Wheel alignment specialists please help

[airwavepirate]

Hi guys, some help on understanding alignment would be appreciated. I bought a 2011 SR5 and all seamed fine until a few days after i bought it i noticed the front left wheel sits a lot further forward than the right wheel. I contacted the Toyota dealer i bought it from and they agreed to sort it.
It drove fine, no problem, and when i looked through the service history, there was an old alignment print out where all the measurements before and after adjustment was just wrong, something was not right.

The dealer did the first measuring and sent me a print out to show it was all messed up. They did the adjustments and sent me another print out to say all was good and the wheels sit in the arches fine. Except it wasn't, going by the print out, they had fixed the caster and toe, but the camber was now way off. I pointed this out, and they said they would have another play. I got sent a last print out, and all the figures was spot on. To good i thought.

I picked the ute up and drove home and immediately noticed a problem. Let go of the steering wheel and it snatched to the left, off centre. it would also pull left on a flat road and steer round long left highway bends without holding onto the wheel.
Not happy with the last set of figures they sent and not fully trusting them, i paid to have the alignment done elsewhere. The guy said he had no end of problems getting it 'right' and how it now sits is the best he can get it. But I'm back to square one. the left wheel is too far forward. not good when i want to fit bigger tyres.

Myself, the dealer or the last alignment guy can not see anything bent or anything that stands out. The alignment place has an SR and the wheels sit perfect in both arches with equal distance between tyre and body. Mine sit too far forward. The ute now drive's perfect, but at what cost?. Since all this, i have noticed a couple if things and have a few questions if anyone can help.

The thrust angle is sitting at -00.10' on all paperwork except the last one done at the alignment place. Thats at -0.08' (no idea how as he didn't touch the rear). I know thrust angle should be zero. Is whats recorded a lot? Would whats there affect it? Can it be adjusted to zero and how? Where can i fInd the correct specs? as looking at the latest figures, several of them are out compared to the target data of the last alignment. Its no good just lining up the ball in the green boxes for toe if everything else is now wrong.

Another thing i noticed is the rear leafs on both sides are wonky to one another, and the left hand top of the strut (where the nut does up and it pokes through the turret) is closer to the body than the other side. On the right i can fit two fingers between it and the body, on the left i can't. Yet i can't see anything bent. Is there anywhere i can take it that can check for things that are bent? like a bodyshop with some sort of chassis equipment maybe?

something just don't sit right and its bugging me. I have the stat warranty and want to get it fixed or my money back etc. But if I, a dealer and a wheel alignment place can't get to the bottom of it, what can i do?

Many Thanks

[dave g]

hi see if you can track down the old owner if it has been in a smash body panel cloud be out line.

[airwavepirate]

Old owner was Oztrail since new. No one really to contact and they probably wouldn't tell me or even know. No evidence of anything bent or repaired, although the vehicle has had some paintwork. I don't think anything major as no repairs to chassis or body/frame. all panels fit well, line up etc. is the rear axle fixed? or can it be adjusted on the leafs to alter that thrust angle? Another possibility is chassis diamond damage? but maybe I'm being dramatic for that. would have been a big hit surely.

[dave g]

get the tape out start measuring from side to side and look for any change thing wrong in the back can have big changes in front

[TOYZX]

I'd be getting it to a body shop that has quality chassis measuring equipment and get it measured. We do chassis repairs at work and when done correctly there isn't much chance of telling it's been repaired. We have a large chassis robot that we either clamp or weld to the chassis so we can twist and pull it back into shape. We've done plenty of vehicles where we didn't know the chassis was bent until we repaired all the visual damage and then sent it to the wheel aligners only to get it back and be told that they couldn't get it rite, then we have to look a little further. Sometimes it doesn't take much of a knock in the right place to move a chassis out of square! Get it checked or demand the dealership do it! You just shelled out good money for hopefully an unbent rig! Good luck. Cheers Luke.

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