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Alignment issue

L

Lubby

New member
hey I'm brand new to this sight. thought i would slide in to see if anyone could help out with an issue my daughter is having with her 04 grand prix. the thing has been eating front tires. the alignment doesn't seem to be out of wak but i havnt had it checked. i was wondering if these cars are known for being tough on tires. anybody have any thing to thoughts on this?
 
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Re: Just in

Hey, welcome man. Whereabouts in PA are you from?

Here's a good thread about alignment: http://www.grandprixforums.net/understanding-alignment-40393.html

If the front tires are being eaten up and it's not an alignment issue, I'm tempted to say that she could do a lot of gravel driving, burnouts, taking corners hard... or it could be as simple as incorrect air pressure.

Another thing... "eating front tires" ... are you saying you don't rotate the tires? That's kind of an "every 6 - 10,000 miles" kinda thing. Depending on the tires, they should last 40-70,000 miles.

Hope that helps!
 
Re: Just in

Hey Slow, Thanks for the thread suggestion, it was informative. I am up in Mckean county (hillbillie country) how bout you? I do rotate every 5,000 miles but the wear pattern starts darn quick and as you know once it starts it doesnt matter where you put them that wear pattern continues. After reading that alignment info it looks like she has some serious negative camber. They wear on the inside. I'm going to try to get her to take it to a dealer to get a good alignment by someone that really knows the grand prix. Don't think it is something I'd try myself. Thanks for your input it was helpfull.
 
Re: Just in

I had a bad tie rod and was experiencing the same tire wear issue....fwiw.
And welcome
 
dont take it to the dealer, sure they know what they are doing most of the time, but you will lose both arms and a leg in the process.

Go to a GOOD repair shop, like a tires plus, goodyear or a place that you know does good work and have them do a quality front end allignment for 100-150 bucks.

Doing alligments on cars is pretty simple, but you NEED the alligment rack and machine to do it right to make sure the car will drive right.
 


Fivefingerdeathpunch said:
dont take it to the dealer, sure they know what they are doing most of the time, but you will lose both arms and a leg in the process.

Go to a GOOD repair shop, like a tires plus, goodyear or a place that you know does good work and have them do a quality front end allignment for 100-150 bucks.

Doing alligments on cars is pretty simple, but you NEED the alligment rack and machine to do it right to make sure the car will drive right.
Click to expand...

Alignments are a lot where your at. I work at a dealer and a 4 wheel alignment is $90 here.
 
Fivefingerdeathpunch said:
but you NEED the alligment rack and machine to do it right to make sure the car will drive right.
Click to expand...

hmm i go to an alignment ONLY shop. they've been around since the dinosaurs..but they dont have machines or anything. just the alignment rack where they can see on it and turn the wheels and they put these balances and stuff on the wheels. the old school method. my car always drives good when i leave there.

and it costs $30..just sayin
 
If the front end components are good (tie rods, etc..) then you may want to look at the springs/struts if they are original. I have replaced all ball joints, tie rods, hubs, front struts (reused old springs) and a new rack and just got an alignment on my 00 GT. I still have -2.0* camber on the drivers side and -1.9* camber on the pass. side that is due to the springs being worn.

The alignment shop guy said to swap in new springs and then bring it back. Even after the first alignment the drivers camber only dropped by .1 degree. That's the best they could get.
 
Re: Just in

as far as Camber alignment goes, keep in mind that correcting that will be a little more expensive than most typical cars. I have an 04 GTP and I've found out through All-Data that this particular car needs either a Camber kit which comes with eccentric bolts for the lower part of the McPherson Strut, or you can go a little cheaper by boring out the upper bolt hole on the stock lower Strut mount to an oblong shape and installing a new (OEM approved) bolt to fit. Ive went with the eccentric bolt cuz my left side had a huge amount of negative camber caused by a previous accident. but all is fixed and running fine, doesnt pull at all to either side nor wear out tires more than normal.

This site can tell you a little more about Camber kits and what Camber angle does...
Camberkit.com your source for low prices on camber kits plus installation information, instructions and videos Ingalls SPC KMAC

This is one of many sites you can check out for the kits...
Pontiac 1997-2008 Grand Prix (FWD) SPC Camber Kit (Front, -1.75 to +1.75 Degree)|SPC Performance Alignment Camber Kits
 


FordMan77 said:
If the front end components are good (tie rods, etc..) then you may want to look at the springs/struts if they are original. I have replaced all ball joints, tie rods, hubs, front struts (reused old springs) and a new rack and just got an alignment on my 00 GT. I still have -2.0* camber on the drivers side and -1.9* camber on the pass. side that is due to the springs being worn.

The alignment shop guy said to swap in new springs and then bring it back. Even after the first alignment the drivers camber only dropped by .1 degree. That's the best they could get.
Click to expand...

Did the guys at the shop realize that ALL cars come from the manufacturer with Caster and Camber numbers not always at 0.0*?? Most manufacturers design vehicles to have slight Camber off-center to compensate for road angle due to the fact that DOT requires most roads to be angled towards the sides to assist in rain water run-off...
 
I would think so. With 242K on the stock springs I could see how there would be a bit more neg. camber than should be. I need new rear struts/mounts anyway, so might as well install new springs all the way around at the same time. Gonna drop it a bit as well ;)
 
I had the same issue with tires wearing as if I had very bad negative camber.
The bushings on the control arms were bad.
Brakes would pulsate, causing car to shake.
 
Lubby said:
i was wondering if these cars are known for being tough on tires.
Click to expand...

FWIW I have driven a GP for the last 9-ish years and I can tell you tire wear has never been an issue for me. In fact, generally my tires last longer than what they were rated for. I rotate my tires once a year, which is about every 15k miles. I haven’t had one wear down to a nub on me yet. ;)

Anyway, sounds like you have a wear or alignment issue. Good luck.

HOW TO READ TIRE WEAR
 


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