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Great thanks for the support Tony

Hi Tony, Don't tyres have a memory though, in terms of how they wear? Could a tyre not have sufficient run out in order to require the driver to input steering angle in order to drive straight? My last point, I meant how could the Hunter say the cars alignment was correct when it wasn't? Operator error?

Morning all, I took the car back today and as you can see from the photo below the alignment was out, with the steering to the right. It was like this immediately since driving out of the garage when it was done original. I'm happy to report now that the steering is now perfect, I love it! So two questions.... 1. I'm going to swap back to my summer tyres today, will this affect my alignment? 2. How could my alignment have been so wrong in the first place?

Hi Tony, Thanks for the response. Steering angle sensor: Is this on the hunter? Are we assuming its correctly calibrated? Yes this only occured after I had disturbed the subframe, but it was only out by a margin (as the Hunter correctly picked out, as seen in the first picture). I'll ask for the set-back positions and wheel-base measurement by triangulation. Though I have to ask, what are they? Thanks kindly for your offer of support. I'll be returning 9am on Saturday, so if I do need your help expect a call around about then. Best regards.

Hi all, (I appreciate there is a similar thread which is stickied at the top of this forum but I wanted to raise this issue separately.) I had the subframe off my Mondeo ST220 but I aligned it the best I could using white marker pen for when I put it back, as expected though it wasn't perfect and so my steering wheel had to be slightly to the left in order to drive straight ahead. I then had the car aligned at my regular place (Hunter DSP 600 4) as I've never had any real issues with them before. Unfortunately my steering wheel is now significantly over to the right, and is worse than when it went in. So, a few questions... 1. Is this is just shoddy workmanship? I'm guessing despite the Hunter saying all ok, the steering wheel wasn't straight when the alignment was made. 2. Tony, if you have a Hunter machine, can you see if there is a difference in alignment specification between the regular Mk3 Mondeo and the ST220? Previously my car was aligned under '3.0 Sedan', but this time it’s just down as a 07 Mondeo. Looking through my records the 3.0 has more negative camber on the front. Lastly, do you have any ammunition for me to use against the garage? To be honest there customer service and alignment knowledge isn't great, I’m booked in for them to check it but I have a feeling they’ll try and blame it on me.

Hmm, well it was done by a different operator this time round. When they set the wheel straight, is it done by eye in the car, or can you tell by looking at the steering rack? If its the former, then maybe Mondeo steering wheels are slightly left biased to begin with.

Done, no difference.

I've owned my Mondeo for many years now, and I've never had any problems with the suspension and the tyres have always worn rather nicely, just a little stepped occassionally. The thing is, I get my car aligned on a hunter machine at least once a year, yet it never cures my tyre wear fully or my steering quirk. Even immediately after having the car aligned, the steering wheel has a minute bias to the left. In other words, I have to hold it at 1 degrees to the left in order to drive in a straight line. Now I appreciate most roads aren't flat and perfect, and you'll always need steering input, but I'm talking about perfect roads. Now I know 1 degrees isn't much, but it annoys me, and I'm concise its the cause of my tyres getting slightly loud as they become stepped. My only thought is the hunter machine used to align my car is not calibrated correctly. I dodge pot holes, slow down for speed bumps and rarely park on kerbs.

Interesting. How often do you see this?

Hey Tony, I appreciate what you are saying, its just that ive been keeping an eye on mytyres and camskill, and prices have gone up £1-2 across the range in the space of a week.

I have been told that prices of winters are creeping up, is this true?

Brilliant. Thanks Tony.

Hi guys, I had some work done on the Mondeo and the garage has had to drop the front subframe. The work is now done and all seems ok, but the steering is now offset to right by a couple of degrees. Is this;- a) normal because the subframe wasn't returned to the _exact_ same position because the subframe was reattached wrong I'm guessing its a), and something an alignment will sort.

Yep, when they are stepped with 1.6mm tread you'll really know about it - the difference a fresh tyre makes is incredible.

All season tyres are jack of all trades, master of none. Either get winter tyres, or summer.

Rear of the vehicle and have done 10,000 miles - shocks are good. Yes its the toe, just wanted to confirm. To be honest the last set of tyres worn almost perfectly, but they were stepped and so a bit noisy.

So maybe come October the prices of winter tyres will go down? About this time last year a certain tyre for my car was £100, it rose to £155 and thats where its stayed.

Notice the wear pattern, it looks like the tyres are going to 'step'.

They are that tough? Good to know, I never realised. Closest decent tyre place is a 70 mile round trip.

Whenever I have had a garage damage my alloy, its always been when removing the tyre and never when fitting it, even though the fitting process is similar. To reduce the odds of them getting chipped, I thought it may be worth deflating the tyres and then cutting them off with a knife before I give the alloy to the garage. Is this easy / logical?

I mean are you going to damage / snap something if you let the car axle tramp?

Interesting read; http://paultan.org/2007/01/31/axle-tramp-b...e60-bmw-m5-fun/

Axle tramp, or wheel hop as you may call it in a front wheel drive car. When the tyre is under load and grips, then slips, then grips, then slips - the wheel can be seen to rise and fall in a jittery fashion. Perfect example; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOQO_SsX49Q Call me a p***y, but whenever my FWD or RWD cars do this, I lift off as soon as possible. It bugs the hell out of me, sounds awful and feels even worse. Now aside for general wear and tear that the clutch and suspension may encounter when moving quickly off the line, is there any reason why you should lift off the gas when a car is axle tramping? I mean is it not just a case of the damper working overtime as it tries to control the weight of the wheel, or is there more to it than that?

I do think its a CV joint too, it was my first thought actually but its good to get backed up on it. If it were suspension then it would bang going over bumps, which it doesnt. The gaiters are solid with no leaks, but I suspect this doesnt stop them from failing.

Yes, sounds like driving over snow! A lot thudding noise. Not ruling it out, but I had a CV joint go on another Mondeo of the same generation and that sounded different, like a light clicking noise. I have tried the full lock in a car park trip and sometimes it does it, sometimes its quiet as a mouse. Do we think it would be inner or outer joint, how do you tell?