zenman63 Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Hi, First post. I am looking for some help on Vito and Viano set up, I have lowered a few now and all have the same problem, its killing the inside of the front near side tyre, right on the edge, I mate has just found his is down to the wires! It drives ok, does not appear to pull but does drift of to the left. This has happened to 3 different Vitos all lowered and set up, same problem, what is going on and can it be fixed? Any help please as we both need front tyres. I am running 255/35/20 and my mates running 245/45/19 tyres, ET 56 genuine Mercedes wheels on both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parthiban Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Welcome to WIM Definitely a question for Tony, but was the geometry adjusted after lowering? If not that is most certainly the cause! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenman63 Posted October 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Hi, yes after it was lowered because to remove the front struts you take the shock from the hub so camber adjustment is lost. What ever settings they dial in on 3 different vans all wreck the same tyre? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parthiban Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Again one for Tony - but if the vans are like the cars then it's not uncommon for Mercs to want to drift left (something to do with our roads). This needs to be compensated for which Tony/WIM are experts at. Best to let Tony get in here to give you more useful information 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Hello and welcome to wim There's no absolute law on the front camber settings but there are factors to consider. Historically on lowered cars/vans there needs to be around a degree disparity between the front and rear camber, the front being the lower value. Your OSF camber position seemingly is wearing fine so it's position suggests a base line. I assume the wear is on the inside is this the case? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenman63 Posted October 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Hi, Yes right on the edge / side wall, a good chanfer on the tyre, I have a picture, I will try and post it here, this is my mates through to the wires. And yes the off side is fine, rear great no problems there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenman63 Posted October 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenman63 Posted October 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Mine is not as bad but well on the way, both inside and both near side front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Well the wear patten is definitely camber..... Normally the actual settings are decided on the fly once we have an image of the chassis and then we conclude a handling balance by how adjustable the car/ van is. In your case the camber should be adjusted on the strut-to-hub pinch bolt/s..... Does your van have two lower pinch bolts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenman63 Posted October 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Yes it has fixed bottom ball joint and then the camber is two bolts on the strut to hub, one bolt moves the hub in and out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Yeah that's what i thought.... Well next step is to get a geometry image ( including the castor ) then as said based on the front/ rear 1 degree disparity and the base position of the OSF camber evolve the NSF camber position. The machine may well ask for certain body height details and or suggest adding ballast, tell the shop to ignore all that. In this event the acquired data may be in gray-shade because the information wasn't put in the machine, well this is where the shop needs to understand the numbers rather than the normal red/ green colours. Looking at the wear i suspect there's around a degree to much NSF camber which is well within the adjustment range. The only issue you will have is finding a confident centre for the work. Another point is the camber correction is done "wheels raised" meaning the machine must be able to calculate the suspensions droop but still display live positions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenman63 Posted October 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Sounds like a job for you Tony. All 3 Vitos need sorting out, mine has some random clunk that I need so sort, I have just done both bottom ball joints and just about the service the rack with new inner ball joints and track rod ends, as soon at thats done I will call and book it in. Thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Your more than welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenman63 Posted October 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Another point is the camber correction is done "wheels raised" meaning the machine must be able to calculate the suspensions droop but still display live positions. Just rememberd when it was done, its was on the ground over a pit so camber was set in position, I remember they used a hydraulic dozer to gently push the wheel out at the top and then gun the bolts checking all the time on a optical camber device as it moves as the bolts are done up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted October 10, 2014 Report Share Posted October 10, 2014 Problem is the jacking and then setting the camber at that point. An optical camber device cannot measure the suspension bump/ droop so there must be an error there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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