Rover Sports Register Forum

Rob,

With regard to measurements, my earlier advice was in relation to the original concern that the near side inner wing was closer to the tyre than the offside was. As such you need to be checking that the axle is equidistant from chassis to hubs and that the body is also equidistant from the chassis to key points like inner wheel arches. Then you will know if the problem is, say, movement in the springs or perhaps a shift of the body on its mountings.

Unless your car has been restored at some point it is probable you will find wear in spring bushes and wheel bearings, as previously discussed. However, if this is not excessive, you may risk diverting your attention from the real problem and end up undertaking a lot of costly remedial work that results in your car being laid up unnecessarily for a lengthy period.

Just a thought. There are too many lovely old cars that have ended up off the road and I know from personal experience that even the most interesting of Rovers struggle to find a home once they are in that situation.

Tony.

Thanks Tony
I appreciate your advice but my measuring the heights was to establish whether the nearside spring was maybe weaker than to offside ie sagging and the figures certainly suggest that. However I am loathe to replace springs etc if that is not the problem. I want to check the shock absorbers too but that is another issue as I cant identify them as Armstrong or Girling at present.
I shall finish tightening up the bushes at the rear of the springs whilst I am there but the horizontal movement is only 1 or 2 mm at each bush so probably not significant.
The curious thing is that the rub mark is only forward of the vertical from the axle and round about 45 degrees of rub. I would have thought that were it being caused by play in the bearing or weak springs the rub would be symmetrical either side of the axle position?
Anyway unless I find anything else I shall probably put some dirt over the rub mark, replace the wheels and see whether it happens again and if so in what circumstmaces.
Rob

You can check freedom of the bearing by jacking up the wheel, holding it with both hand and rocking it. The rear axle oil seals would not survive a worn bearing so that if the bearing is damaged you will see a serious oil leak from the rear axle. Is the wheel straight? may be it is wobbling?