Legal Bill

Went for an alignment today and the tech couldn't get the left front caster to more than 5.26 degrees. He said he had the adjuster all the way to its limit and that was all he could get out of it. The right side could go further, but he set it to match the left which made sense.

The factory spec for this is 6 degress and the Honda UK spec is 6 degrees, 45 minutes. I was sitting in the car when the adjustment was made. I have seen other people say they ran into limitations on their caster adjustment. does any one know what causes this?

My car is a my 02 with only 1545 miles. I have not hit anything. I went for the alignment because: 1, I have learned from this board that they don't come well aligned from the dealer and 2, I am autocrossing and wanted to go with the UK settings.

Thanks.

Bill

sfphinkterMC

i was getting 7 degrees of caster, now i can only get 6.5, possibly due to change in rear ride height.

cdelena

I was told that ride height and camber settings will limit caster available differently in each side. With -1.2 camber the tech could only give me about 6.1 caster. I also suspect that alignment machines are not maintained and calibrated well enough to produce consistent results.. I have had different answers from different people / machines.

Gernby

I had a similar experience at an alignment shop. It turned out that the technician was turning the adjuster all the way in the WRONG direction. What he thought was the maximum amount of caster was really the minimum amount of caster. Unless you have lowered your car, I would get a second opinion. It might also be a good idea to set the adjusters back to the middle setting before you take it to another alignment shop.

Legal Bill

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gernby
[B]I had a similar experience at an alignment shop.

Gernby

I figured there was more than 2.26 degrees of caster adjustment.

Good luck.