Date:         Sun, 29 Mar 1998 19:09:57 -0800
Reply-To:     "Thomas D. Hanlon" <hanran.inc@INTERNETMCI.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Thomas D. Hanlon" <hanran.inc@INTERNETMCI.COM>
Organization: The Hanran Enterprises, Inc.
Subject:      What's this Camber and Caster?  And what' "Height" got to do with
              it (them)?
Comments: To: Vanagon <vanagon@vanagon.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Listees,

On Friday, after reading on the List for months about Yokohama LTY357
"D" tires, I bought four.  After comparison shopping The Tire Rack,
Discount Tire, and America's Tire, I shopped Sears.

Ol' Sears, with whom I have been dealing since the dawn, met the lowest
competitive price, (after checking with the aforementioned suppliers)
and  gave me an extra 10 per cent discount for using my Sears Card, and
because I am, finally, a person with a "Mature Outlook," Sears lopped
off another $10.00 in Sears' dollars from the price of the four tires.

Tire Rack had the best price, net, "off the rack," so to speak, but
after tax, shipping, the hassle of scouting around for the mounting,
balancing, valves, and no road hazard , I opted for the same-day
mounting by Sears.

Including an alignment, the Sears card was debited $320.86, US,
encompassing expenses of all of the above, including a pence or two for
State sales tax.

I kept the superb, but, incorrect, tires formerly mounted on the Westy
to transfer to my wife's 73 Mustang, so there was no disposal or
environmental fee involved.

Upon completion of the alignment on a Hunter machine (see hunter.com for
good insights), I was given a readout which reflected that:

Right Front camber was-0.61 Actual,  and -.060 Before, alignment.
Specified Range is listed as -0.50 to 0.50.   See note: "Asterisk Value
is not within specification. Tire wear, handling, or similar problems
may result."

Right Front Caster was 6.61 Actual, and  6.61 Before, alignment.
Specified Range is listed as 7.00 to 7.50. See note: "Asterisk Value is
not within specification. Tire wear, handling, or similar problems may
result."

The Alignment Technician said the problem is one of "height."  He drew a
schematic, but it is hieroglyphics to me.

Does anyone have any insights on what may be causing this camber/ caster
condition and what steps I can take to rectify it?  I've posed the same
question to Hunter via the WWW site. I'll post Hunter's reply for those
Listees interested.

Thanks,

Tom Hanlon
Pal Springs, CA