front wheel heights uneven

maxgreenwood · Post by **maxgreenwood** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:42 am

i went to our local tyre place to get my front wheels balanced - they also put the spare on which is a continental to replace one of the 'arrowspeed' front tyres which had developed a slow puncture.

now the height of the front wheels relative to the body is not the same by about 1 or maybe 2 cms!

i asked him to do the front wheel alignment also which he couldn't as he said he couldn't get the locknut undone to adjust.

Has he bent the rollbar??!!

and does anyone know what the deal is with this - can i adjust the droplinks to alter the respective wheel heights?

what a bother!

jonathan_dyane · Post by **jonathan_dyane** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:52 am

At the risk of condecension, are both tyres definately the same size?

Way2go · Post by **Way2go** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 3:53 pm

Did you see what he used as the jacking points? If he's jacked on vulnerable points then you need more than adjustment & probably compensation for negligence!

May be just as simple as he's fitted the wrong tyres though.

maxgreenwood · Post by **maxgreenwood** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 6:26 pm

well yes, er one tyre seems to be bigger..

the old spare has tyre width of 11cm roughly which has now replaced the front drivers side and the other three are about 10cm. And its about a 1cm or slightly more difference in distances between left and right wheels and wheel archs on the front, so you have every right to condecend!

However, i guess i need to get some new tyres. Do they need to be the same front and back / ie i could just change the fronts?

Are there any bad side effects of running on different sized tyres for now? i suppose power through the differntial will be uneven?

Did the sucking up LHM trick into the strut return pipes today to lube them up, trying to be as clean as possible. Seems to give good results 1st impression. Couldn't figure out initially how to support a jar of LHM while i went into the cabin to change height lever, but i improvised something quite nifty by cutting a hole in the edge of a jam jar lid just big enough for the two return pipes, it kind of gripped them and when i'd screwed the lid back on i could rest the jar on the handbrake cable while the suspension raised and fell.
Got murky on the 1st 1-4 strokes, then i replaced with fresh stuff.

i might do a little write up with pics

jonathan_dyane · Post by **jonathan_dyane** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:17 pm

We-ell, what do you mean by the same, make or size? Theoretically it would not matter if each tyre was a different make, however it would tend to make handling 'interesting'; you really want at least the same make and size on each end ideally (by which I mean different makes front/back is OK).

Having different sized tyres on the same axle will tend to cause odd handling, and also is contrary to construction and use legislation. You may have different tyres on each end, but my preference would be to have the same size on each corner.

Of course, for virtually all 'cooking' models, 165/70 r14 was the original size, but many recommend the more easily available GTI-spec 185/60 r14's as being cheaper and grippier (although due to their extra width grip may be worse in the wet, and other adverse conditions).

If you just want to change just the front tyres, be sure to give the sidewalls of the rear tyres a good examination for cracks; the rear tyres have a very low rate of wear and frequently the sidewalls fail before the tread has worn out (often in a fairly spectacular manner). I therefore consider it good policy to, when buying a pair of tyres, place the new tyres on the rear, and move the rears to the front, which ensures they get worn out before they die...

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:17 pm

Most tyres have the size marked on the sidewalls - probably a legal requirement. What are the sizes claimed for your tyres?

maxgreenwood · Post by **maxgreenwood** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 9:21 am

according the the sidewalls they're all 165/70r . When i have a minute i'll spend a while longer trying to figure it out.

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:45 pm

I'd recommend getting a matching set of 4 tyres, or if budget is limted make sure that you have a matching axle set all of the same tyre size. Another tip is to make sure that you put the brand new tyres on the rear rather than the front, otherwise you might get oversteer (harder to sort out, unless your used to this) rather than much safer understeer.

185/60's is the way to go if you're changing all 4, decent tyres need not cost a fortune, i got 4 for £120 & the larger size in the wet makes a massive difference, they wont be quite as good in the snow though, but how often do we get that (i've got winter tyres anyway)???

Best of luck, let us know what you decide....

Way2go · Post by **Way2go** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:55 pm

maxgreenwood wrote:according the the sidewalls they're all 165/70r . When i have a minute i'll spend a while longer trying to figure it out.

I presume that your tyre pressures are not wildly different between the fitters tyre and your existing fits?

Measure the distance from the ground to wheel centre and see if this is equal. If it is then you need to examine where he jacked underneath and if there is any resultant distortion next before anything else.

M · Post by M » Fri Nov 14, 2008 7:08 pm

Not wishing to state the bloody stupid here, but is there a chance you have a 13" rim as a spare? (and all the rest are 14"?).