4motion wheel alignment and camber woes.

[kapowww]

Had a wheel alignment done on the weekend, and the guy didn't know how to do the rears so only did the front. He says he couldn't see some washers that need to be adjusted so couldn't do it. Now I'm pretty sure others have gotten the rears aligned but I didn't wanna force him to try if he didn't know what he was doing.. So it can be done, yes? Doesn't even seem to be an issue when I search.

Another thing is my camber is all over the shop. One of my front wheels has slight positive camber and the other has negative. Both rears have excessive rear camber which I've accepted but I think may also be uneven.

Must I buy adjustable parts to change the camber in the front? For the rear I do right? I read somewhere that there's a slight camber adjustment in the front but it barely does anything..

Attached is the report I got from the tyre shop for my "Valwagon Borda".

[thepowercosmic]

Yes, the rear of your 4 motion Golf can be adjusted and aligned. I've had mine done many many times.

With a lowered car, the adjustment that is available is not going to be enough to correct it.

My car is lowered and I personally have not bought any adjustment control arms front or rear, I don't think that I need it. Just accept the fact that if you lower your car, you're going to have slight alignment issues.

One possibility to your camber being all over the shop could be you have worn bushes and tie rod ends...

[dylan8]

front shouldn't have too much camber issues... iv had mine aligned and checked at various heights, they make a few adjustments and its fine. mines all stock gear too.
no idea about the rear. i have seen the 4motion rear suspension look like its callapsed when lowered too far, i honestly thought Alex's 4mo was broken when i saw it at nationals until he explained it too me

[kapowww]

Yeah I'm not willing to buy any adjustable control arms at this stage - or ever. I need my crazy negative camber in the rear for my current wheels to fit until a cop pulls me over and canaries me, then I'll change them.

***Maybe a silly question, but should I bother aligning the rear?***

My mate got scared coz he thought my wheels were gonna fall off on the freeway.

I just don't want positive camber on one wheel and negative on the other at the front- it annoys me even though I think it's minimal.

[grtuned]

If you have removed your subframe in the past this is what could be causing both differences at the front wheels.
There's not heaps of movement in the subframe but if the subframe is over to far to either side one wheel will have positive camber and the other negative!!! If this is the case need to start from the start realign subframe during another W/A


Sent from my iPhone using my fingers.

[Umai Naa!!]

Find a wheel aligner that firstly, knows how to spell, and secondly, knows how to use the equipment.

Typically, there will be less negative camber (Close to neutral) on the right front wheel compared to the left. This is for two reasons. 1, to compensate for the camber in the road, and 2, prevent the car from wandering into oncoming traffic should you fall asleep at the wheel. Having said that, if your car is lowered somewhat, there is know way you'd have positive camber on the front or rear. That is the nature of the design.

The rear has a fair amount of negative camber built into it from the start. In your case, there is some adjustment, being a 4-Motion.

Replacing the rear bushes in the front lower control arms might be a good start to getting an ideal wheel alignment. By now, they'll be cracked, or broken altogether.

[vwsport]

courtesy vwvortex check post 27:

I had a simlair issue you can adjust without using the subframe

VWVortex.com - R32 Alignment Specs Camber Caster Toe

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/cchen1/suspension/frontcamber.jpg

[kapowww]

Ooh sweet I'll get the front all nice and proper at least. Any places in Melbourne anyone can recommend? The only place I can think of is Pedders, but in my mind they're the rip off specialists.

[RolfGolf]

Attached is the report I got from the tyre shop for my "Valwagon Borda".

Is that just like the ultimate case of can't be arsed getting it right? If that's an example of his attention to detail I'd be seriously worried about getting my wheels aligned there.

[kapowww]

Is that just like the ultimate case of can't be arsed getting it right? If that's an example of his attention to detail I'd be seriously worried about getting my wheels aligned there.

To cut the guy some slack he seemed somewhat knowledgeable but was an older Vietnamese gentleman who had broken Engrish. I've been there in the past with other cars and they seemed fine. He seemed freaked out that it was a European car and immediately told me it was $50 instead of $45 for a 4-wheel alignment.

[gringo_54_oval]

Id say get a 2nd oppinion. The fronts can be aligned. The rears cant be unless you get the adjustable control arms. My rears are all over the place like Dylan said and my rear wheels are deep into the arches. The arms are on the list of stuff i need but they can wait.
Jpflores the ass of your 4mo looks wicked. Any more pictures?

[Manaz]

Is that just like the ultimate case of can't be arsed getting it right? If that's an example of his attention to detail I'd be seriously worried about getting my wheels aligned there.

Absolutely. They're also clearly not capable of doing the job, so go somewhere else.

You can adjust some aspects of the rear alignment without adjustable arms, but not much, certainly not camber/toe.

Regarding needing the negative camber to fit your rear wheels on - change wheels, unless you think it's cool to compromise the safety of your car on public roads. You'll not only be chewing up the inside of your rear tyres faster than is sensible, but you're grossly reducing the effective contact patch that the tyre has on the road.

[kapowww]

Jpflores the ass of your 4mo looks wicked. Any more pictures?

I need a day where I can take proper non-iPhone photos. Just can never seem to get a sweet focal length on my DSLR for car photography, something which I really suck at.

Regarding needing the negative camber to fit your rear wheels on - change wheels, unless you think it's cool to compromise the safety of your car on public roads. You'll not only be chewing up the inside of your rear tyres faster than is sensible, but you're grossly reducing the effective contact patch that the tyre has on the road.

Even if I change wheels it won't change my camber so if I get smaller wheels won't there be even less contact with the road? Plus these wider tyres I have now have more contact than the stock ones did so they're safer.. and yes, obviously I have these wheels as I personally think they're cool.

[Manaz]

Smaller wheels doesn't mean a smaller contact patch. Narrower wheels yes - but if the wheels don't fit safely, they don't fit at all. You said you need the camber to fit the wheels. Fix the camber, change the wheels.

[bundabora]

After I had my Bora 4mo Lowered, I purchased some Special Bushes from Fulcrum Suspension in Brisbane that allow for up to 3degrees Camber adjustment which was enough to fix my alignment problem - They cost around 200 and had a lifetime guarantee. The guy I gave them to fit them had never seen them before but said they made sense - he fitted them, said they seemed very solid and well made and then he corrected the wheel alignment problem. The are a cam type bush that adjust as you turn them, once they are locked off they stay where they are...