I replaced front struts and tie rods and got an alignment does this look right why are they still in red?

Car: 2005 Cadillac Deville Base

  • IknowKarazy@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    I mean, they set the toe just right, not sure if the measurements in the rear are adjustable. Often camber won’t have any eccentric bolts or tie rods to adjust, but checking around on message boards says you might have some adjustment for rear toe. You have to loosen a bolt and move the whole suspension piece with a pry bar before locking it down again.

    Idk if your car has that option, but it could be the tech just didn’t feel like messing with it, so he decided to do what techs call “toe and go”

    Camber should be adjustable with additional shims behind the wheel hubs but it’s a big pain to install them. You have to pull the wheel off, then the hub (which might be rusted and frozen in place) then reinstall everything with the shim. And that’s assuming the shop even has the shims in stock. I would gladly bet my next paycheck my parts department wouldn’t have any earthly idea what a “camber shim” was (theyre not well trained and only know the bare minimum of what they need to do their job). And then you have to get the car back on the rack, basically redo the whole alignment to find out if it’s finally in spec.

    If you want it adjusted, it can be done. It’s not a particularly confusing job, just quite laborious. Lots of time waiting for parts. If an alignment pays 1.5 hours, most techs would want to add to that labor if they have to install shims.

    This video details the process: https://youtu.be/S1VacAjzE40?si=co5cuPjPzhn8ZhD5

    • PapaRug@alien.topOPB
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      10 months ago

      So you think it fine as I just wanted it aligned because of the new front struts and tie rods I installed

      • IknowKarazy@alien.topB
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        10 months ago

        They did a good job on the front toe. The rear settings being out of spec will wear the tires faster than they otherwise would, but I think the shop did the best they could given the resources available. Often when I do alignments if the rear is out like that and no adjustments are provided on the car I’ll set it the best that I can and send it.

  • Galopigos@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Well the rear isn’t great. Looks like they didn’t touch it. The toe is adjustable in the rear but the camber isn’t adjustable without adding some adjustment bolts to the A-arm bushings.