Question on alignment

[buff]

the wifes car was according to her "driving funny" when she brakes.

i took it the shop even though i never noticed anything wrong with it.

she needed new front tires so i got those and told them to do a front and rear alignment.

well...they called me and said the camber on the back passenger side was off by two degrees and they cannot adjust it because there is no adjustments on the rear of her car. even said they never saw that before.

well...the car has never been wrecked, so how could that get so out of whack? and the rear tires show no sign of unusual wearing on them.

its a 2005 chrysler seabring.

any ideas?

 

[Walker10]

the wifes car was according to her "driving funny" when she brakes.

i took it the shop even though i never noticed anything wrong with it.

she needed new front tires so i got those and told them to do a front and rear alignment.

well...they called me and said the camber on the back passenger side was off by two degrees and they cannot adjust it because there is no adjustments on the rear of her car. even said they never saw that before.

well...the car has never been wrecked, so how could that get so out of whack? and the rear tires show no sign of unusual wearing on them.

its a 2005 chrysler seabring.

any ideas?

What does she mean by 'driving funny?' Does the steering wheel shimmy when she brakes? If so, the brake rotors may be warped and need to be turned.

If the camber is out on the rear, it may have been that way since the car was new and alignment shops just never said anything to you about it. Try talking with the shop manager at a Chrysler dealership about it, they may be able to install a shim to correct the camber adjustment.

 

[intothatgoodnight]

Need a better description of your wife's complaint -- specifics.

Rear alignment could have been out from the factory, as Walker10 mentioned above, or, there could be a bent or worn rear suspension component that is preventing correction to proper alignment spec.

Are the rear bushings intact on offending side? Has the car ever hit a bad pothole, curb or speedbump that might have bent a rear suspension member, or pounded/shredded a rear suspension bushing? To your knowledge, has the car ever been positioned incorrectly on a car lift or floor jack, such that, once picked up, the incorrect positioning of the lift device's point-of-pickup/contact bent or mangled a rear suspension member?

Camber adjustment shims are one potential method to resolve this issue -- in cases where there is a severe non-alignment, a frame-straightening machine can be employed to re-bend/stretch the metal in the car's superstructure back into its correct factory intended alignment positioning -- done with hydraulics and lasers -- have employed this method of alignment correction several times, particularly with regards to bent front shock mounting towers on McPherson strut designed front suspension systems used on road-racing non-street cars that pound around a fixed racing course at high speeds with very sticky tires and stiff suspensions -- wreaks havoc on on the sheet metal alignments of stock or nearly stock chassis superstructures.


intothegoodnight

 

[Cruiser]

Shimmy when braking is warped front rotors. Either turn or replace. A camber issue on the rear is often a bent rear axle. A semi common problem on front wheel drive vehicles with a beam rear axle (this is a common problem on Toyota Prius). Most likely Chrysler sells a shim kit and an alignment shop could easily install and bring the vehicle into spec.