Toe and Camber settings

[Goops]

Thanks for the input guys,

I tried the car in the car park, left the steering centre and drove off slowly, the wheel turned left and naturally she started pulling left.

I will deffo ask the car tyre place to have another look and hope they can check for slack/worn bearings... gona be running it quite close as I have an MRI scan on my knee in the morning.... everythings wonky in my world at the moment!

Does anyone have rough costs associated with wishbones/brushes etc?

Thanks,
G

[richard s]

if you measure your front wheel arch (between the rear of your tyre and the arch) on both sides this will show if wheel has been knocked back because there was no reading for castor on the print out but usually on wheel alignment green is good

[Goops]

Hey peeps just an update,

Went back to tire place they checked it over again and sed the alignment was spot on.
The helpful chappy also checked the wishbones and sed everything was cool and not worn out..
He also checked for wheel bearings being worn etc and sed it was all steady....

guess this leaves the shocks??

Think I will get the shocks and alloys done together! (still sitting on the same original shocks for 15 years!) If anyone can recommend the best shocks/springs to keep the car at around 40mm drop that would be much appreciated!

On a side note my MRI scan results should be with me in a week, has anyone ever had ACL surgery done on their knee?! The results could mean no more football for me 

Thanks for all the help, much appreciated

[VeeDubGTI16v]

have you fiddled with it since then? looking at that data its not spot on! you dont want more camber at the back than the front that will make it feel odd!

[Ade244]

Hi.

I just had my mk2 16V done on a rig that gave the same print out as you had. They locked the S/wheel in the ahead position before they set it up.

My story..
I've only had the car for two weeks and it was pulling all over the road, despite 6 months left on the MOT I found a load of probs.

The first thing I found that made the biggest contribution was new shocks and top mounts, my top mounts were shot. I ran the car for a week and it still wasn't right. So on closer inspection I found some play in the bottom ball joints and track rod ends, also the drop link rods on the ARB were shot.

So in short I replaced the whole lot than had it aligned. Mines spot on now, the S/wheel is straight and no more strange pulling to one side.

Mine used to change direction on and off the throttle a sure sign there's wear somewhere.

[Dougie_91 8v GTi]

I was plagued by this situation a while ago, and still a current problem, although the solution I hope will be quite an easy remedy, change the tyres!

The car came with Indonesian cheapo's on when I got it, and according to one of the tyre place chaps they are quite old and not perfect, so when I get some money I will change them.  Had all the tracking sorted etc, balancing etc and they told me it was straight, my steering wheel is still at 12.15 not 12pm, but when the new tyres are fitted I'll get it all checked then.

Had lots of people look at it, including the Council's MOT people when it had the thorough MOT this month, which it sailed through, and even got complimented on, not bad for a daily run around!

Might actually have to spend some money on her and even get a service?

If I did have the money, I would do a total refurb, back to the original everything, but at the moment money dictates a little at a time, tyres next as there is no grip at all in the wet!

[mattneck(Beavis)]

had mine looked at today.. iirc it was the camber, but may have been toe, either way neither are adjustable at the rear are they..

the drivers side camber opr toe.. was COMPLETELY out of range.. well into the red.. my tyre sits 5mm closer to the arch that side to, but what i cant understand is if its the stub axle, or the actual beam thats bent, tried changing stub axle earlier, got through 3 bolts and the 4th was rounding at the head.. was a 12side socket tho, gotta try a 6 to be sure. 

i ope it doesnt mean a beams needed, after all it has had an accident that side which could mean somethings up.. merf

[Ade244]

I bent a beam on a MK1 once. It's not as hard to change (or bend) as you would think, plus theyre cheap. Only trouble I had was with rusty brake lines. I bent the stub axle also. To be honest if youve bent the stub the beam must be suspect....

I would get the new one and the backing plates powder coated before it went on. Would look ace.

Ade

[mattneck(Beavis)]

i know i wrote some of this before but to sum it up now.. cant work out if its a bent stub axle or a bent beam now due to the new one not accepting the bearing.. it gets as far as the thread and no further.. atm, the wheels sitting 5mm closer to the wheel arch on the driver side, and has camber in the red on the laser alignment machine.. every other measurement, including the actual arch lip, the distance from the edge of arch to the strut, the bracket istance sill to bracket.. all even each side, but just not the tyre wall and how close it is.. thats not the same.. and i cant get why. the beams pushed over to the one side as it should be.

the only discrepancy other than that is the arch spat.. theres a small gap between spat and arch, as if where it got scraped has actually pushed the arch in slightly, but then, the measurements all add up equally so 

so if the camber doesnt change with a new stub axle, its definately a bent beam does this mean? 
and would a bent beam really cause the wheel to be 5mm closer to the arch 

[Goops]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the feedback, scarily it is a comfort knowing that there are people out there with similar problems 

Right, I went back to the tire shop the guys were quite helpful and took the car back up the ramp for the laser treatment to check if everything was ok. The results are below:



Apparently these are sound readings and should not contribute to the "steer to the left."

Further to your comments I requested the chap to give a once over to the wishbones and these were ok, he also checked the wheel bearings and said everything was solid and there was no give etc...

Guess this leaves, tyres/shocks/brakes ??

I am running budget tyres for the moment and am looking to get new alloys......come februrary will get :
new alloys/tyres/shocks and springs!! Then get the wheel aligment done once again and hope and pray for some symmetry

Digging through the forum I have found that most recommend Boge Turbo Shocks with Eibach springs?? Is this the best setup?

Thanks for all the help,

G