Cobb springs and alignment

[jville]

Camber doesn't have much effect on pull, unless it's off drastically. Check your tire pressures?

camber is the main thing that causes a pull. the more angled a tire is the vehicle is gunna pull which ever way ther tire is angled. maybe you mean caster, caster is what helps your steering wheel return to neutral and a car will pull to high caster (the angle forward or back from the imaginary plum line dropped from the upper bj or in this case upper strut mount). Go to a REAL alignment shop and have the take care of it, prolly an extra benjamin depending on labor rate. At my shop it would have been 97.50 in labor pplus the 59.95 for the 4 wheel alignment.

 

[Kain]

but my car still pulls to the left now

Radial pull.

 

[GhostMercury]

whats that mean? and how do i fix it. Sorry if these are dumb questions, but i have stayed away from suspension because i don't know much about all the caster camber toe. I just wana be happy with my cobb springs and coast in a strait line lol. So i appreciate your guys help. the alignment place is just trying to get money, luckily i have unlimited alignments for 3 years so i will go back and forth till its fixed or they get tired of me and fix it themselves without making me pay

 

[pointysticks]

ghost..i dont understand. you mean your alignment shop wont make the adjustments? or they will only mess with the factory adjustment points and leave the "non orthodox - mess with the top of struts" up to you?

you inspired me into looking at the COBBS stuff. i am subscribed.

 

[GhostMercury]

yea the shop is pissing me off so im taking it somewhere else once i try and straiten everything out myself. The springs are perfect, just the alignment is getting annoying because the shop isn't working with me

 

[Rubasu]

the car is going to pull to the side with the least neg camber. hence the pull to the left. lowering a car changes the geometry of the suspension and tends to cause the suspension to have more negative camber this is why mazda sells the control arms for the rear with their springs to compensate for the neg camber caused by thier springs. look for a viable solution for the front camber like a set of camber plates (if they are available yet) you did not post the specs for the rear but if they are off to bad enough it will also cause pull which is why you always adjust the rear camber and toe before adjusting the front. If there are no solutions for the front available then tell the shop to slot the strut towers like they said they needed to and let them fix the camber that way until a better solution is available

 

[Rubasu]

and why does everyone assume that a shop is merely trying to get their money when they say they need to do something to fix something. Ghost you admited yourself that you do not know much about suspension and alignments and yet you jump to the conclusion that they are trying to rip you off when they tell you that you need something extra done to fix a problem that you are having. I just don't understand that mentality because I am tech myself and we have to hear s*** everytime we try to make a sale on something that the car needs done. fix it yourself or don't complain when told what needs to be done to fix the problem you are having.

 

[GhostMercury]

i jumped to the conconclusion that they are ripping me off because the manager, dressed in a polo with no grease tells me i need to pay 180 to fix it, and then the mechanic comes up to me when i get my car back and tells me i don't need to notch it and try just lossening the bolts and pulling on it towards me. So i would say the manager wants the money, hence trying to rip me off, when his mechanic tells me otherwise, key point his mechanic.

 

[GhostMercury]

and the geometry of the suspension wasn't change that much, we're talking baout the cobb springs if you know about them or have an ms3, they don't come with a massive drop and were designed to work with the stock suspension. so as far as the geometry thing its not a 3 inch lowering job, its 1 inch at the very very very most

 

[Rubasu]

anything lower or higher then stock changes the geomoetry of the suspension a 1inch drop is a 1inch change in the geomoetry and obviously is enough to throw off the camber of the car hence the problem you are having. they were designed to not bottom out the stock struts and shocks when going over bumps making the car ride on the bump stops. sometimes changing the ride height requires using a different shock/strut setup to keep the car off the bump stops the cobb springs were designed to work within the stock struts capabilities that does not mean that you will not have camber problem because they were designed to work with the stock suspension. as far as the manager goes he was coming to you only after his "mechanic" went to him with the problem you were having and offered you a solution that may help fix the problem you were having. How can loosening the bolts on the top of strut a pulling it towards you help if there is no room for top hat to slide back and forth in, this is where the notch comes into play. The only thing I could think of is if the strut gets bolted trought the knuckle then a possibilty to counter your problem would be to loosen the bolts going through the knuckle and have a friend pull on the top of tire out while you tighten the bolts back up. there is sometimes a little wiggle room where the bolts go through the strut. it may eleviate some of the neg. camber but not all of it. I the best way to fix it though is see if camber plates are available yet for the car and have them installed and have the alignment redone.

 

[Rubasu]

and yes I have an MS3 and I have been using Cobb products since they came on the scene with parts for subarus. top notch products and great service