Re: alignment question

[PGAHOWELLS <PGAHOWELLS@domain.elided>]

Tim
Here is my suggestion.
Drive the car. How does it steer. It must not be windy, and the road dead
flat. Normal camber will pull the car slightly into the ditch. 
If it steers very much into the ditch it might be your rear wheel alignment.
Also if it takes you across the centre of the road.(It might also be wrong
front toe in, stiff suspension bearings-topmounts, or uneven springs) 
It is supposed to toe in a very tiny amount according to the workshop manual.
If it is out you get scrubbed off tread. Run a leather gloved hand around the
tread both ways. Do you find the glove catches as you run it back over the
top. Feather edge wear from misaligned tyres?
This all of course that assumes standard parts.

With steel wheels, what I did is to set the front wheels straight ahead, as
accurately as possible.
Take off nave plates.
Tie a piece of dental floss all around all the tyres, below the centres, to
miss the wings etc
The dental floss is very fine and strong. It will touch the tyres rear wall
face, but should be clear of the forward wall by a fractional amount. (1 mill)
At the front it will touch the rearmost walls of both tyres, because of the
toe in there.
Bear in mind depending on the year, and mods, the front track is fractionally
narrower than the rear, so doing the above may get a touch on the foremost
wall faces. I don't think it matters as long as its the same on both sides and
you find the clearance as above at the rear.
If it is wrong, i.e.the floss touches the formost wall of the rear tyre, then
its toeing out. If the gap between the floss and the tyre is very large, then
straighten the wheel up using spacers whrere the radius arm attaches to the
subframe. This is a really easy job if you follow the manual. I did it after
dark in a standard garage using trolley jack, axle stands and a couple of
spanners, plus a large screwdriver to lever the radius arm away from the
subframe when loosened.

Hope that was of some use.
Peter Howells
71 Damson Tan
LD669BW Original V8