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Model specific boards => Golf mk3 => Topic started by: no1nutter on 18 November 2008, 17:55

Title: camber adjustment?
Post by: no1nutter on 18 November 2008, 17:55
is it possible to adjust the camber on mk3 gti?
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: boneybradley on 18 November 2008, 17:57
front camber yes... most good trye places can sort it for around £60-80
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: no1nutter on 18 November 2008, 18:01
how do they do this? i was under the impression that it was pre determined and only a bit of butchery such as elomngating holes was the only way?
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: Horney on 18 November 2008, 18:08
There is a degree (get it!) of play in the front hub set up. If you want to go mad then yes you need to start effing about.

nick
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: Chris-White on 18 November 2008, 18:19
i was under the impression vw can supply slightly thinner lower strut bolts to give a couple more degrees of adjustment?  :undecided:
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: AudiA8Quattro on 18 November 2008, 18:39
Mk3's are unjusted strut to hub. You shouldn't need thinner bolts, unless you want to go extreme.
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: don_231 on 18 November 2008, 19:52
if you want loads of adjustment get hold of a set of passat struts and swap your springs over. they have rediculious amounts of adjustment as i found out at the weekend when i did said thing

just make sure you swap your springs over unless your after the 4x4 look
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: spunkymonkey on 18 November 2008, 20:07
You can get a fair amount of adjustment on the front as they are. More than you will need usually.
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: jamie16v on 18 November 2008, 20:41
sorry to hi-jack, but is there a DIY method of adjusting the camber correctly?.  as in getting the right anlges, if so,  how?.
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: no1nutter on 18 November 2008, 21:30
ok, so what would have affected my camber in the 1st place, aftermarket shocks/wheels?
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: LazyLunatic on 18 November 2008, 22:59
undo the two bolts a bit,  that hold the suspension to the hub and pull/push the disc, to get the camber you want,. i pushed mine all the way in, looks good and improved my handling a bit. but its not too extreme.

LL ;)
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: Wayne on 18 November 2008, 23:38
Words of caution coming next.

Running excessive camber looks good but means you will knacker your tyres in double quick time

I am running mine at standard settings, even lowered you should not need to go to far outside these settings.
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: LazyLunatic on 19 November 2008, 00:18
Words of caution coming next.

Running excessive camber looks good but means you will knacker your tyres in double quick time

I am running mine at standard settings, even lowered you should not need to go to far outside these settings.


the only place that can set camber using lasers and computers near me charges £80, which is more than i paid for my tyres, and the wear aint too bad, cause it doesnt let you put on an extreme degree of camber. Also to get even camber either, i needed to push it all the way, cause its hard to make them both exactly dead centre.

thanks for the warning though m8, but all is good.

LL ;)
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: Drewcole on 19 November 2008, 10:05

My front wheels are running negitive camber i think (the top of the wheel sticks out more than the bottom?), it was like it when I picked it up and has killed the tyres!
It had new ball joints on, could this have effected the camber of the wheels if it wasn't done correctly?

I may try and adjust them myself untill I can get it sorted, what 2 bolts are they that need to be undone to do this?
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: Wayne on 19 November 2008, 10:13

My front wheels are running negitive camber i think (the top of the wheel sticks out more than the bottom?), it was like it when I picked it up and has killed the tyres!
It had new ball joints on, could this have effected the camber of the wheels if it wasn't done correctly?

I may try and adjust them myself untill I can get it sorted, what 2 bolts are they that need to be undone to do this?

Easy, remove the front wheel and you will see two bolts holding the shock to the hub upright, loosen off and push the hub in try and set them the same if poss.
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: Drewcole on 19 November 2008, 10:26

My front wheels are running negitive camber i think (the top of the wheel sticks out more than the bottom?), it was like it when I picked it up and has killed the tyres!
It had new ball joints on, could this have effected the camber of the wheels if it wasn't done correctly?

I may try and adjust them myself untill I can get it sorted, what 2 bolts are they that need to be undone to do this?

Easy, remove the front wheel and you will see two bolts holding the shock to the hub upright, loosen off and push the hub in try and set them the same if poss.

Sweet I'll give that a go at the weekend, wanted to get that sorted before I put new tyres on... which cost loads for 16" wheels!!!!!!
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: Paul86S2 on 19 November 2008, 11:18

My front wheels are running negitive camber i think (the top of the wheel sticks out more than the bottom?), it was like it when I picked it up and has killed the tyres!
It had new ball joints on, could this have effected the camber of the wheels if it wasn't done correctly?


That will be positive camber.

Standard Mk3 Golf front camber should be between -0.20 and -1.00 degree.

Running the wrong camber will wear your tyres down pretty quickly usually on the inside or outside edge. Any changes to your suspension or steering rack will have an effect on your steering geometry. So you should get it checked and reset shortly after making any changes.

Setting your camber to maximum both sides will not guarantee that both sides are set to the same camber. You can buy camber gauges for anything from £30 upwards, or look for a local branch of Protyre if they have them in your area, they set my camber for £7 a side plus vat.

Paul
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: Drewcole on 19 November 2008, 12:22

I'm going to get it all sorted out soon, probably going to change the wheels and new tryes so will have it done at the same time. For the time being though I should give it a go as the tryes can't take much more I don't think!
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: Rmachines on 19 November 2008, 12:49
A lot of people dont realise as soon as you touch the strut pinch bolts the camber will be out, you can usualy match it back up again by looking at the marks the nuts have made but if some one has fitted new shocks then it will be out slightly,  and running possitive camber or negitive for that matter does eat the tires big time.  just doesnt look so good, remeber you need to have your tracking done if you touch the camber as well  :smiley:
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: don_231 on 19 November 2008, 13:19
ok, so what would have affected my camber in the 1st place, aftermarket shocks/wheels?

lowering in any way. removing shocks annd if its had a good smack on one of the wheels to name a few others
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: Ads on 19 November 2008, 19:26
If you have had the shocks off you camber will be affected.Your meant to mark the bolts & Hub before removing them, otherwise when come to do the bolts up again you will set a different camber angle.
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: Ess_Three on 19 November 2008, 23:43

Standard Mk3 Golf front camber should be between -0.20 and -1.00 degree.

Running the wrong camber will wear your tyres down pretty quickly usually on the inside or outside edge. Any changes to your suspension or steering rack will have an effect on your steering geometry. So you should get it checked and reset shortly after making any changes.

In actual fact, although lots of negative camber will eventually wear the inside edges, incorrect toe settings will kill tyres far more quickly.
Most cars are fairly tolerant of camber - especially with radial tyres.
The problem is that if the camber is out, most likely so is the toe.

Also, Golfs understeer...so you end up scrubbing the outside edges if you drive hard. I run -1.85 degrees negative per side and 2 minutes toe out per side (4 total) which would be considered a fairly extreme set up for road use...and I have fairly even tyre wear.
Slight inner edge wear over the outers...but when I was running parallel toe, it was perfectly even.

In my experience up to -2.0 degrees with parallel toe isn't too hard on tyres.
Title: Re: camber adjustment?
Post by: lawson_gti on 21 November 2008, 18:27
sweet!! i no now y 1of my wheels has a massive positive camber and the other a negative. wow guna sort that soon as even tho my golf is lowered 60mm all round a front pair of tires(this is with out wheel spinning, slidding tires on bends and just takin it easy) last me tops of 5-7thousand miles.  plus i have 1 tire on there from 2months ago brand new from mot an has 2.3mm lef and done 3k lol

so any ideas y this is then??