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Left ''rear tire'' has slight TOE-IN,how do I fix it?


ski.dive

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You adjust it by loosening a the control arm mounting bolts and then prying on the control arm to move it. Without the car being on an alignment rack it would be almost impossible to get it aligned properly. If you get the alignment off just a degree or two tires will wear quickly.

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RonnieYou adjust it by loosening a the control arm mounting bolts and then prying on the control arm to move it. Without the car being on an alignment rack it would be almost impossible to get it aligned properly. If you get the alignment off just a degree or two tires will wear quickly.

 

Ronnie,

 

Will any alignment shop, know how to align this left REAR wheel, the way you said?

 

Some shops do not align REAR wheels.

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If you take your car to a shop that specializes in doing alignments they may not know the specifics of aligning the rear of a Reatta but they should be able to figure out how to make the adjustments. Their alignment machine would tell them when they have it adjusted correctly. If you have a Service Manual you should take it with you and let them look at the section on aligning the rear wheels. That would make it much easier for them to do the job right.

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Every one of my Reattas needed a shim. They are available through Napa and are installed [if needed] by the alignment shop. Be sure to make clear to them that the ABS wheel speed sensor leads are made of "unobtainium" and that they should not put any weight on them. These guys have no idea how hard parts are to come by.

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I believe both comments are correct. I do not believe the FSM mentions the shims, and may not have been available back then?? Today, the tapered shims are available in various angles which can correct camber and toe depending on how they are installed. Readily available, although would be nice to have a selection available on the alignment machine. I have also been told the rear was not adjustable, but there are certainly ways to get it close.

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I had forgotten about the shims. They might be better than moving the control arm as described in the service manual. I think the service manual means for you to just loosen rear bolt and move one side of the control arm to change the toe but I don't really know that for sure.

1617420101_Screenshot-2017-12-589Reatta-11-3A-WheelAlignmentpdf.png.23af15cfa01a67e6c181c4839f1e909a.png

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If I remember correctly the manual does show how to make all adjustments to the rear end. There is also something about having a certain amount of weight in the trunk when doing alignment. I think it say something like 300 pounds. I recall some discussions regarding rear end alignment and the comment that the weight would be a full tank of gas and a set of golf clubs in the trunk. I don't have golf clubs but I did make sure I had a full tank when I got my alignment done. Go to a shop that does four wheel alignments and they should know how to do what needs to be done.  A lot of them will tell you that they cannot adjust the camber but that is because they might not know about the shims that are used to make those adjustments. Yes it is best if you bring a manual with you and have it marked (post it note marking the page(s)). My experience with most shops though is that they don't want to listen to you regarding shims (or most anything else for that matter). Again because they don't know about them. My approach was to get an alignment with a one year guarantee. When I got home I read the final report. I got the proper shims to make the adjustments and installed them myself. I brought the car back after a month and told them I had hit a curb pretty hard and wanted them to check it again.

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If I remember correctly the manual does show how to make all adjustments to the rear end. There is also something about having a certain amount of weight in the trunk when doing alignment. I think it say something like 300 pounds. I recall some discuccions regarding rear end alignment and the comment that the weight would be a full tank of gas and a set of golf clubs in the trunk. I don't have golf clubs but I did make sure I had a full tank when I got my alignment done. Go to a shop that does four wheel alignments and they should know how to do what needs to be done.  A lot of them will tell you that they cannot adjust the camber but that is because they might not know about the shims that are used to make those adjustments. Yes it is best if you bring a manual with you and have it marked (post it note marking the page(s)). My experience with most shops though is that they don't want to listen to you regarding shims (or most anything else for that matter). Again because they don't know about them. My approach was to get an alignment with a one year guarantee. When I got home I read the final report. I got the proper shims to make the adjustments and installed them myself. I brought the car back after a month and told them I had hit a curb pretty hard and wanted them to check it again.

 

Now that sounds familiar. I did essentially the same thing. The rear toe was within spec but the camber was off. If memory serves, a 1/2* on one side and 3/4* on the other. If shims are turned 90*, it will change the toe.

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MY recollection was that the shims are used to adjust camber and the loosening, moving control arms, re-tightening would adjust toe. Although I'm not sure if caster was even adjustable at all. It might be just camber and toe because it is a rear end and doesn't move in any other axis as the steering (front end) does.

I don't know if the shims are available through the "Reatta Store" but I am certain they are available from RockAuto. They are listed under "Reatta / suspension / alignment shim"

 

 

2seater -  I didn't think you could turn the shims 90 degrees. I thought they only went thick side down or thick side up for camber adjustment.

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I found this information over at the other site.....

 

 

Posted August 30, 2014

Does anyone else have a rear camber issue? I have been a bout a degree off for years, ever sense I bought my Reatta. Well today I am going to be correcting this issue that every alignment shop has told be cannot be corrected. A bit ago I ran across the following part. http://www.moog-suspension-parts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=MOOG-K6623

 

I will post the results after I finish.

 

 

 

Posted August 30, 2014

I was told the same thing but later learned that you have to have a full tank of gas and 300 lbs of weight in the trunk.

 

 

Posted August 30, 2014 (edited)

So here is a quick write up on this. It was a fairly quick job and I had extra time so I took a few pictures in case anyone else wants or needs to do this. I guess it can be used as a rear bearing or hub write up also. It is a pretty straight forward job.

 

First here is the basic steps.

 

1) remove the rear wheel.

 

2) remove caliper by removing the two bolts that fasten the bracket in place

 

3) remove the 13mm bolts that hold the hub on. This is best done with a socket and extension.

 

4) align the shims and remove the unnecessary tabs (determined by which correction you need)

 

5) replace hub with shim behind and install parts in reverse order.

 

Now on to some pictures.

 

post-49927-143142700027_thumb.jpg

 

Shims before and after trimming

 

post-49927-143142700036_thumb.jpg

 

Side view of shim this is the 1 degree shim (largest)

 

post-49927-143142700045_thumb.jpg

 

Hub removed

 

post-49927-143142700075_thumb.jpg

 

Old and new bolts.

 

post-49927-143142700052_thumb.jpg

 

With switching to allen (hex socket) blots I can use any of the hub hole to install or remove the four hub bolts. Not hugely important but saves a little time.

 

post-49927-14314270006_thumb.jpg

 

Hub and shim installed

 

post-49927-143142700067_thumb.jpg

 

This is the biggest reason for switching to allen bolts. It is no much easier to access the caliper bracket bolts with out fighting with the parking brake cable.

 

I will have the alignment check shortly to ensure the shims made the correct change. Hope this can help someone out if they ever have to do this job.

 

Daniel

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I found this information over at the other site.....

 

~~~~fordrodsteven

 

Are the posted pictures available? I cant see the images?

 

 

 

 

First here is the basic steps.

 

1) remove the rear wheel.

 

2) remove caliper by removing the two bolts that fasten the bracket in place

 

3) remove the 13mm bolts that hold the hub on. This is best done with a socket and extension.

 

4) align the shims and remove the unnecessary tabs (determined by which correction you need)

 

5) replace hub with shim behind and install parts in reverse order.

 

Now on to some pictures.

 

post-49927-143142700027_thumb.jpg

 

Shims before and after trimming

 

post-49927-143142700036_thumb.jpg

 

Side view of shim this is the 1 degree shim (largest)

 

post-49927-143142700045_thumb.jpg

 

Hub removed

 

post-49927-143142700075_thumb.jpg

 

Old and new bolts.

 

post-49927-143142700052_thumb.jpg

 

With switching to allen (hex socket) blots I can use any of the hub hole to install or remove the four hub bolts. Not hugely important but saves a little time.

 

post-49927-14314270006_thumb.jpg

 

Hub and shim installed

 

post-49927-143142700067_thumb.jpg

 

~~~~fordrodsteven

Are the posted pictures available? I cant see the images?

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It looks like you may have to go to the other site and do a search and get the pictures there.

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MY recollection was that the shims are used to adjust camber and the loosening, moving control arms, re-tightening would adjust toe. Although I'm not sure if caster was even adjustable at all. It might be just camber and toe because it is a rear end and doesn't move in any other axis as the steering (front end) does.

I don't know if the shims are available through the "Reatta Store" but I am certain they are available from RockAuto. They are listed under "Reatta / suspension / alignment shim"

 

 

2seater -  I didn't think you could turn the shims 90 degrees. I thought they only went thick side down or thick side up for camber adjustment.

 

It has been many years since I did the adjustment, and you could be 100% correct, but the Moog part number listed is the style I used. The notes on the Moog site mention for camber or toe, but it looks like a generic comment applied to multiple similar parts? If the control arm is movable as per the FSM that would seem to be the sure way to do it but I would think the alignment guys should know this already?

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... but I would think the alignment guys should know this already?

 

 

***Believe me...they do not know!!! :D

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Hi! I'm back. I was thinking about how I posted earlier and went by what I remember. I don't want to be "That guy" that puts out bad information. You know how it works. One bit of bad information gets "out there" Once it's on the internet some people think it's absolute fact. So.... I opened up my FSM. Page 3A-3 starts the section on rear wheel alignment. The first paragraph does include instructions to put 300 pounds of weight in the trunk but then it has a few other steps which afterwards says to remove the weight from the trunk. The purpose of the weight is to insure that the rear air-adjustable struts are filled with residual pressure only. It also refers to the car leveling system as part of this procedure. Therefore my take on this is that the procedure with the weight in the trunk is for the Riviera and not the Reatta (unless you have a Reatta with a load leveling system?) Anyway. the manual then says to take the weight out before starting the alignment. The manual shows only that you can adjust rear toe (as 2seater mentioned) and as Ronnie said earlier you do that by loosening the control arm bolts and prying the control arm to the desired position.

 

So... after all that I DO KNOW that you can buy shims to insert behind the bearing hubs to adjust the rear camber.

 

Like I said I don't want to be "That Guy" that leads someone in the wrong direction.  So in answer to the OP just adjust toe as Ronnie had said way back in the beginning. A side note from me is that if you find the camber off when you get your "final printout" of your alignment it can be reset/adjusted using the alignment shims.

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I agree with you Steve on the alignment process concerning the weight being added and then removed. However, I've known more than one person who had to add the weight before the shop could do an alignment done properly. That was a long time ago and I suspect we didn't know about the shims at the time so putting weight in the car probably helped bring the camber into spec. I've never had a rear alignment done so I can't offer any first hand information.

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Ronnie - thanks for the memory recount. I had changed out my rear end and I also changed my struts front & rear then decided to get a 4 wheel alignment.

the alignment computer could not set the alignment except on one wheel. I returned a week later with a full tank of fuel and 300 pounds to the trunk. The alignment computer then allowed for shims to be installed and properly aligned the rear end. Then the front end, with the weight added into the rear end (fuel & 300 lbs), aligned correctly.

I have heard others say that the added fuel and 300 lbs should only be done if the car is a Riviera with the auto leveling, but I personally saw what the computer responded to and like the results.

Woody

89 MAUI

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I'm not sure what to think about this subject. My FSM is pretty specific in the alignment section. It states a full tank of fuel and no additional weight in the car for alignment. It also mentions checking the trim heights, front and rear, before an alignment is performed. Trim height to be checked after placing 300# in trunk, turning the key on, wait for the leveling pump to start, turn the key off , remove the weight and then jounce the suspension up and down several times and allow to settle before checking trim heights. Only the Riv has the leveling system?

 

That said, I do remember an alignment guy telling me the rear camber was off until he sat in the drivers seat and it popped right into spec?? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Reatta only has about a 500# total weight capacity, so several hundred pounds in the trunk to align seems really out of balance? It would seem if weight capacity is actually that low, even small weight changes must have a significant effect.

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