Forum:
I have posted before regarding wheel alignment on my car and eventually having the rear axle replaced due to misalignment. I reported that all was well but lately the car is not running straight and feeling very awkward on bends again. I guess things have settled out. Although irritating I am not too upset because the work was at Daihatsu cost, but I do want my car to handle nicely. It is frankly a nuisance on a long trip constantly making minute corrections to maintain a line on the road, and coming off a roundabout is a hideous experience.
I have had the alignment checked by specialist equipment (not the Kwik-Fit guys) and the read-out shows that all is well in every aspect on the front. But the rear is another story. It shows the LH toeing out and the RH toeing in and the camber although within limits is negative on both sides (the top of the wheel leaning out).
I know enough to deduce that this set-up albeit wrong by only minutes of a degree is giving a permanent rear steering input and is consistent with the handling issues I have. The negative camber is out by over a degree each side and although within limits will not be helping matters when cornering - positive is better.
The rear axle is fixed with no adjustment, which is quite normal for most cars, so what is the solution. The experts in their field just shrug their shoulders. Well I am not one to take no for an answer. My engineering experience tells me that if the axle to hub join could be shimmed it would be possible to straighten things up. The problem is how do you shim such a thing.
Once I had the idea I checked the internet and I found this product - http://www.spcalignment.com/component/content/article/85. I have ordered a couple and they will be with me in a few days and when I get a fine day I will be having a mess about. There is YouTube stuff explaining it all as well.
I will let you know how I get on.
Regards
EZ Shims
The EZ Shims arrived and I have had a play around. I installed one and I gotta say they ain't that good. The theory of how they work is quite sound but the implementation is poor.
Firstly the material they are made of is extremely brittle and I ruined one because it split and fell to bits when I removed the required segments. They are very, very delicate.
During installation I was getting a bad feeling. I was not entirely happy with such a flimsy shim being involved with what was essentially holding my hub and back wheel on. I did take it for a quick test drive though to see if any adjustment had taken place and I can confirm the theory is sound because the car steered straight for the first time ever. The constant loading on the steering wheel was gone.
I checked the shim immediately after and things had started to move about in just a couple of miles and the hub bolts had gone slack - not a good thing. My earlier gut instinct was reliable, and not to trust this shim for such a critical application. I removed it.
So I am back to square one. The up side is that the idea is good and I am now mulling over a home made solution based upon the EZ Shim. I am considering using the EZ Shim as a tool for gauging some proper steel shims. Like I said, the theory of shimming out the hub is sound.
My advice to anyone else on the use of the EZ Shim is DO NOT use them. I think they are dangerous in such a critical application. They are too brittle and they move around - not good.
Regards