Alignment problem.

[ak-]

I did my tie rod and mounted/balanced 2 new front tires today and went for an alignment.
They got the toe and caster dead center, but when the guy took it for a drive it was still out of alignment (slides left).

He then told me it was because of my springs that the car is too low and he can't adjust the caster correctly.. He got the toe right, but not the caster :sad:
He didn't charge me anything and was nice about it, but has anyone ever heard of this problem? I'm going to try another shop another day.

tl;dr: Can't get correct alignment because car is too low, different springs, wtfack? __________________

[FredK]

Yeah, just set toe and call it a day. That's all you can really adjust on an E30.

[rThor432]

Lowering the car doesnt really effect caster.. and caster will not cause a pull unless there is a HUGE difference side to side (ie. bent strut, heavy collision damage to frame, or something else extreme). Different side-to-side tire pressures can cause a pull, check that. Also, what were the camber specs? Lowering the car will affect the camber in a big way. A difference in contact patches on the right and left side can cause the pull.

[FredK]

Whoops! I didn't see that ak- was still experiencing a pull.

What does the contact patch look like out back? Is the wear out back even?

[hoseklamp]

M3 offset CAB's should help with caster

[ak-]

Lowering the car doesnt really effect caster.. and caster will not cause a pull unless there is a HUGE difference side to side (ie. bent strut, heavy collision damage to frame, or something else extreme). Different side-to-side tire pressures can cause a pull, check that. Also, what were the camber specs? Lowering the car will affect the camber in a big way. A difference in contact patches on the right and left side can cause the pull.

Tire pressure is set to 40psi on both fronts.
There is nothing abnormal from what I can see or the guy. I know that I need to change the furthest out ball joint on the right control arm but the play is very very very minimal. Camber specs up front was -1.2 from what I remember on the computer; I didn't really stare at it long.
Can you explain the patcth thing? I don't really understand that, thank you though!

Whoops! I didn't see that ak- was still experiencing a pull.

What does the contact patch look like out back? Is the wear out back even?

The rear tires were mismatched till I needed new ones for sure but one was excessively more worn than the other (negative camber wise; inside).
So I change it with another tire with more meat.

Thanks for the response guys

[hoseklamp]

Can you explain the patcth thing? I don't really understand that, thank you though!

The larger the contact patch, the more grip. The more grip, the more drag on the road. If there is uneven drag left to right, it will have a tendency to pull the car toward the direction of more drag. It's similar to having uneven tire pressures, the lower pressure tire will have more drag and pull the car that direction.