Weels alignment

[geonsx]

Hi all,

I have a problem with my alignment, it keeps getting unaligned.

I could go to my Accura dealer every week, and the alignment would be off.

I keep ruining front tires because off that.

Lately I have installed 4 brand new Bridgestone tires, and had
a alignment made.

Four weeks later I go back to my dealer for an oil change. Am in the waiting area, when the advisor tells me that my car needs an alignment because my tires are worn on they inside. To my surprise a look at the tires and they are ruined, imagine 3 to 4 weeks and the alignment was off again.

And I have to say the car is undrivable, it puls right and left over anny little bump, or crack.

This car was never in a accident, and I have no damage wheels.

I ask the dealer to call Accura techLine, and they told me to start with, that I do not have the O/E tires which was Yokohama.

I now have on my car the bridgestone tires that are O/E on the 1995 NSX. They last longer.

What kind of answer was that, I see people with all kind of wheels and tires set up, and they are doing juste find.

Does anyone out there had a similar problem.

I need Help....!


Thanks
George

 

[Lud]

Does the dealer find your alignment was out of spec when they re-align it? If so, you need to find out why it is not staying in alignment.

If they are not finding a problem, their alignment machine may be out of calibration or they may be incompetent. Try taking it to another alignment shop and see what their readings are.

How many miles are you getting out of your tires before they are worn out?

 

[Larry Bastanza]

geonsx,

You need to find another place to align it. OEM tires or not, it can be exactly aligned to spec, if all suspension parts are straight and tight.

If your car is "going" out of alignment then you have a bad ball joint, or some other loosness in the suspension/steering.

If the shop that is aligning the car and has not checked these things BEFORE an alignment, they are incompetent, period. DO NOT GO BACK TO THEM.

I have said this many times: NSX's are one of the easiest cars to align. ANY competent alignment shop/tech can align these cars perfectly in 45 minutes (all four wheels). There is no "magic" to align an NSX.

The fact is, it's harder to align a damn Chevy

I pay one hour labor ($65) for a "perfect" alignment every time at a local shop I use.

HTH,
LarryB

 

[geonsx]

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

My car as 50.000 miles, and I started to have alignment problems hat about 24,000 miles since then, I change my front tires at every 3,000 miles because they are worn out in the inside of the tire. If you look at the front tires, they look brand new, and if you look at the inside of the tire, the first inch, they are almost to the liner.

I have change garages many times, but always Accura dealers.

When they do the job, the alignment is perfect, right on the specs. well Accura specs.

But the problem is that it get unaligned after 4 weeks or let's say 1000 miles.

I guess we are talking about the camber...?

I remember once on this forum someone had the same problem.

And when I tried to get help from Accura, the first thing they told me was that I did not have the original tires. So because of that,
they could not go further than that...!



George

 

[Larry Bastanza]

If this is what the Acura dealers up there are telling you, again find another place. They are wrong!

Maybe you do have something loose like a ball joint/tie rod end, etc. If this has been going on the 24K miles, Are you saying you have gone through 8 sets of front tires!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think you may have a "toe" problem, not a camber problem, but this is speculation, you need to inspect it carefully.

When you say the car leaves the shop in perfect alignment, how is this confirmed??

HTH,
LarryB

 

[Lud]

George,

Wearing out the inside of the front tires every 3000 miles is definitely indicative of too much negative camber on the front wheels.

If you car keeps coming out of alignment after 1000 miles, one or more of the following problems exists:

(1) You are running over very rough surfaces, speed bumps or huge potholes very fast on a regular basis so as to knock it out of alignment (I'm sure you'd notice!)

(2) they are not tightening things properly after each alignment job

(3) a part is damaged or worn out

If the dealer says they can't help because you don't have OEM tires, they are just looking for excuses. The tires have nothing to do with the alignment.

I'm not sure what to suggest other than another dealer or a good independant shop.

 

[V12NSX]

I agree with Larry and Lud. A competent alignment shop should be able to set it up perfectly. The only thing that I have found is that no one seemed to know how to set the caster in the front. I always go to the alignment rack and watch to be sure they are as careful as I want them to be and to show them how to set the caster. The Hunter alignment computers do not show this procedure properly.

S.L.

 

[geonsx]

Camber numbers ????

First thank you for all the good e-mails.

Second I am very carful at the roads I use.

I have to say that it wasn't my dealer that said I had the wrong tires, it was Accura Co at TechLine.

What would be the right numbers for the camber adjustment ?


Thank you again,


George

 

[Larry Bastanza]

George,

Please reference the FAQ and the service manual:

http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/TireWheel/alignment.htm for alignment.

http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/Reference/1991_svcman/1991_svcman.htm for the service manual.

I am not sure what year you have but I would recommmend 1993+ specification for alignment.

HTH,
LarryB

 

[V12NSX]

As always, you can find this information in the FAQ, but the numbers are: Camber - .2 to .5 degrees negative
Caster - 7.8 to 8.3 degrees
Toe - .10 to .18 degrees of toe out (negative)

Good luck!

S.L.

 

[burbel]

From what you described, it sounds like the toe is incorrectly set (from the handling problems, being darty and catching every groove in the road). I know that worn tie rods can be part of the problem; personally, for alignments, I would rather go to a chain store like NTB (what I use here) - while they're not NSX experts, there are much more familiar with alignments and settings than I would expect a dealer to be. I've had good luck getting my alignments done there, and they caught a slight problem with my Mom's NSX - the right front tie rods were both worn/out of spec, I should be replacing the second one this week and will get another alignment from them. Just make sure you ask a technician near the Hunter machine (big red thing with blinking "8"'s up the top-left/right if the NSX will clear the machine - normally it's not a problem, and you can use boards if it is, but if it is an issue you can get another place without spending an hour waiting for service. Ask me how I know.

 

[The REAL nsxtasy]

When your car is aligned, it should stay aligned, unless you are hitting pavement potholes with high force.

When you go back to your dealer after 3-4 weeks, do they check the alignment again? Is the car still in alignment, or has the alignment changed?

How many miles (or km) do you drive in 3-4 weeks?

It is common for the front tires to wear more on the insides of the tread, if the car is not being cornered aggressively. If most of your miles are straight-ahead highway miles, you might wish to consider alignment settings that are different than Acura's recommendations.

Your car should not pull to the right or left.

Does your dealer service many NSXs? You might want to consider a different dealer.

I will send you a PM with more information.

 

[The REAL nsxtasy]

George,

I have sent you a PM with the name of a local NSX owner in your city who can recommend a dealer with NSX alignment expertise.

 

[NSX G-Force]

And I have to say the car is undrivable, it puls right and left over anny little bump, or crack.

Did your NSX been lower?
My NSX have this problem on pulling right and left b4. I get it align at another alignment shop, find out there's too much toe in set by previous alignment shop juz to save the tyre wear. I now upgrade to a new wheels & tyre, and I realign it again at (3rd) different shop!