oaksey Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Hi all, Had car lowered on eibach springs about 250 miles ago, time for laser alinement. Went to see Mr T, only one close to me with laser, quoted £84.50 over the phone, went with this , although steep price, told "you'll drive away straight and true" went back after 2hrs, only done the front,nuts and bolts on rear rusted on, so it was agreed i would go back the following day and they would have another go,for the same price, when i returned after another 2hrs the next day, the mechanic explained to me after he had WD40'd, heated and hit everything with a big hammer, still nothing moved. Mr T manager and mechanic not happy to cut nuts off incase bolts still stuck," it could open a large can of worms" , New back axle, wish bones and bushes. Now i don't mind spending money on my car, but with labour, £800.00'ish for the full works. Went to my normal garage ( 2 man and cheaper) explained the story, they have told me to carry on driving the car but keep an eye on the tires for wear, then to assess the situation in 2/3 weeks. Below are the figures from the laser alinement, thoughts anyone !?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ams Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Numbers dont look terrible mate, id be tempted too see how it goes, a lot of sports cars run more camber than that on the rears as stock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oaksey Posted August 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Numbers dont look terrible mate, id be tempted too see how it goes, a lot of sports cars run more camber than that on the rears as stock Cheers ams, just a bit worried that i'll be wearing out tyres quicker than i should, don't want to be buying new ones every 6-8 months, in saying that, i'm happy to stay with it as long as i'm not hurting/ putting too much stress on other ajoining parts and it costs me more in the long run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ams Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 rotating tyres will help mate, but will wear out quicker, cant see them wearing out excessively fast. Tom - tmousse - had the same thing and I swapped the whole lot over for a low mileage import one, think he was quoted close to/over £1000 from toyota as welll, but did it as per my PM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planc Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Squirting WD-40 won't do much really as the bolts seize in the bush collers. I found that if you remove the back box and heat shield access is easier and you can get a bloody long bar on the nut and manipulate it back and forth until it moves (camber adjustment). The rear toe cams should push against the small tabs on the arms but with the weight of the car on the suspension and the age of the metal, the tabs just bend but you can move the bolt by using channel lock grips to move the bolt the desired amount. I have done this to many Celica's of this age but 2 hours is simply not enough time, that's why when people get quotes of 30-45 quid and say anymore is too much then I have to laugh. If garages are doing it for less and spending less than a couple of hours I would guess they are moving the gauges so the values look correct on the print out rather than spending time getting it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMOUSSE Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 As ams said, replaced the sub frame to get round the problem but it's a case of finding a low mileage one. As for the camber and tyre wear, you've seen how much camber I've got and im getting very good tyre wear simply by having the rears slightly toed in. Don't ask why mind you, guy who aligned my wheels reccomended it. must have covered nearly 7000 miles now and still got loadsa tread left Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oaksey Posted August 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 As ams said, replaced the sub frame to get round the problem but it's a case of finding a low mileage one. As for the camber and tyre wear, you've seen how much camber I've got and im getting very good tyre wear simply by having the rears slightly toed in. Don't ask why mind you, guy who aligned my wheels reccomended it. must have covered nearly 7000 miles now and still got loadsa tread left Ha ha, Funny you should message me Tom, ams just done the same, telling me you had the same prob's with your car! He's got an import one, the whole rear, 3,000 miles in very good nick for £150.00, and he can deliver to me as he has folks in Huntington he's visiting the first week in September, RESULT! My local garage recons on leaving it as is,but, i know what i'm like, not happy unless things are as close to perfect as i can get, always like to give the car a chance to drive with maximum advantage to the driver, after all thats why we drive Celicas, so i think i'll probably go with it, it's only money!!! Local garage will fit for £300.00, i dont know how many hours it takes, but is alot cheaper than Mr T ( £1000.00 + for new one and fitting) Hope all is good with you and yours, Cheers Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oaksey Posted August 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 Squirting WD-40 won't do much really as the bolts seize in the bush collers. I found that if you remove the back box and heat shield access is easier and you can get a bloody long bar on the nut and manipulate it back and forth until it moves (camber adjustment). The rear toe cams should push against the small tabs on the arms but with the weight of the car on the suspension and the age of the metal, the tabs just bend but you can move the bolt by using channel lock grips to move the bolt the desired amount. I have done this to many Celica's of this age but 2 hours is simply not enough time, that's why when people get quotes of 30-45 quid and say anymore is too much then I have to laugh. If garages are doing it for less and spending less than a couple of hours I would guess they are moving the gauges so the values look correct on the print out rather than spending time getting it right. Mr T wasn't up for going any further, unless i was prepared to cough up more ££'s, so i shy'd away from them, not knowing how much it was going to cost me. Still as ams has a good one (see message to TMOUSSE) I'll probably go with that. Thanks for taking the time, much appreciated mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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