Mk5 Rear wheel alignment

[CherryVimto]

I have recently swapped from the standard Zetec S wheels to my original Pro Race 1.2s which have now revealed/made obvious that the rear wheels aren't where they should be.

Are there any points from which i can take measurements to determine whether the rear beam is either bent or misaligned?

 

[tuonokid]

Hi Tony
All I can think off is the witness marks on the beam brackets of the mounting bolts but if your axle has been mounted incorrectly I suppose there may be two sets of witness marks now. If that car was mine I'd probably use two long straight edges on the wheels and align the rear axle by sight but looking at the offsets from the photos there might not be enough adjustment on the beam brackets to get it central.
Barry
PS have you checked for axle spacers?

 

[CherryVimto]

Hi Barry

Many thanks for your reply.

This is a bit of a weird one to be honest.

Looking directly to the centre of the rear, as best as you can by eye, the wheels look even.

There are no witness marks anywhere on either of the mounting brackets. The bolts 'look' like they've never been touched.

I have made albeit quite simple, some measurements from the wheels & tyres to the bodywork.
From the contact face of the tyre towards the front to the arches on both sides measures the same.
From the contact face of the tyres towards the rear to the bumper on both sides measures the same.
When putting a spirit level across the face of the wheel through the centre point and then measuring from the inside edge of the spirit level (equivalent to the wheel face) to the bodywork, the drivers side measures as 70mm and the passenger side measures as 75mm.

Both sides are fitted with 20mm billet spacers which were fitted long before I swapped the wheels over.

Everything looks to be fixed up correctly but I will be taking the rear wheels off to confirm.

The rear arches are rusty as you've probably noticed with one side looking like it has been 'repaired' in the past with filler and painted by a blind man. I had thought maybe the repair has made the arch shape/profile incorrect but looking from the front both sides 'appear' to be similar.

Another thought I had was the possibility of one of the wheels isn't actually the wheel I sold to my friend and he could have replaced it with one of a different offset. The issue here is the offset on these wheels is printed on labels which are put on the inside of the wheels, now covered by the tyres!

 

[tuonokid]

Hi Tony
You can only see the witness marks on the axle bracket when you take the bolts out. The bolts have a shank on them like a cast in washer and when tightened it leaves a circular mark on the bracket.
A different offset wheel does sound a likely candidate and easy to check out, just put a straight edge across the rear of the rim and measure to the mounting face of the wheel, obviously it should be the same on both providing they are both the same J width.
Barry

 

[CherryVimto]

Hi Barry

Thanks for your replies!

Typically now the kids have gone back to school the weather has been too wet to go out and do anything to the car!

Anyhow, I have measured the wheels and both are the same offset - measured from the backs of the wheels to the mating faces (to the drums).

I have used a spirit level (straight edge) to make several other measurements from the drum faces to the shock absorbers, drum faces to the beam, back of drums to the beam and several others to the bodywork but all measurements are the same each side.

I have checked the spacers and both sides are 20mm.

The beam bushes are poly and the beam sits central to/on both bushes.

The front faces of the wheels are, according to the spirit level/straight edge, in line with the top areas of the arches.

I have made a couple of observations...
* The passenger side rear wheel when viewed from above 'looks' like its turned out slightly on the edge facing forward. I could describe it looking like its toed out too far towards the curb, but when viewed from the front along the face of the front wheel it looks straight.

* The rear bumper on the passenger side is not attached as the securing 'clip' is broken. To get the bumper to sit where it should I have to push it in towards the car. I would have thought that if it is protruding away from the car in what appears to be its natural/unsprung position, then possibly there has been some panel damage on the rear side which makes the tyre on that same side appear to be out further than the other side.

I never noticed this issue when I had the standard wheels fitted so maybe the slightly wider wheels has made this more obvious as they are further out towards the arches.

I can put two original wheels on the back and check some measurements and also have a spare rear beam I can fit but that would be a last resort knowing that the bushes would need replacing first!

 

[zinc2000]

i have been following this and keep checking the picture and I have a suggestion,.......

I see that you have measured practically everything to see what is straight but here's a thought.....have you measured the body??

Now I will admit that I have not thought how you might do this as ideally you need to measure from corner to corner across the car...I guess to would need to accurately mark corresponding points on all 4 corners of the cat, possibly using a panel gap?
So, your challenge should you wish to accept it is to ensure the car itself is square.........just a thought on a very wet day in Scotland :grin:

 

[CherryVimto]

Hi Zinc

Your line of thought was in the very direction mine is now going but how or where I would even start with that to get accurate results I have no idea!
Luckily I have another one of these cars stored as a spares donor/project so have a reference point for any measurements. Unfortunately that also has dodgy arches so not an area that is much good for an accurate reference point!

 

[zinc2000]

one idea is to put 4 upright poles, one at each corner somehow, each one against the same point on the body then measure from corner to corner....have fun :grin:

 

[zinc2000]

nearly stopped raining up here so how about this...

Make sure the front wheels are as straight as possible, take a long piece of wood and place across the floor in front of the front wheels, do the same behind the rear wheels.....measure, see what if any the difference is from one side to the other

 

[tuonokid]

Hi Tony
This is how I roughly check the tracking on my cars, if you use this on your rear axle with slightly longer straight edges you should be able to see if your axle is in line or to one side by how it points at the front wheels.
Barry