[striker99]

Hey guys,

I had my Jimny serviced a month ago and they told me the front left tyre was worn really badly and needed replacing (20,000km)... The car has been pulling to the left pretty bad, and they confirmed the alignment was out but couldn't fix it until i got new tyres....

I bought some new tyres from Bob Jane, they did a wheel alignment, and well it felt heaps better... but it is still pulling to the left a fair bit... any suggestions for anything I should check/suggestions for where to go to get a decent wheel alignment done in Brisbane?

Last time i tried asking pedders suspension and they were convinced the Jimny has a "castor correction issue" and it would be $600 to fix :/ even after I told them suspension is stock :/

The car isn't due for a service for another 8000km... don't want to leave it that long to get fixed :O

The Jimny no suspension mods or tyres... just awning/dual battery/draws


Thanks

-Matt.

[Gwagensteve]

There is nothing other than toe that can be adjusted on a Jimny without fitting aftermarket parts. There is no individual left and right adjustment.

The left hand front tyre always wears faster than the other tyres as it's always being turned to correct the camber of the road.
IMHO it's unlikely to be actually pulling left. Check which way the car is pulling on the outside lane of a multilane freeway or in a large carpark. I bet it won't still pull left.

Any reasonable tyre shop can carry out an alignment. Ask for the print out if you have doubts about the findings, but in effect, there should be little difference left/right, only production tolerances. If alignment (camber or caster) is significantly different left to right, something has been damaged/bent.

Have you driven many other live axle 4WD's? They will always need more steering correction than an IFS vehicle when road camber changes,

[striker99]

Yeah admittedly I don't get to do very much highway driving will have to try it soon... I have just noticed it only takes about 50-100m for it to drift almost an entire lane to the left on a fairly flat surface doing 60km/h... but who knows

The car only has 20,000km and the fronts were completely worn out with 3.5mm tread on right but only about 1mm or less on the left hence the concern...

I have driven a few live axle 4wds but probably not for long enough to actually notice the need for more steering correction... come to think of it all the other cars i drive are IFS haha...



Also, when i got the tyres change Bob Jane suggest running jimny tyres at 36 psi front and back... I had been running 30 in the back and about 25 in front... (door card says 22 front, 26/29 back if under load) I would guess this added to tyre wear a fair bit but its what the card said :/

[Jezza86]

the jimny steering wheel has most of its weight on the bottom. this can cause the car to drift if the drag link isn't adjusted properly

[striker99]

Jezza86 wrote:

the jimny steering wheel has most of its weight on the bottom. this can cause the car to drift if the drag link isn't adjusted properly

I forgot to mention this.... the steering wheel does seem to be very slightly off to the left when you let go of it when driving... any idea how this can be adjusted?

[Jezza86]

adjust the drag link until the steering wheel is pointing straight when the wheels are pointing straight. keeping in mind the field service manual states there should be 10-30 mm of play at the top of the steering wheel.

[striker99]

Thanks I will have a check tomorrow and see if this could be the issue

[zukenutter]

Is it still under warranty. Worn out tyres at 20,000 kms is not good. Something is wrong. Are you the first (original) owner?

[Gwagensteve]

Depends a bit on use ZN. I do lots of mountain road cornering and I reckon I'd only get 20k out of stock jimny tyres, un rotated.

Used to get 16k out of the fronts on our mini.

[zukenutter]

Yeah you're right, and thinking about it, Mrs ZN went through the factory tyres in about 40,000 with rotating.

[zukenutter]

She got 40,000 out of the first set on the mini with rotating.

[Mike57]

Suggest you get the alignment done and get a before and after print out and post them up. Then we can see what is going on. Make sure that who-ever does it has a printer attached that works. I have been caught out with this several times.

I have done 30,000km now on my mud terrains and they are about 30% worn. Car has done 35,000 km now in total.

[pete_79]

You're not saying your Jimny has only done 35,000ks are you Mike?

And Zukenutter are you sure 'she' hasn't been taking the mini up a nearby mountain road to stretch it's legs and maybe hug some corners at high speed that might have shortened the tyre life?

[zukenutter]

Mrs ZN is hard on tyres. I hardly ever drive the mini. My MTs must have about 40,000 on them and probably have about the same left in them.

[Mike57]

Yes Pete. I think it is actually 36,000 or so after the trip this weekend. 2009 model that is driven on club trips maybe once a month if that and the odd outback adventure. The great central road trip was 10,000 km of that and the Oodnadatta trip before that was probably 6,000 km or so. The rest is short Vic high country trips. It is not my daily drive of course.

[pete_79]

Thanks Mike, I read (and enjoyed) your trip reports that you posted in here. They where pretty decent trips and I would have expected that you would have a lot more Ks on the Jimny for the age of it.

Our Jimny is the misses daily and it's a round trip of 5km a day for her. With a bit of other running around with the kids and shopping I recon she does 40-50km/week max.
Considering the closest camp site we go to is over 150km away, most of our Ks are exploring off road or going camping. Our Jimny is 2.5 years old and just ticked over 30,000kms.

[zukenutter]

My Jim is starting to seem old

[striker99]

Hey guys,

I should point out that the 20,000km was without tyre rotation, the Suzuki dealer was trying to tell me it was from running low tyre pressures (despite them being higher than what the car plate recommends...)

I managed to find the report I was given, however I was unsure what the tolerances should be within for each side... I did note the king pin angle and caster as being slightly different?

[Gwagensteve]

Hmm interesting. There's nothing at all concerning about the front. However, that toe figure for the left hand rear is interesting. Toe out on the LHR would cause the car to pull left and exaggerate RHF tyre wear.

Does anyone else have a print out of a jimny alignment- I wonder if that's in spec- seems a big variation for a rear live axle to me.

Steve.

[zukenutter]

How would caster and camber readings change between "previous" and "final"? Is that just a setup issue?

[Gwagensteve]

I think that's in the realm of tolerance ZN.

Total toe is fine on the rear axle, it's just the way that the axle is crabbed to the left that's a concern.

Striker, does the car sit level at ride height or low on one side? If the car is low on the right rear I could imagine the specs looking like this.

Steve.

[Jezza86]

are you thinking jimny lean steve

[zukenutter]

Any accidents in this Jimny?

[Gwagensteve]

Jezza86 wrote:

are you thinking jimny lean steve

Yep.

[striker99]

Gwagensteve wrote:

Hmm interesting. There's nothing at all concerning about the front. However, that toe figure for the left hand rear is interesting. Toe out on the LHR would cause the car to pull left and exaggerate RHF tyre wear.

Does anyone else have a print out of a jimny alignment- I wonder if that's in spec- seems a big variation for a rear live axle to me.

Steve.

Yeah i also wondered about the rear... I might contact suzuki and see what they say about it...
My rough measurements it seems the back left is about 0.5cm lower than the right side... Fronts seem to about the same on each side.

I think the report on left to right is back to front because the front left tyre needed replacing as opposed to the front right...

(No accidents) first owner only 12 months old :p

[Gwagensteve]

No, I'll reiterate. The front left will always wear first. Right and left front wheels always find the balance of toe between them, if the car is pulling left you're correcting it by steering right which wears the LHF tyre more.