Why you Cannot do a "Wheel Alignment" on the 6R polo

[FlyTSI]

Hi Guys,

I have only done 5000kms in my polo and already have a strong pull to the left. Have not had any major run-ins with curbs potholes that i can remember.

Can anyone recommend a good place in Perth (preferably South of River) to get to get it checked out? Also should I be expecting this to be expensive to fix given you can not do a "normal" wheel alignment on polo?

[Acko1991]

I had that and Volkswagen gave me a free wheel alignment

[FlyTSI]

I had that and Volkswagen gave me a free wheel alignment

Lol my dealerships response was - we are busy take it to a tyre place...

[FlyTSI]

So...

VW dealer says "we're to busy take it to a tyre place" and tyre place (well know chain) says "well for $55 we can do a rotation etc but we doubt it will fix it. If I was you I would take it back to the dealer its practically new"

Not sure why getting your tyres/steering aligned is so difficult

Appreciate any advice

[Acko1991]

which dealer? I bought my car at melville...near fremantle.

[Gambit]

I had that and Volkswagen gave me a free wheel alignment

Wouldent be surprised if they took it out the back kicked the tyres and gave it a fang around the block and return an hour later saying yep wheel alignment done

[Acko1991]

They had that special.....Big glass window...which I was looking through the entire time

[FlyTSI]

which dealer? I bought my car at melville...near fremantle.

same dealer

Maybe I just say book it in anyway. Say I don't care if i have to wait a while...

[Acko1991]

interesting.....Yeh just book it in....They did a good job. The bloke is a south african...just talk rugby with him and I'm sure he will fit you in

[Eddy]

Figured so.


RocknRob. There's a guy on this forum that was making eccentric bushes for the polo subframes (previous model). They looked a brilliant idea for holding the subframe in place once you had the alignment sorted.

Hoyhoy.

That would be me.

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/forums/f127/tramlining-excessive-torque-steer-32346.html#post363904

[kevinctr]

The VW Polo 6R has a suspension system first seen in the Mk 4 Golf, running a torsion beam, coil spring and dampers setup on the rear along with a MacPherson Strut setup on the front. With this setup, the strut is mounted in a fixed, immovable position into the cast housing that also carries the hard-points for the ball joint (control arm mounting), tie rod (steering arms), brake calipers (and carriers in diesel and GTI models) and also holds the wheel bearing and hub assembly.

When performing a "wheel alignment" on these vehicles, there is only 1 thing that can be adjusted and that is the toe in/out of the front tyres. The only way to adjust camber is to move the whole front subframe which generally highlights bigger issues than just camber being out. The other issue with moving the subframe is that while giving one wheel more negative camber, you automatically give the opposing wheel positive camber.

Refer to teh following documents for further information but in short, unless someone is adjust the toe of your front wheels, if you get charged for a wheel alignment, you are being ripped off.

Hi Gav

Do you happen to have the tightenten torque of the bolts for the rear bolts?

Page 126 talks about a "compensation" what does this means?

I will be fitting in the Rigid Collars this week.

Thanks in advance man

[gavs]

The "compensation" refers to vehicles fitted with the DSG, the car will sit on a slight lean towards the passenger side due to the added weight. To compensate this weight, you need to take axle-to-guard measurements, then weight the front and rear axles (rear in luggage compartment, front on the strut tower area) to get the car sitting level by adding the weight on the right side.

Torque is 70Nm plus a further 90 degree/quarter turn.

[Polo_GTI]

Do you guys think it's necessary that I get an adjustment of my toe in/out after I install my coilovers?

The guy that I spoke to over the phone that is doing the installation seemed to know that the only adjustment in the Polo is the front toe and not the rear as it's not IRS. He told me that once we lower the car, then we should be doing the adjustment as a rule. It is however $49 for this toe adjustment.

Your comments?

[brad]

raising/lowering the suspension pulls the steering arms in/out.

yes, you need to get it aligned but the $49 should also allow you to come back after the springs have settled & get it checked

[ATYPIC]

raising/lowering the suspension pulls the steering arms in/out.

yes, you need to get it aligned but the $49 should also allow you to come back after the springs have settled & get it checked

I recently had my coilovers installed and the guy's understanding was that if you can't do a proper alignment on the Polo because of the subframe setup, then the only reason to do any toe adjustment was if you adjusted the camber by way of camber adjustable coilovers.

Make of that what you will. I'm not sure what to believe to be honest.