R Reg Golf GTI - Misalignment Problem

[leeverdon]

Hi all,

I was delivered some bad news by my mechanic yesterday. The diagnosis is that there is slight damage where the suspension is out of alignment. It appears that the near side strut and hub chassy is distorted causing severe camber misalignment. Tracking is also out of alignment and there is a tap on the curb. Unfortunately there is no certain quick solution as fixing one thing may not resolve anything, a process of elimination situation really.

I love this car and I've had her for 8 years so am reluctant to get rid of her. If anyone has any ideas on how to best fix this problem please give me a shout.

Much appreciated!

Lee

[thai-wronghorse]

What exactly is bent, components or chassis? If its the chassis then its fooked without a proper bodyshop jig set up and will be costly.

[leeverdon]

That's exactly it, the mechanic is not sure what will fix the misalignment. It's difficult for him to see what is causing the issue but it could be a number of things.

[tweed]

First thing I would do is measure the rear beam. Measure from centre to left arm and centre to right arm etc. If that's ok then it's likely  to be a stub!

Hold up... Front or back?

[leeverdon]

Front.

[tweed]

Then my bet is a bent lower arm!

[stainesy]

how would the chassis be bent if you have not been in a big smash did you say you tapped the kurb? doubt very much you have bent your chassis mate

[dragongreengolfgti]

what tweed has said or you have infact moved the strut where it mounts to the hub assembly if you hit it hard 

[leeverdon]

I'm thinking this was caused by a minor collision that happened during the snow a few month back. I was driving down a slight gradient in the road and the car started to slide forward. I had no control and was heading straight for the road edge. I decided to pull my steering wheel left to avoid my tyres bursting and hit the curb with my allow wheel at an angle. This could be a possible cause for the misalignment.

The problem is that if I fix a potential part it may not correct the misalignment. I could end up spending a lot of money to fix these 'trial and error' scenarios. I was hoping someone experienced a similar situation (without injury of course) and knew what to fix.

[Dogbot]

My money is on the wishbone......