After having a 4 wheel alignment done over christmas my Mondeo is still chewing rear tyres (the fronts are fine.)
I bought some subframe alignment pins on the internet and found the front subframe to be misaligned according to the alignment holes in subframe and shell.
Today I have booked the car (into a different garage) for a 4 wheel alignment and subframe alignment (and MOT.)
The garage informed me that they don't align the subframe using pins, the whole setup is checked and adjusted using the 4 wheel alignment machine.
Does this sound correct and has anyone had any experience in this area please?
The garage is only asking £25 + vat for the 4 wheel alignment which seems cheap. They will ask a bit more if they have to adjust the subframe.
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Thanks very much HJ. I thought £25+vat was too cheap.
Does your Mondeo not suffer from the infamous pulling to the left that Mondeos seem to have?
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Perhaps because the Mondeo has adjustable toe front and rear and the fact that the subframes can be misaligned means that the Mondeo is unfairly slated.
The real problem seems to be the lack of expertise in the industry i.e. people like quick fit with basic wheel alignment equipment and people who are not trained to use and understand it fully.
Do I really neeed a specialist to align the subframe? Surely any garage could align the subframe using the special pins and line up the holes in the subframe to those in the car body?
I am fairly convinced that the car has not been in a serious shunt. However the £200-300 for the specialist may be cheaper than having it done badly and replacing expensive tyres at only half of their potential life.
All help is very much appreciated.
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I had the 4 wheel alignment done (actually £35+ vat) and received a detailed printout of the cars geometry. I thought I might as well try!
There seeems to be a large tolerance for the allowable camber and castor angles in particular.
Does anyone out there have access to the precise values the car should be set to when making adjustments. I would like to know if mine is (although within tolerance) quite a way from the ideal measurement.
The car seems to drive a lot better now (the rear toe was a mile out) but I think the back tyres are still pulling the car around a bit as they have worn unevenly.
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Hi Keith
What year is your Mondeo? Saloon/Hatch or Estate and what derivative ie LX etc. I can then give you the values with tolerances.
Charles
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Thanks very much Charles,
The car is a 1999 Mondeo 1.8 LX (Verona) Petrol Hatchback five door.
Where do you find the information if you dont mind me asking?
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Keith
I will email the figures to you as this site does not like the degrees symbol (Alt 248)command. When I've typed everything out I will get them to you.
Charles
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Hi Keith,
I too have had tyre wear problems, in my case with my Vectra GSi.
See this previous thread for the conclusion, which may give some pointers to your problem:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=i&t=64...6
BTW, I have since learned that the four wheel alignment check I wrote about, which was conducted in a purpose-built laser equipped pit, will have cost Fleetlease about £180. Your £25 therefore sounds suspiciously cheap, even if Fleetlease have been charged an element over the odds.
Good luck!
/Steve
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Hi Keith,
I have just noticed your username, and recall that you actually asked me a question during the thread I have just referred to, so you will know about it already!.
Sorry about that.
The intent to help was there, and I still hope you can get it sorted out! :-)
/Steve
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Charles,
The degrees symbol is ALT(0176) °
HTH
Keith
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Info is on it's way to you.
Charles
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Thanks very much Charles. Some of the message was garbled, please could you check below (I have deleted the garbled bits) to see if I have deleted something important.
Mondeo 2WD with standard suspension Build (month/year) codes 8/96-9/00
Front
Camber: Nominal 0° 32, Tolerance 1°50 to 0°45
Caster: Nominal 2°19 Tolerance +1°14 to +3°25
Max permissible variation side to side:
Camber 1°15
Caster 1°
Toe adjustments (mm): 1.0 to +1.0, Checking Tolerance (mm): 1.5 to +1.5
Adjusting Spec -0°10 to +0°10, Checking Tolerance 0°15 to +0°15
Rear
Camber: Nominal 0° 34, Tolerance 1°53 to +0°45
Max permissible variation side to side: 1°15
Toe adjustments (mm): 0.7 to +3.1, Checking Tolerance (mm): 0.1 to +3.9
Adjusting Spec (Deg): -0°07 to +0°31, Checking Tolerance (Degrees) 0°01 to +0°39
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Keith
Everything looks OK from what I sent to you. I hope it helps to sort out the problem.
Regards
Charles
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The tolerances on subframe alignment on the mondeo are so great that you don't even need the alignment pins, you can do it by eye from underneath. If the subframes are so badly misaligned to be the cause of your problem then I would suspect that the car had been side impacted at some time (or it is 2 cars welded together).
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