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Is anyone did wheel alignment for ES350?
I have negative camber on all four wheels (picture below has a view what it is). Is anyone had the same problem?
Also I just made an appointment with mechanic, and he said on the phone that for car like that you can not do alignment with negative camber. He said that likely I have bad bearing or shock, or something else. I hope he wrong, but I update tomorrow.
Thank you nevernu! As always your posts are very helpful
I calculated my front wheels 0.86, 1.09 degrees off norm (norm according to manual 0.75 degree). My rear even more then that 1.47, 1.35 degree off normal (norm according to manual up to 1.35 degree). So now I think I will change for sure rear shocks, and front at first I adjust like manual says. if it will not be enough then I change front shocks too.
Nevernu, could you please post PDF about changing shocks front and rear. I went to mechanic today, and he told me that he thinks that if I change all 4 shocks, I would not need any alignment. Shocks just go bad with time and my car has 93k so it is normal wear and tear.
I did changed shocks myself on my 2004 Corolla last year and 2007 Lexus ES 350 I am hoping will be the same. Besides my wife agree to buy Impact Wrench which will make a job much easier. I have Haynes Repair Manual but it would be really nice to see your manual as well.
For rear shocks you won't need the alignment, but for fronts I would do it...
For the tire camber wear, it could possibly be the way you corner, i.e. how fast, and load on the tire side. Stiffer shocks and springs would help with that but also different tires. Are you on stock wheels/tires?
igzy, at first I want to eliminate inclination preferably to 0 degree.
Also I bought car only 2 months ago, so I don't know how person who own it before me was driving.
My tiers pretty old so before putting new tiers Michelin Primacy, I want to make sure wear of tiers will be even.
My wheels stock, my old tiers now is Continental Extreme Contact, pressure in tiers was 30psi and I keep it this way.
Originally Posted by igzy
For rear shocks you won't need the alignment, but for fronts I would do it...
For the tire camber wear, it could possibly be the way you corner, i.e. how fast, and load on the tire side. Stiffer shocks and springs would help with that but also different tires. Are you on stock wheels/tires?
Some camber is always preferred so that the car can handle/corner better... Too much camber can have negative effect on tire's edge wear... So there is a balance between the two extremes, and it is recommended to stick to OEM specs for both reasons...
Thank you nevernu! As always your posts are very helpful
I calculated my front wheels 0.86, 1.09 degrees off norm (norm according to manual 0.75 degree). My rear even more then that 1.47, 1.35 degree off normal (norm according to manual up to 1.35 degree). So now I think I will change for sure rear shocks, and front at first I adjust like manual says. if it will not be enough then I change front shocks too.
It might be worth it to pay the $110 (that's what I charge for a 4-wheel alignment) to see what all of your measurements actually are as read by an aligner and if they can be adjusted back into spec. The factory bolts allow for about .5 degrees of adjustment of camber front and rear.
You might be able to save yourself the cost of some struts. Putting them in trying to solve the problems seems like guesswork to me.
Interesting though, I guess I will be OK then if I will not get perfect 0 degree. I already bought four stunts online and I am going to install them and I will update what angle on each tire I will get before doing any alignment attempts. In fact I am hoping to not do any alignment if angles will be acceptable.
Originally Posted by igzy
Some camber is always preferred so that the car can handle/corner better... Too much camber can have negative effect on tire's edge wear... So there is a balance between the two extremes, and it is recommended to stick to OEM specs for both reasons...
OK so I will share my experience now after everything done (or better say I do not want to do anything else).
I bought 4 new struts because I thought that I do not want to disassemble old struts. Mostly because I a bit lazy
So I did instal 4 struts and much to my amazement ride became very harsh, bumpy. So then I took a look and made some measurements how thick coil springs are new and original. Well, they were different original were entire 1 millimeter thicker.
Because I saved old springs I disassemble struts and instal old springs back. So here is results with brand new struts alignment was fine but now with old springs unfortunately it got just a little better but no where near perfect.
So for the front, i went to Toyota dealer and bought adjustable bolts and that is how I fixed camber on front wheels.
On rear, nothing you can do. I guess if I found original springs I would change it but the problem is Camry and Lexus ES have the same strut size. And you can think you buying strut for Lexus but in reality you will get spring from Camry (in struts) which is what I got. Lucky people who don't care about soft ride. I care a lot, in fact, this is one of the few reasons why I bought this car.
OK, now shocks. Front shocks were completely gone and I mean completely. Rear were barely satisfactory. My car had 94k miles. So changing shocks was a great idea even though it did not fixed my alignment problem. My wife said that now car drives much more secure.
This is all, if anyone have questions or more info please post.
12-09-14, 05:59 PM
Wheel alignment for ES350
