Car alignment problem

I have no idea what equipment you have for measuring your wheel alignment, the type of car, nor the actual misalignment problem. I don't know what your procedure is, either. Maybe it is simply a bad bearing or bushing.

I would say that it's time to pull out the big guns. Diagnosing problems like this are best left to a shop with frame straightening equipment. Why? The reason is, they can accurately measure your cars body/frame to determine if the chassis is straight in all planes. Once you know that the chassis is straight you can go the next step and determine if there is an out of tolerance part in the suspension forcing the wheel out of alignment or if the alignment is simply incorrectly set.

I think you have understated the problem. Perhaps this will help. You can either lengthen or shorten either the upper control arm or do the same on the lower control arm if no upper exists (strut type suspension). How you do it is up to you. There may be cam adjusters built into the susupension pickup points or outer joint or slotted holes for the strut pinch bolts or make slotted holes for the upper strur mount. You may have to fabricate new pickup points or arms or both. Ideally you would insure the geometry of the moving parts retain the same absolute values relative to the both the longitudinal center line of the car and the roll center line of the car throughout a range of extension or compression for a distance of +/- 3-6" above and below static road height for both sides of the car for a standard street car. Since a car always has a driver when underway the driver's side camber is generally biased to compensate for the weight and resultant compression on the suspension on that side of the car. Depending on the handling results you are trying to achieve in various roll conditions it is highly likely that the wheel when viewed parallel to the longitudinal axis of the car will never be perfectly vertical or parallel to the centerline for that matter.

Depending if your measuring from the rim, the hub or the tyre.... maybe just needs some more air.

Considering which view you reference as the left and your reference to radius, it is difficult to offer a simple response. Most front ends are not aligned to square or paralel dimensions. A positive camber is usually induced (top is further out than bottom)to counter road crown forces (pulling away from center road). You have yet to mention the actual performance, is there pulling, abnormal tire wear, or tire howling on turns? Front end alignment starts with carefully engineered chassis weights, height, mounting points and component dimensions such as control/radius arms and wheel /tire size and then ballanced off the centerline. Later a skilled tech can tweak adjustments to counter for slight chassis changes due to frame twisting or minor collisions. If you are using a do it yourself alignment kit, you may want a second opinion from a reliable frame and alignment shop.

I have never heard the term out of radius, anyway there are three adjustments for the front end alignment, caster, camber, and toe-in. Of these three two are wear angles, camber and toe-in. Toe-in is the measurement of how much the front of the tires are pointed or angled in relative to the back of the tires. If this is out of spec, it will cause a feather edge wear of the tread from fender side to road side for too much toe in, and the opposite for toe-out. This will be noticeable on each tread. The wear pattern will affect both front tires about equally, since the adjustment requires measurements between both tires, and adjustments are made at the tie rod ends. A good tech will adjust this with consideration for the centering of the steering wheel, although there is a separate adjustment for that. Camber is the measurement of how much the top of the tire leans in or out. The adjustment has been covered in a previous post. If the tire wears on the inside, fender side, it is excessive negative camber, or the top of the tire is leaning into the fender too much. The opposite is true for positive camber. This usually affects only one side of the vehicle, since it is adjustable independently of the other side. Caster is the measurement of the imaginary line drawn through the ball joints, spindle mounting points, or strut pivot points, and determining whether this lines strikes the ground ahead of or behind the tire contact point with the ground. It is often not easily adjustable, as with strut, or with solid axle vehicles. It only affects how the car returns to a straight line after turning the steering wheel. I would suggest checking all of the suspension components for wear before doing anything drastic. Check the ball joints, tie rod ends, pitman arm, cross-link, and wheel bearings. A worn pitman arm will cause tire wear on the inside of both tires, similar to excessive negative camber, only the tires will be bald on the fender side in a matter of weeks. Also check the tire pressure in all FOUR tires, I have seen one vehicle (for demostration purposes) on the alignment machine that was so far out of spec, that it was impossible to correct with the factory adjustments, because the rear tire was flat. Airing the tire up caused the car to come into spec. If you are not having any tire wear problems, the algnment must be in spec, check for spring or strut problems, or if the vehicle was in a previous accident, frame damage. The wear angles on the tires are aligned with reference to one another and the ground, not the vehicle, so if one looks wrong, it may be a frame alignment problem. Hope this helps.

Each vechile is different. I had to break the welds holding the upper part of the strut and align the front wheels before I could get the correct alignment. Ford espically the air ride system creates a huge problem in the alignment area. Be sure to have the car on a machine if you attempt this way. An air chissel cut the welds loose easily and a simple tack weld reattached strut mount. Good luck

I put lowering springs on my 2006 Mazda 3 and drove it for about three months then got new tires and the back tires were wearing even and the front had a little wear in the insides. After the new tires i decided to get an alignment. I picked up the car from the alignment place and drove it onto the expressway and the back end feels like it is floating as i change a lane quickly or make any sudden wheel movements. Does anyone know what the problem is???