Grinding when at full lock

[Tobs 1]

Hi, my coupe has developed a very dodgy grinding/juddering when at full lock (parking etc). Also there's a knocking noise when driving at any speeds, more noticeable when breaking at slow speeds, and the steering is all over the place. This developed after I took her into the local garage to have the tracking done. The guy couldn't undo the off side nuts but said it was ok, but did adjust the near side by 1/2 a degree.

I fitted a pair of new anti roll bar link arms (ebay cheapies) in August for the MOT. Has anyone on here had a similar experience of this problem?

[Greg_S]

Could be PAS issue in addition to alignment. I normally have to take my steering arms off and free them up before I do alignment on mine too.

[gripper]

I have exactly the same problem ! Sounds terrible and feels like the tyre is rubbing on the arch liners on full lock, adding to this my brand new falken tyres are going bald on the inside edge
I have (another) 4 wheel alignment booked this sat so hoping to shed some light on this !

[Christophski]

If inside edge of tyres are going bald i would suggest replacing your top mounts.

[Error404]

If they only adjusted one rod end adjuster then it is possible that the tyre is making contact with the inner arch on full lock, should be easy to check. If they did this you will find that your steering wheel will be off-centre (provided they didn't take that off and adjust it )
Another thing to look at is the bottom ball joint could have slipped or be loose. If you turn the steering lock to lock you will see & hear if moving, as the wheel will gain and loose a lot of camber as the steering tracks. Either way they have bodged it and it needs doing properly.
As said its always worth freeing up adjusters before getting an alignment done to prevent this kind of bodgery and/or additional charges.
My aligner actually charges me less than the standard rate as he says he always factors in time for seized components etc

[gripper]

My adjusters were loosened off before I had the tracking done and my top mounts have only done around 1000 miles, same as my tyres

[Sleeper_Avant]

have a look at the back of the wheel inner edge see if theres any marks where track rod ends have been making contact, had this on a focus last week at one of my centres.

and for them to only adjust .5 of a degree, thats not enough to scrub tyres!

get a 4 wheel one done at Kwik fit, all centres have 4 wheel laser, digital printout with all specs of cars loaded, castor, camber, and toe.

Sean.

[Tobs 1]

Brilliant cheers guys.

[Error404]

If you can hear rubbing that means something is fundamentally wrong, you need turn the steering lock to lock and see what the problem is first. Then you need ot make sure the rack is centred when the front toe is set, otherwsie it won't fix anything. Kwik-fit would be the last place i'd go, but each to their own.

[gripper]

Just to follow up on what happened today getting the alignment looked at.
.....apologies Tobs 1 if this seems like a thread hijack

This is the spec sheet for the fronts which confirmed my alignment is ok but my camber is way too much !



The guy there honestly admitted he did not know how to adjust the camber on these !
However he did point me in the direction of a company and after chatting to the guy I think he knows he's sh**

Still doesn't really explain the grinding on full lock though ?

[Error404]

Those are the wrong specs anyway mate!
Castor should be 2°10' (not adjustable), front camber should be -45' and front total toe should be +15'
Rear camber should be -40' and total toe should be +10' IIRC

[gripper]

This is what it looked like when I had the alignment done around October

[Error404]

how have you found the increased camber? I was considering going to -2° to counter some of the dynamic loss with the mcstrut