[yihooni]

I'm having problems with the Firestone in Franklin. (Behind Franklin Athletic Center)
I took my car in for an alignment.
My car pulls to the left when I push the throttle, and swerves back to the right when I let my foot off.
Before I signed any papers, I asked if they were gonna align it to factory specs, and they said yes.
About 2 hours later, after everything was done I start driving home. But they haven't fixed a thing because it was still swerving left and right.
I went in again and talked to the tech that was doing the alignment, to please match it to factory specs and he said ok.
The manager said it might be a torque steer problem??? I don't think RWD cars had torque steer? Correct me if I'm wrong.
So, after about another hour, they said everything is good to go. While driving home, it still swerves.
I don't know what to do? I paid for the lifetime alignment package.

I found this from another site:

Factory specs for AP1

Factory alignment spec
Front
Camber -0.5d +/- 0.17d
Caster +6.0d +/- 0.25d
Total Toe In 0+/- 2mm

Rear
Camber -1.5d +/- 0.17d
Total Toe In 6mm

Does this sound about right? I didn't have an owner's manual when I bought the s2000.

[Liquidsation]

I'm not good at suspension/alignment stuf but that does not look right to me. More - camber up front and less toe in rear is what I will guess is wrong with your numbers. There is a FAQ section in "under the hood" that will list the USA specs and UK specs for alignments. Check that area and see before you take it back to them.

[WynnS123]

Their machine could be messed up. These racks need to be calibrated every so often. Most places neglect to maintain them. I would take it to another firestone.

[Spa_Ap1]

How's your tire pressure? They can do this even when aligned properly if one side has too much pressure difference than the other side. Something to look at possibly.

[yihooni]

Spa_Ap1, on 23 December 2011 - 01:43 AM, said:

How's your tire pressure? They can do this even when aligned properly if one side has too much pressure difference than the other side. Something to look at possibly.

All the tires are set to 32psi.

[trich101]

Bring it to an diff location and have them check the work. I had them mess up a wheel stud and when I came back and confronted them they took care of it free. This was the Bellevue location.

[yihooni]

I'll be taking it to the Firestone on Sam Ridley in Smyrna first thing in the morning.
I need to get this done by Friday. We're going camping in smoky mountains and I need the car to ride perfect on the highway.
Does anyone know the owner of the Spa/Rio s2000 that's always parked at the Smyrna Firestone?

[jordanksartell]

I've asked the same question, but haven't ever gotten an answer. I don't think he's on here. I keep meaning to stop in and introduce myself, haha.

[DDragon22]

Maybe Clean04AP2? That is the only other Rio Ap2 I know of in that area, beside myself.

[Clean04ap2]

Nope not me.

[DDragon22]

Wooo mystery! We should call the store.

[inneedindeed]

lets burn them down.

[Liquidsation]

I think his name is Jeff and he used to autocross a lot when he was at the location in Murfreesboro. I bet it's the same guy and if so, he will know the exact spec for alignment.

[Slows2k]

You've got a pull from a tire. Swap the side to side or you have 2 different brand or tread pattern tires.

[Clean04ap2]

are your tires in good shape?

[yihooni]

Clean04ap2, on 23 December 2011 - 01:43 PM, said:

are your tires in good shape?

Tires have less than 500 miles on them.

[yihooni]

And I found out why they didn't fix it right in the first place.
Unfortunatley, I bought the car near Cincinnati and the rust has really eaten the bolts.
They won't budge even a slight bit. The technician in the Smyrna location told me about the rust around the bolts.(Franklin tech never mentioned it)
So what he suggested me on doing is spraying some liquid wrench daily to loosen up the rust and come back about a week later.
Is this the only way of loosening a bolt?
Also, alignment on the front was R-1.5,L-1.3. The toe was at 0 for the R and L.
The camber in the rear was R-2.5, L-2.3. Toe was R-.49 and L-.29.
This seemed a little extreme for my daily/ weekend driving.
Would this make the car pull left during acceleration?
Thanks again for your inputs.

[WynnS123]

The rear toe is your problem. The right rear has a lot of toe-in compared to the left. This would cause the car to pull left on acceleration, or really what is happening is the right rear tire is pushing the car to the left on acceleration.

[silverstone55]

On the rear toe...are those numbers negative?

If they are negative then you are toed out.....which can cause your pull, but tires usually cause this complaint from my experience....excessive road force from the tires, etc.

And if the bolts definately will not turn, chances are they are seized in the bushings, penetrating oil may help, but I doubt it. We have alot of porblems out of the rear toe bolts in the Honda Pilots, and usually have to cut the lower contol arm bolts and replace bolts and control arms.

Hopefully yours are not that bad, just letting you know some of my experiences with rust....northern cars suck, plain and simple.

Hope this helps, give me a shout if I can be of further help

Brad

This post has been edited by silverstone55: 24 December 2011 - 11:57 PM

[TWEEDERTWEEK]

yihooni, on 23 December 2011 - 03:01 AM, said:

I'll be taking it to the Firestone on Sam Ridley in Smyrna first thing in the morning.
I need to get this done by Friday. We're going camping in smoky mountains and I need the car to ride perfect on the highway.
Does anyone know the owner of the Spa/Rio s2000 that's always parked at the Smyrna Firestone?

The guy that drives the spa AP1 goes by "Q". His real name is not that easy to say... asian. He's a great guy that has always done right by me.