Alignment Issues..

[TXJUGGERNAUT]

My 99 Cobra has had alignment issues as long as I can remember..

I have taken it to have it aligned many many times. No one can ever get it "perfect".

Im not an expert by any means but I have done most all the work to my car myself. The mods to the front end are after market caster/camber, k-member and eibach lowering kit. Its been atleast 4 years since I have done any mods to my car period..

The tires are starting to turn in more and more and I am getting tremendous wheel rub the worse it gets.... Places like Discount Tire cant/wont do it.

Am I the idiot here and aligning my car is just something I am going to have to deal with every 4 - 6 months or are the people doing the aligning incompetant..?

 

[bhuff30]

If the issue is that the shop can not set the alignement correctly using your CC plates and you keep trying, then the issue won't be resolved without changing the geometry or slotting the strut tower for more movement.

You should very rarely need to realign a car unless major suspension work was done (change in ride height, replace tie rod ends, ect). If the geometry is changing between alignments, then SOMETHING IS WRONG. Sounds rather scary to me. You may want to check to make sure all the bolts on the k-member and other suspension parts are tight and torqued to spec. Also, check the usual for play... tie rods, ball joint, bushings. Your geometry definately should not be changing! Something sounds scary wrong for your alignement to not only be changing, but changing enough to cause the tires to rub worse and worse. If you can't find anything loose, then I'd definately remove the aftermarket K-members. Aftermarket K-members aren't exactly known for their strength and reliabilty (aside from MM and griggs).

 

[COramprat]

As far as wheel rub are your wearing the inside of the tire?

 

[TXJUGGERNAUT]

As far as wheel rub are your wearing the inside of the tire?

I havent looked but i would definately suspect so... The tires are starting to slant in like:

/ \ instead of straight up and down...

 

[bhuff30]

Tires slanted like that show too much negative camber. You could try making a mark from the CC plate to the shock tower to see if the CC plate is moving around. Certainly, if the plates aren't secured well, they will slide to the position of negative camber.

I havent looked but i would definately suspect so... The tires are starting to slant in like:

/ \ instead of straight up and down...

 

[Dragstr05]

Does the car drive straight? How are the tires wearing?

I HIGHLY doubt that it's the alignment causing your tires to rub. The alignment will consequently be out of spec of course, but your problem is likely not due to normal wear and tear from driving.

Going by your description, something is shifting, or allowing your caster to go way out of spec. Ofcourse, the only side effects of caster being out of spec are turning radius and wheel shimmy. It would be helpfull to know what your readings are looking like before/after you are getting your alignments.

As said above, try marking your caster/camber plates and check over your chassis nuts/bolts for tightness.