On a recent drive across a mountain road, with a few more humps and bumps than usual, after a particularly sharp dip in the road I noticed some noise coming from the front when the suspension was called into action. Sure enough, there's wear on each arch liner.
Now, I've recently changed from 18s to 19s, and although I referred to willtheyfit as part of the change, some rub while under high compression, (which the road in question invovled), was not unexpected. Most of my driving is a bit more sedate, and I'd observed little to no rub up until this point. What struck me though, was that the rubbing persisted even after returning to less crashy, smoother roads. Low to mild compression would trigger it, speedbumps at anything over 25kmph etc.
After a second inspection, I noticed that there was considerably more wear on the offside than the nearside. Looking more closely, it became clear that the offside wheel is further forward than the nearside. (My hand easily fits between the wheel and arch on the nearside, but barely squeezes through on the other). I took these pics in an attempt to illustrate this:
Offside:
Nearside:
The car needed tracking work anyway on account of new wheels & springs/shocks, so I brought it in today in the hope that it would either:
- address the issue (if it was alignment related)
or
- provide some insight into what was contributing to it as part of the tracking work
I mentioned it to the garage at the start, they said they'd keep it in mind, and brought the car in (I had to wait outside).
Anyway, tracking done, nothing mentioned about the misalignment, but it's still there. Garage was closing so I didn't get an opportunity to follow up with the technician who did the work to get their thoughts, but as they didn't leave any note/message with reception, I'm guessing there was nothing immediately obvious.
So, before I bring this to a garage for some exploratory work, I wanted to get some thoughts as to what the issue could be. Refreshing bushes, joints, arms etc., is on my list of jobs to do, and could jump in priority if they were to be a contributory factor. Suggestions for suspects, and replacement parts/kits would be welcome.
Thanks as always!
(Side note: the garage referenced an e89 instead of e86 so, unless folks want to tell me that there's little/no difference between the alignment settings for the two, it'll need to be redone - printout below for reference)
Now, I've recently changed from 18s to 19s, and although I referred to willtheyfit as part of the change, some rub while under high compression, (which the road in question invovled), was not unexpected. Most of my driving is a bit more sedate, and I'd observed little to no rub up until this point. What struck me though, was that the rubbing persisted even after returning to less crashy, smoother roads. Low to mild compression would trigger it, speedbumps at anything over 25kmph etc.
After a second inspection, I noticed that there was considerably more wear on the offside than the nearside. Looking more closely, it became clear that the offside wheel is further forward than the nearside. (My hand easily fits between the wheel and arch on the nearside, but barely squeezes through on the other). I took these pics in an attempt to illustrate this:
Offside:
Nearside:
The car needed tracking work anyway on account of new wheels & springs/shocks, so I brought it in today in the hope that it would either:
- address the issue (if it was alignment related)
or
- provide some insight into what was contributing to it as part of the tracking work
I mentioned it to the garage at the start, they said they'd keep it in mind, and brought the car in (I had to wait outside).
Anyway, tracking done, nothing mentioned about the misalignment, but it's still there. Garage was closing so I didn't get an opportunity to follow up with the technician who did the work to get their thoughts, but as they didn't leave any note/message with reception, I'm guessing there was nothing immediately obvious.
So, before I bring this to a garage for some exploratory work, I wanted to get some thoughts as to what the issue could be. Refreshing bushes, joints, arms etc., is on my list of jobs to do, and could jump in priority if they were to be a contributory factor. Suggestions for suspects, and replacement parts/kits would be welcome.
Thanks as always!
(Side note: the garage referenced an e89 instead of e86 so, unless folks want to tell me that there's little/no difference between the alignment settings for the two, it'll need to be redone - printout below for reference)
Attleborough, Norfolk