crooked steering wheel
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,537
Likes: 165
From: Lombard, IL (Chicago suburbs)
He's only driving it to the shop, and he's already driven it and didn't mention anything about it being a handful to drive. There is a lot of value to being able to show the car to the shop and tell them you haven't touched anything since it was in their shop. If you start wrenching on it, you open the door to relieving the shop from being responsible for their own work.
Assuming that during the drive to the shop no symptoms get worse or additional symptoms appear than I'll be okay. I can request of the shop that they inspect each of the 4 wheels and confirm that each bolt is tightened to spec.
Finally, I can post back here when i return to inform what was the core problem. At that time, hopefully everybody here can tell me what I can do to ensure the vehicle is safe for the track later this week.
Racer
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 251
Likes: 32
From: S/W Illinois
If the toe was unevenly adjusted and everything was tightened down, the wheel should have been crooked when you drove it away from the shop. The fact that you are sure there was a substantial change should indicate that something came loose, something bent or something broke which may or may not have anything to do with the alignment since it could have been damaged.while tracking the car. Any chance you bumped a curb or barrier? You don't say how far it is to the shop but hopefully it is not far and you will take it easy. Let us know how it turns out. (By the way, I don't see anything wrong with your taking a look under there. I wouldn't do any wrenching.) Good luck!
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,537
Likes: 165
From: Lombard, IL (Chicago suburbs)
If the toe was unevenly adjusted and everything was tightened down, the wheel should have been crooked when you drove it away from the shop. The fact that you are sure there was a substantial change should indicate that something came loose, something bent or something broke which may or may not have anything to do with the alignment since it could have been damaged.while tracking the car. Any chance you bumped a curb or barrier? You don't say how far it is to the shop but hopefully it is not far and you will take it easy. Let us know how it turns out. (By the way, I don't see anything wrong with your taking a look under there. I wouldn't do any wrenching.) Good luck!
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,537
Likes: 165
From: Lombard, IL (Chicago suburbs)
the technician said it was a bit loose and the result was that the rear toe was -.58 inches or over. 1/2” out of spec. They corrected it, checked every bolt and said I was good to go. I think I’m going to throw the car on my quick jack when I get home and stripe all of the bolts with a sharpie to keep an eye on them. I’ll post the alignment print out when I get home.
Racer
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 251
Likes: 32
From: S/W Illinois
I'm not sure what "a bit loose" means? I haven't worked on alignments in 20 years and didn't do Corvettes then so I may be very out of date but 1/2 inch off is a huge number. Did he mean that parts were worn or did he mean something didn't get tightened up that should have? You could put a wrench on everything just to make sure they are snug while you're under there for piece of mind.
Last edited by Geno94; Aug 4, 2020 at 07:10 PM.
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,537
Likes: 165
From: Lombard, IL (Chicago suburbs)
I'm not sure what "a bit loose" means? I haven't worked on alignments in 20 years and didn't do Corvettes then so I may be very out of date but 1/2 inch off is a huge number. Did he mean that parts were worn or did he mean something didn't get tightened up that should have? You could put a wrench on everything just to make sure they are snug while you're under there for piece of mind.
Either way they tightened everything back down reset the car. The camber is -2 front, -1 rear, Toe is within factory spec front and rear.
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Brett Foote
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 3,557
Likes: 1,097
From: Ex DPRK, now just N of Medford, OR
Probably a camber bolt came loose. That will effect the toe as well.
They caught it, and made it right. Hope it stays where they put it this time. Marking the positions with a sharpie or touchup paint is a great way to know!
Sh*t happens, even in the best shops. And those who say "that could never happens in MY shop" are either lying or ignorant.
Glad you got it solved!
They caught it, and made it right. Hope it stays where they put it this time. Marking the positions with a sharpie or touchup paint is a great way to know!
Sh*t happens, even in the best shops. And those who say "that could never happens in MY shop" are either lying or ignorant.
Glad you got it solved!
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,537
Likes: 165
From: Lombard, IL (Chicago suburbs)
Probably a camber bolt came loose. That will effect the toe as well.
They caught it, and made it right. Hope it stays where they put it this time. Marking the positions with a sharpie or touchup paint is a great way to know!
Sh*t happens, even in the best shops. And those who say "that could never happens in MY shop" are either lying or ignorant.
Glad you got it solved!
They caught it, and made it right. Hope it stays where they put it this time. Marking the positions with a sharpie or touchup paint is a great way to know!
Sh*t happens, even in the best shops. And those who say "that could never happens in MY shop" are either lying or ignorant.
Glad you got it solved!
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 2,500
Likes: 1,165
From: Northern Wisconsin
Actually, it was probably a good thing that you did the autocross. The extra stress from the autocross may be what caused the adjustments to move due to them being loose. Otherwise, it may have taken weeks or months for that to occur in normal driving, at which point the shop may not claim responsibility for it.