Alignment Help

CallSign_Cobra · Feb 14, 2021

Hey guys. So I’m having a small issue with my 96’ Cobra and I’m hoping someone in here can point me in the right direction as to how to fix this.

So I got the car aligned yesterday. Everything lined up good on the machine. However visually you can see that the passenger side front tire seems to either have more negative camber or is inset more then the drivers side. Maybe about 1/2” to 3/4” difference. Like I mentioned above the machine says the car is spot on but the visual part really is annoying me. Anyone have this same issue or knows a fix for this or are these cars just like this?

Here’s some background on the car:

Has 15k original miles on it.

I did full coils from and back from BC Racing.

Front lower control arms and poly bushings from BMR.

Nothing else has been touched on my end other then wheels and tires.

ttocs · Feb 14, 2021

did you get a print out with all the numbers on it? What was the toe set at?

CallSign_Cobra · Feb 14, 2021

ttocs said:
did you get a print out with all the numbers on it? What was the toe set at?

I did not. Dude did it on the side for me. But he usually sets cars with a very slight toe out adjustment.

ttocs · Feb 14, 2021

well there are videos on youtube that show how you can use some jack stands and string to measure how far off it is and confirm it. Now me personally if I did pay for it(regular price or on the side to a friend) I have a certain expectation that I would drive it off and be happy with it and if that is not met then I might at least mention it to the dude that did it.

CallSign_Cobra · Feb 14, 2021

ttocs said:
well there are videos on youtube that show how you can use some jack stands and string to measure how far off it is and confirm it. Now me personally if I did pay for it(regular price or on the side to a friend) I have a certain expectation that I would drive it off and be happy with it and if that is not met then I might at least mention it to the dude that did it.

Yea I agree with ya on that for sure. I mean the car goes straight lol. I’m just not happy with how it looks visually because it looks off. I guess I’ll go measure everything out and see if maybe his machine may have been off. Thanks for the response bro.

lwarrior1016 · Feb 14, 2021

What front lower control arms did you get, I know you said BMR but what kind? Have you measured the wheel to the frame to see if one wheel is actually pulled in closer to the car? Last thing would be checking to see if the k member is square in the car.

CallSign_Cobra · Feb 14, 2021

lwarrior1016 said:
What front lower control arms did you get, I know you said BMR but what kind? Have you measured the wheel to the frame to see if one wheel is actually pulled in closer to the car? Last thing would be checking to see if the k member is square in the car.

Just the regular BMR tubular control arms without the oem spring mount in them. How would I see if the k member is square?

lwarrior1016 · Feb 14, 2021

Maximum Motorsports has a really good write up on how to square the k member. If you look on their website and click on the k member, you can look at the instructions and it’ll show you how to do it. I also think there are a couple YouTube videos showing how it’s done as well.

Adfalenski · Feb 15, 2021

If the camber adjustment is inboard on the strut tower and the adjustable control arms are adjusted inboard you can still get good numbers but have one wheel farther inboard than the other wheel.

CallSign_Cobra · Feb 15, 2021

Adfalenski said:
If the camber adjustment is inboard on the strut tower and the adjustable control arms are adjusted inboard you can still get good numbers but have one wheel farther inboard than the other wheel.

The control arms are non adjustable. Took it to another alignment shop who took time to look over the car. Turns out the passenger side fender sits out slightly further the drivers side giving it the illusion. You can tell by where the mounting bolts are. I think at one point the previous owner must have had the front end off. No signs of any accident repair tho. I’m just going to pull the drivers side fender out if I can do it’s even with the passenger side. Car is all lined up perfect so it is what it is. Thank you for the response.

Frank.JD.Perez · Feb 15, 2021

my money would be on the k too

white95 · Feb 15, 2021

These cars aren't know for the tightest build tolerances either.

CallSign_Cobra · Feb 19, 2021

white95 said:
These cars aren't know for the tightest build tolerances either.

Yea. After some extensive work I was able to determine that everything with the k member is all lined up as it should be. Turns out the passenger side fender is just out more so I’ll be pulling the drivers side with a fender roller to get it close to matching.not sure if this is a common thing with these sn95’s.

white95 · Feb 19, 2021

L_Santi7 said:
Yea. After some extensive work I was able to determine that everything with the k member is all lined up as it should be. Turns out the passenger side fender is just out more so I’ll be pulling the drivers side with a fender roller to get it close to matching.not sure if this is a common thing with these sn95’s.

I am not surprised a bit. It’ll be immaculate once you’re finished.