I need help with Wheel Alignment

[Tigger]

I am very fussy with wheel alignments...always have been with all of my cars.
I like the car to run dead straight on a straight bit of flat road, with the steering wheel dead centered...

Mine is currently running strange. If I hold the wheel straight and perfectly centered, the car will go off to the left, but if I let the wheel go, it will drop down to the right slightly, but the car will still go to the left!

It feels like it is 'crabbing'...know what I mean??

So I went to two different places today (at over $65 each) to get it rechecked and redone.

Both did a bit of fiddling, but the same still occurs.

I even had the wheel all rebalanced, and rotated to try and work out the issues.

At speeds lower than 70 kms it seems perfect, but over that speed on flat freeways the above reoccurs!

I am now getting frustrated!

I am happy to pay good money to get it done right!!! Any suggestions for GOOD places?
Any ideas??

Thanks guys!

[boogz]

I need help with Wheel Alignment

A friend of mine once told me you'll never get it dead straight, simply because the car is not perfectly symmetrical. The gearbox hangs to the left so that might be why it slightly goes that way. Another explanation is there is no such thing as a flat piece of road, otherwise when it rains there would be water everywhere. The roads (more obvious on freeways/highways) taper off to the left from the centre line for the water to head to the drain.

It may hold straight for a while at a low speed, but physics then starts to take over when climbing up (in speed)

When you start mucking around with camber and adjustment you could probably get that straight run.

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[Antiplastix]

Of course its going to go to the left, the camber of the road goes that way. On a dual divided road does it go to the right from the right hand lane?

[gldgti]

Its pretty common for the A5 platform cars to crab, as the rear wheel geometry is totally adjustable you can have toe out on one side and toe in on the other.

Take it to a Pedders, they do proper 4 wheel alignments and will likely find the problem. Also search this forum, I posted up some data about alignment of the octavia a while ago.

Most tyre places only do front wheel alignment.

Another thing is (particularly after tracking your car) you might have damaged the front end wishbone bushings, and your front alignment might be changing a bit.
If you plan to track your car or you are fussy about your alignment a front end bushing kit or even better the superpro alloy wishbone and bushing kit would be a good idea.

I've got the superpro kit on my car and it drives REALLY nice

[Tigger]

good suggestions .
thanks guys...

[Martin]

I've got the superloy control arms - they give more caster - the car drives dead straight for ages

While you do need to pick the road you use to do the "straight ahead test" a good wheel alignment should get it sorted

[Tigger]

Yep, I know that road angles will affect the way it drives...

I am not talking about that. I have driven the same straight sections of road in literally dozens of cars, so I know when my car is not running true...

I just cant seem to get a place that just doesnt do a "near enough is close enough" job.

[k_rider]

It feels like it is 'crabbing'...know what I mean??

Reminds me of a table top ute I saw on the M7 a while back. Coming up behind it, I couldn't work out what was odd about it, but as I got closer, I could plainly see that it really was crabbing, almost to the extent where the front end was on the left/right lane line and the back end on the breakdown lane. There were no obvious signs of damage and all the tyres were inflated. As I passed the driver, I could see he was fighting the thing all the way! Needless to say, I moved past him in pretty smart fashion!

I had a four wheel alignment done along with my 15k service at Trivett Blacktown - they didn't actually do the job themselves and didn't say who did (and I didn't think to ask at the time ), but I was very happy with the result. Car tracks well and the steering wheel is dead on (I've returned many a car in past to have an off-centre steering wheel reset after a wheel alignment).

[BottomScratcher]

I'm fussy about alignments as well. I took my car to Spinning Wheels at Alexandria, Waterloo, Rosebery, or whatever one of those suburbs that you can throw a picnic blanket over that they're in. The tech was very generous with his time, and advice. I've been more than happy with the results. Some discussion here, Precision 4 wheel alignment for Octy RS.

[candy_wagon]

Reminds me of a table top ute I saw on the M7 a while back. Coming up behind it, I couldn't work out what was odd about it, but as I got closer, I could plainly see that it really was crabbing, almost to the extent where the front end was on the left/right lane line and the back end on the breakdown lane. There were no obvious signs of damage and all the tyres were inflated. As I passed the driver, I could see he was fighting the thing all the way! Needless to say, I moved past him in pretty smart fashion!.

I would have thought the Ute was a repaired wreck as opposed to just an alignment issue. You know when you're driving behind a crapper (usually an ex Taxi) and you can see that the back of the car has clearly shifted to the left and it hasn't jigged back properly? Saw a beige Camry recently that looked a good 150mm out of whack and the back was constantly moving about on the freeway. Wheel alignment was the least of its problems!

[brad]

+1 for Spinning Wheels at Alexandria/Waterloo/Whatever. Beautiful equipment. The guy does heaps of VWs & even knows about moving the front crossmember to get the correct LR camber differentiation to counteract road camber. I couldn't have done a better job myself than what he did on my Octy.

It will cost you about $130ish IIRC.

2nd choice would be the old bugger at Heasemans. His equipment isn't as sophisticated but he makes up for it with 50 years of experience.

You should have txt'd me before spending your hard earned.

posts 2 & 3 - sorry, I can't agree.

Keep in mind that the VW steering setup is very smart. It will actually sense when you are consistently fighting the camber of the road or a crosswind & apply gentle pressure in that direction so that the driver doesn't have to.

[Antiplastix]

Nearly daily I drive up Bulli Pass. I merge into the right lane (cambered to the right) the car wants to drift right. I get into the middle lane the car runs true. If I pull into the slow/left lane the car pulls to the left. Its just physics at work.

[Tigger]

+1 for Spinning Wheels at Alexandria/Waterloo/Whatever. Beautiful equipment. The guy does heaps of VWs & even knows about moving the front crossmember to get the correct LR camber differentiation to counteract road camber. I couldn't have done a better job myself than what he did on my Octy.

It will cost you about $130ish IIRC.

2nd choice would be the old bugger at Heasemans. His equipment isn't as sophisticated but he makes up for it with 50 years of experience.

You should have txt'd me before spending your hard earned.

posts 2 & 3 - sorry, I can't agree.

Keep in mind that the VW steering setup is very smart. It will actually sense when you are consistently fighting the camber of the road or a crosswind & apply gentle pressure in that direction so that the driver doesn't have to.

Thanks Brad!
That is exactly the kind of proffesional I am after! Someone who takes the time to get it just right.
I appreciate your assistance.
Cheers

[Martin]

Keep in mind that the VW steering setup is very smart. It will actually sense when you are consistently fighting the camber of the road or a crosswind & apply gentle pressure in that direction so that the driver doesn't have to.

That is very smart indeed, I'm impressed