from the Boss's Good Books I currently am ::)) in order to get back to the alignment centre, get it re-checked and hopefully re-aligned to then drive the 3 hrs to Billing and hopefully have my first meal of the day...
I think the word is 'fun' :D
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08:50 Discover bent track rod.
09:00 Order two shiny new ones.
09:10 Get to work ahead of schedule.
Enjoy weekend off, knowing that this time next week, the new track rods will be in place and perfectly adjusted...
If you want to be pedantic, you might have discovered the bent trackrod yesterday, saving you a further trip to the garage... ;D
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Sadly I don't happen to have that magic moneypence lying around to pay for said trackrods, (£100+ for a pair, yes?) my rent comes out on Tuesday, and I have Billing, the fuel there/back, food, plus the alignment to pay for. Literally nothing left in the budget for a suspension component which I had no knowledge of it's damage beforehand. Hindsight and all that.
Bearing in mind the rear trackrods do move (the OS nice and easy, by all accounts, the NS took some persuasion, but does move now) So it's not a case of 'damn my awful old rusted trackrods are seized. Curses, now I shall not be able to go to the Ball... actually it's a case of 'the alignment place needs to re-do the job' which they will do next week :)
Really glad I've got the specs I need them to aim for. Appreciated chaps :y
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I don't see a great deal of issue with second hand rear track rods, they rarely fail and are easy to check
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I don't see a great deal of issue with second hand rear track rods, they rarely fail and are easy to check
If they're straight and you have the time to strip them and free them off/regrease them that's all well and good... I actually have refurbished second hand ones on mine ;) but the bent one ought to have been spotted whilst prepping them for the set up, so given DBGs timetable, taking a step back and implementing plan B rather than hurriedly botching Plan A might have been a better approach. Especially given the geometry settings he has been left with :-\
Might even have blagged a set at Billing :y
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That's pretty shocking, as said really.
No castor measurement?
Way too excessive camber.
All they've done is tickle the toe setting going by the figures.
Piss poor.
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Yup. To be honest they were all really chuffed and telling me how 'you're not going to get closer than that' etc.. and without being fully familiar with the specific intricacies of a geomoetry setup (I feel I am a bit more educated now, though) I headed off to work asap. However how I'll be getting in and starting with the sentence... 'any chance we can get the rear camber actually even in the green, let alone right?' Because the rear camber is literally double what it should be. Now in my book if anything's double, that's not ever, ever considered as 'not going to get closer than that'
As for the front, I'll be insisting on the 1o10 OOF specs. I might be sorting me out a spare set of rear rods - ideally tonight - which I can grease up ready, so there's no arguments with them being hard to move, or anything. The rear rods are either free to turn... or they're not, they're adjustable, or they're not. He claims the OS was dead easy, the NS took a bit of heat/grunt but moved eventually. So that, in my understanding of the English language, means they are turning. So they can be turned more. And eventually turned tot he right point.
:y
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Yup. To be honest they were all really chuffed and telling me how 'you're not going to get closer than that' etc.. and without being fully familiar with the specific intricacies of a geomoetry setup (I feel I am a bit more educated now, though) I headed off to work asap. However how I'll be getting in and starting with the sentence... 'any chance we can get the rear camber actually even in the green, let alone right?' Because the rear camber is literally double what it should be. Now in my book if anything's double, that's not ever, ever considered as 'not going to get closer than that'
As for the front, I'll be insisting on the 1o10 OOF specs. I might be sorting me out a spare set of rear rods - ideally tonight - which I can grease up ready, so there's no arguments with them being hard to move, or anything. The rear rods are either free to turn... or they're not, they're adjustable, or they're not. He claims the OS was dead easy, the NS took a bit of heat/grunt but moved eventually. So that, in my understanding of the English language, means they are turning. So they can be turned more. And eventually turned tot he right point.
:y
Should be a minus figure that.
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Ooops! Yes, not sure if that was me being thick, or a mis-type. As I say, not massively up on the geometry lingo :y
-1o10 it is. I've got it written down a bit of paper, Sharpie-markered all over a copy of their original print-out. :y
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I`ve got all this fun to come :-X, had fitted both the wishbones & droplinks by a willing engineer on our site at work. The language from this bloke turned the air blue yesterday , cos the pinch pin refused to budge on the near side. How anyone suceeds in doing this job single handed is beyond me. The front steering arm joint sleeves were also rusted to death & the outer ball joints sloppy on both sides. Now sorted with new parts this morning :y the steering idler looks free from play so we left it alone. I`ve got the MOT booked for this FRiday. Might drive her upto WIM now that I`ve wasted money at a local 4 wheel alignment depot. slightly lost it with the bloke >:( playing with my car when he texted his GF for the tenth time & I suggested he stick his fone up his arris & finish the job.
Happy he was not ::) & he got all emotional & ran off to the boss. Long story short he was still under training :o so I threw him a couple of tenners & fooked off double quick.
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Oof "Approved" set up companies are few and far between tbh. But even rarer given the locations of members in this thread sadly.
While Wim may not be to everyone's taste these days, given the average cross section of results In this particular industry, for newer members or those less experienced with omega set up issues, there's few other companies you'd trust go do the job.
Wheels in motion, and Nigel langs spring to mind iirc...?
Can't help thinking a list of approved companies would help members.
But if it helps at all, most members here have struggled with this issue in the early days. It can be a bugger tbh. ...which ever increases the need for a good set up firm.
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:y
My intention was to have the back axle off, do the donuts, and repaint the whole rear underside this summer (and the consequential buggering up of the rear camber settings) I was keen to just get the suspension to a 'decent' level, with a view to possibly making a trip down to WIM later in the year for a finalfinal setup.
Agreed Mr Gixer, hope to get it sorted soon. :)