Installed Fe5/YYZ combo struts/springs a few weeks ago. Had it aligned a few days later. Car was still drifting to the right. Bought two new front tires, and still had the drifting problem. Took it back to the alignment place, and after some "conversation" they rechecked the alignment and it did need some adjustments. After these adjustments, it is still drifting to the right when I let go of the steering wheel.

Question: is there anything special that needs to be done for alignment after installing these slightly lowered springs? Do I need to go to a better shop that knows how to do proper alignments?

I did let them know that the car was recently lowered. The YYZ springs are not a big drop, so I wouldn't expect any alignment issues.

The car ides great with the new springs!

2009/SS/TC.

 

Did they give you a printout of the alignment? Sounds like you need a better alignment place to me.

 

Whats the sheet say? They could have a shitty rack.

 

Mine pulls to the right as well after alignment. I'm on ssc springs

 

First I would try to figure out why you weren't supplied with a spec sheet for your alignment like stated above, Sounds skeptical to me.

Then I would look at your camber on that sheet and see if it changed because they do have shims and/or chamber kits and a lot of shops don't or won't do the work to fix chamber, And I don't know why it isn't hard at all.

For the slight pull to the right I must say that no road is completely flat, But this is how they are design.. They put a crown into the road so water and other liquids can have a run off in a sense and not pool on the road causing havoc. So some roads will pull more than others depending on use and design really.

Obviously all shops are different and use different techniques, But a lot of shops will induce a slight pull to the right, The reason being if for some reason you let go of the wheel for a long period of time or black out they don't want your car veering to the left into oncoming traffic and killing an innocent family they would rather you veer off the road and destroy your car and not someone life.


To make this easy for you I would check your sheet from the alignment shop and if the numbers don't match up from side to side go ask them why lol.

Hope this helps and keep us posted

 

I pull to the right too and I'm lowered

 

Does it pull right while in the left hand lane?

My car has 140k kms and still tracks 100% straight on a smooth surface.

 

I'm on the same setup. Sheet said everything was in spec just but no completely perfect. I talked with the guy for awhile and he said if I were to have it perfect I'd need to have some shims installed to make the correction. My car pulls slightly to the right as well, I figured it was due to the crown in the road. I was also told that by the guy who did it that it's the crown as well.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Very helpful.

I will go back and ask if they can still provide a printout for the alignment specs. Not sure how long they keep the information, if at all.

I am aware that the road can cause drifting. However, I don't believe that this is the case since it did not drift to the same extent before the lowering, and I have been evaluating it on what I think are flat areas of the highway.

My biggest concern of course is tire wear.

 

Well this is just a guess but it could be a sign to grease bushing or a part is wearing out and being lowered is putting more stress on that part causing play.

Like i said this is just an estimate, But usually the shop will point out any worn parts before an alignment to avoid doing it twice but who knows what they did since you didn't even get a spec sheet.

Keep us posted on your situation.

 

Caster angle plays a huge roll in this. When lowered, the caster angle increases which will cause a pull to the right since it is normally set up to "push" the car towards the crown of the road. To my knowledge, without custom making some caster plates, there is no way on a cobalt to adjust caster angle. On YYZ springs you shouldn't be having too much of an issue with it though. Definitely check the spec sheet.

 

went back to the alignment shop yesterday for them to do one more look. To ensure all the suspension components were in good condition, then recheck alignment and potential install camber kits, etc.

The results are that all bushings, linkages, etc are in good condition. Alignment was all in spec. See attached results. Still has a slight pull to the right. Based on these alignment specs, does anyone see anything that needs adjustment? Would these angles cause any concern for tire wear? The shop said they could install camber kits, but did not see why I would want to spend about $200 if all the angles are in spec. Money is not an issue, but I do agree that if something is not needed, then why.

I suppose that the new springs/struts are just different and something I am not yet use to.

I still need to move the tires around to see if that changes anything.



Appreciate your comments.

2009/SS/TC
YYZ/FE5

 

My money is still on your caster angle. There is virtually no way to correct it either. My drivers side is 4.2 and passenger is 4.0, which is where my pull comes from. Tires still wear super evenly even with 1.2 degrees of camber. Would just check the tires from time to time to make sure they are wearing evenly.

 

Idk if this helps but my slight pull went away yesterday when I put my winter wheels setup on. Which is 17na wheels with bfg g force all season tires replacing my 18 enkei with nitto nt555 summer tire. Not sure if tread pattern would make it pull one way or the other

 

First I have to say the amount of chamber you have is normal for these cars they are actually suppose to have neg chamber since these are sports cars and they do it that way for hard cornering purposes so you don't get tire roll.

Like mentioned above caster really can't be changed, Unless you personally have access to an alignment machine reason being you have to loosen both strut and keep playing with them and suspension parts till its set even again and no shop has time for that. Ain't no body got time for that really.

Lastly if you look at the rear of your vehicle see how you have quite a bit toe on the right rear and your thrust angle is off. This is telling me your rear torsion beam is bent or twisted or possibly some worn bushings. The reason I bring this to your attention is it looks like the right rear wheel will be causing drag and resulting in the pull you are feeling and will wear that tire down a little quicker than the rest.

Also I wouldn't recommend shims to fix toe, Just leave it be it is quite common on cobalts, j-body's and pretty much anything with the same suspension set up.

If it does bother you it can be moved to make it centered to the front, You just have to loosen the three bolts that secure the torsion beam on both sides and square the rear of the car to the front. Then retorque the bolts.

Hope this helps, Keep us posted

 

Update: Although the front tires were new, I finally switched them around a few weeks ago (right to left, but still on the front). The problem went away. Had new tires installed yesterday (under warranty) and no more pull. I had a hard time imagining that new tires could be the issue, but this was the problem. It now rides straight with very little if any pull.

Thanks for everyone's information and input.

 

I was going to say, the alignment numbers looked pretty good, the right rear toe is in a bit more than the left which *might* cause a bit of pull, but I wouldn't expect it to, and obviously you know the problem was the tires (strange because they are brand new).

 

Just because something is new doesn't mean it cant fail