Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: megaomega123 on 17 March 2010, 20:01:39
-
How is the castor angle adjusted on the omega?
Why would the castor be so far out of tolerance on one side?
Is castor easily rectified?
-
Castor is factory set and is not adjustable.
-
Castor is factory set and is not adjustable.
So what are the factory settings? My passenger front looked off the scale but driver side was ok, is this setting correct?
-
A common reason for castor angles to be wrong is wishbone bush wear.
Have you had your wishbones checked recently ?? If not that's the first thing I'd check.
Also .. if they have been changed recently . and they were torqued up WITHOUT the weight being on the suspension .. that could lead to some odd angles as the whole bush set up will be under severe strain .. :(
-
ISTR it can be adjusted slightly be repositioning the subframe.
If it's miles out I would suggest something might be bent perhaps?
Kevin
-
Surely moving the front sub-frame on its mounting bolts will alter the caster angle, albeit minimally.
-
Castor is factory set and is not adjustable.
So what are the factory settings? My passenger front looked off the scale but driver side was ok, is this setting correct?
Caster should be between 4 degrees 40 mins and 6 degrees 40 mins both sides according to the print-out I received when I last had wheel alignment done - Haynes states 5 degrees 40 min with max deviation 1 degree - don't know if these are factory settings - these are for saloon by the way - estate 5 degrees with dev of 1 degree:y
-
Surely moving the front sub-frame on its mounting bolts will alter the caster angle, albeit minimally.
"Most modern cars only have adjustments for toe. Caster and camber went the way of the dodo thanks to the McPherson strut".
Above is a quote from a reputable web-site; not quite true in respect of miggy as you can adjust camber by moving strut in or out :y
-
ISTR it can be adjusted slightly be repositioning the subframe.
If it's miles out I would suggest something might be bent perhaps?
Kevin
It had a knock 2 years ago and has never been right since. It has been eating the inside edge of drivers side front tyre. I suspected camber and was right. I had all the alignment done 2 weeks ago and I dont think it has been done well, even though I was present throughout. All they did was heat the TRE's to within an inch of their lives, swear at it and tell me what a sh!t design it was.
-
ISTR it can be adjusted slightly be repositioning the subframe.
If it's miles out I would suggest something might be bent perhaps?
Kevin
It had a knock 2 years ago and has never been right since. It has been eating the inside edge of drivers side front tyre. I suspected camber and was right. I had all the alignment done 2 weeks ago and I dont think it has been done well, even though I was present throughout. All they did was heat the TRE's to within an inch of their lives, swear at it and tell me what a sh!t design it was.
The track rod ends have nothing to do with camber or castor-angle settings.
Camber is set by repositioning the Macpherson strut relative to the hub-carrier assembly.
;)
-
ISTR it can be adjusted slightly be repositioning the subframe.
If it's miles out I would suggest something might be bent perhaps?
Kevin
It had a knock 2 years ago and has never been right since. It has been eating the inside edge of drivers side front tyre. I suspected camber and was right. I had all the alignment done 2 weeks ago and I dont think it has been done well, even though I was present throughout. All they did was heat the TRE's to within an inch of their lives, swear at it and tell me what a sh!t design it was.
The track rod ends have nothing to do with camber or castor-angle settings.
Camber is set by repositioning the Macpherson strut relative to the hub-carrier assembly.
;)
I understand that. They did the camber pretty quickly. I was just making the point of how bad they were whilst doing the TRE's :y It still pulls to the left and the steering wheel isn't central
-
A long trip but try WIM
-
A long trip but try WIM
Absolutely :y :y :y
-
A long trip but try WIM
It is a bit too far at the moment but it was reading their website that made me question the setup that I had done. I will just take it back and get what I paid for for the time being.
-
What is it you are looking at that seems off the scale?
-
What is it you are looking at that seems off the scale?
The castor angle on the passenger side, from the reading on the equipments screen. I can't remember the exact measurement but it was red and extreme. I'll see if I can take a reading when I take it back.
-
What do you mean by caster?,sounds like you had the tracking done, possibly camber.Take it back and get the steering wheel aligned straight and tracking checked,that ought to stop it pulling to the left.
-
What do you mean by caster?,sounds like you had the tracking done, possibly camber.Take it back and get the steering wheel aligned straight and tracking checked,that ought to stop it pulling to the left.
I did have the tracking and the camber done. It showed the readout for caster which looked way out. That is why I was asking if it was adjustable. The steering wheel certainly needs lining up. When they did the tracking they got within tolerance but not spot on at all wheels. I will take it back and request a printout of the before and after results :y
-
Good luck and i hope you get it resolved and if something got bent when it had a knock they should be able to identify what it is .
-
Sounds like it might have suffered when you had the knock as, IIRC, it did damage something in the suspension?
Could be wishbone bushes collapsed and shifted the lower pivot point of the kingpin, as said, so check them first.
Secondly, bent wishbone, perhaps?
Subframe shifted on its' mountings or simply removed during the accident repair not aligned when it was replaced?
Possibly suspension strut bent or top mounting damaged?
Sounds like you need to find a geometry bloke who's got the willpower to get to the bottom of it rather than fob you off though.
Kevin
-
Sounds like it might have suffered when you had the knock as, IIRC, it did damage something in the suspension?
Could be wishbone bushes collapsed and shifted the lower pivot point of the kingpin, as said, so check them first.
Secondly, bent wishbone, perhaps?
Subframe shifted on its' mountings or simply removed during the accident repair not aligned when it was replaced?
Possibly suspension strut bent or top mounting damaged?
Sounds like you need to find a geometry bloke who's got the willpower to get to the bottom of it rather than fob you off though.
Kevin
Tony Bones?
-
wim rarely mess with castor angle ime, but they are without doubt your best bet tbh.
However, in my pre forum days i was told about Micheldever tyres, massive opperation so personal service suffers, but, i was lucky enough to get thier best technician i believe.
He allowed me in the pit to see what he was doing under the car, first question he asked,"how quickly does the steering return to centre if you pull out of a side road" i said its a bit slow, have to pull it back straight sometimes, pressures checked, then he said "that matches the figures, its raked out too far, these arent adjustable for caster but theres no location on the subframe, the factory just fire the bolts in with a windy gun, dont give a rats arse about the position" he took the bolt out and from memory the hole was concideably bigger than the bolt, i suppose it could give 10mill variation in subframe position or something like.
So, as said, its not adjustable but it can be altered within the subframe holes, and certainly remember the improvement once sorted. If its twisted it can set the car in a crab position where the rear wheels are set off to the side and dont sit in the front wheels track, but same with the rear subframe of course, and that is a real pig to line up, both may then give an off centre steering wheel, which is then corrected via track rod adjustment or if seezed they move the steering wheel meaning the steering box is no longer centred as we've recently discovered from Woody on here.
Ride hight comes into it, if a section of spring is missing say or the car sits low on one corner for whatever reason, then the strut angle changes, same as the camber changes with suspension movement/ride hight(jack the car with both front wheels hanging and look at the camber from the front of the car, you'll see), its why vx say to put the average drivers weight in the drivers seat during set up, although wim work to a camber setting of 1°10minutes unweighted as they have worked out a setting for use with high mileage suspenssion, far more precise than factory spec. of 2°15 minutes max or something daft.
usual advice still follows though, fix all suspension and steering faults first, then set up, then fit new tyres, in theory it "should" then be better than new, IF they know what they're doing.
-
ISTR it can be adjusted slightly be repositioning the subframe.
If it's miles out I would suggest something might be bent perhaps?
Kevin
Correct Kevin, Tony at WIM adjusted mine by slightly repositioning the subframe.
-
What kind of price am I looking at for WIM?
I just paid £88 for virtually nothing elsewhere.
-
What kind of price am I looking at for WIM?
I just paid £88 for virtually nothing elsewhere.
I think with OOF members discount it's around £65.
-
Agreed that Micheldever are good too - if you get the bloke that knows Omegas. Justin IIRC?
They shifted the subframe on mine to correct a caster issue. They also charge by the adjustment, so if it only needs a simple toe adjustment it'll only cost you 15 quid. If the subframe gets moved it will be a full adjustment at around 80 quid though.
Kevin
-
Agreed that Micheldever are good too - if you get the bloke that knows Omegas. Justin IIRC?
They shifted the subframe on mine to correct a caster issue. They also charge by the adjustment, so if it only needs a simple toe adjustment it'll only cost you 15 quid. If the subframe gets moved it will be a full adjustment at around 80 quid though.
Kevin
Justin is the Kiddy ime.