Wheel Alignment

[BLAKROC]

Just had my gti lowered on H&R springs, done by a mates, mate.

Forgot to ask him at the time, but do i need to get a 4-wheel or a 2-wheel alignment (front wheels only) with the new springs.. any one able to fill me in?

Got a quote over the phone from pedders for a 4 wheel alignment today for $135... seems a bit steep when i can get the front wheels aligned at John Hughes for $40ish

Cheers

[Blitzen]

Front wheel only.

[BLAKROC]

Thanks mate, appreciate it.

[noone]

A good wheel alignment over an ordinary one can make a difference. Also, understanding how you want your car setup (or how it should be setup) for performance rather than ordinary use is something you'd like the aligner to know.

[seangti]

as the others have said, ring around and make sure the aligner knows what they are doing with VW's. It took me 4 wheel alignments and a couple of hundred $$$ pi55ed down the drain, found my local one that VW recommend and they sorted the alignment and ridiculous tyre wear issue.

I could go on about the hassles and BS I was told to get my car driving straight (needs shims in the rear, needs a camber kit in the front, etc, etc). Once getting the alignment right on paper, it still pulled left, I found my front right tyre was to blame, a factory conti. It'll be my front left for track days - cop that mongrel tyre

rant over

[brad]

Front wheel only.

So lowering the rear of the car has no affect on camber & toe of the rear wheels?

To the OP: $100+ isn't OTT if they are doing a proper 4 wheel alignment.

[noone]

polo has minimal changes available for the suspension.

For Toe, you need shimms. For caster, you need a kit.

Its not going to look like a dropped beemer with crazy rear caster like the kool kids.

[brad]

So it's a beam rear axle like a Mk3 Golf? (looks like a U when viewed from the top)

[noone]

Yeah, not independent (apparently, only the mk5 golf and onwards in independent in the rear).

I'm going to do some homework on shocks only and full coilovers.

Thinking that AP Coilovers might be an interesting way to go (they go very low for the dubbers) but before I go asking for pricing, wanted to get some EOI's.

Anyone interested? My target is going to be <$700 landed for shocks or coilovers.

[572]

as the others have said, ring around and make sure the aligner knows what they are doing with VW's. It took me 4 wheel alignments and a couple of hundred $$$ pi55ed down the drain, found my local one that VW recommend and they sorted the alignment and ridiculous tyre wear issue.

Sean, are you able to share, via PM if you like, the recommended place?

[BLAKROC]

So lowering the rear of the car has no affect on camber & toe of the rear wheels?

To the OP: $100+ isn't OTT if they are doing a proper 4 wheel alignment.

Yeah i thought it might've required a 4 wheel alignment too? But if it's only 2 wheel then fair enough.. Just booked it in for this avo (2 wheel), I'll see what they have to say about it.

Definitely enjoying the improved cornering since the springs have gone on.

[seangti]

Sean, are you able to share, via PM if you like, the recommended place?

PM sent. Jason at Bob Jane Springwood did a top job. knew his stuff and wasn't BSing, suggesting I need castor kits, shims, etc, to get the alignment right.

[BLAKROC]

PM sent. Jason at Bob Jane Springwood did a top job. knew his stuff and wasn't BSing, suggesting I need castor kits, shims, etc, to get the alignment right.

Got the 4 wheel alignment yesterday for $65 from Osborne Park VW (as it's close to work).. Nicer ride on the springs obviously, but if feels like it's pulling left Going to call and see if they can investigate..

Sean was your polo on springs only or springs + shocks? Wondering if i'll need to go down the same path as you did?

[seangti]

Sean was your polo on springs only or springs + shocks? Wondering if i'll need to go down the same path as you did?

it did it on stock springs too, changing springs made no difference whatsoever.

check your alignment, so toe-in and castor to ensure the set-up is square, there's very little camber adjustment, so a degree of difference isn't really an issue (to my understanding), you'll probably find the right can have more camber than the left. On one alignment, I had a 2degree difference on castor from left to right (that's huge), varied from 3degree on left to 5 on the right. That can be rectified by movement to the subframe. Also check the toe is within spec, anything less for 4mm total should be good for tyre wear. One alignment had me at 8.4 mm total toe, which made steering heavy and also knocked on full lock right hand turning.

If that looks right, what tyres you running? I found that my front right tyre was also contributing to it pulling left once I knew the alignment was correct. I still have the factory continentals. Front left was stuffed by 15,000km, front right wasn't even half life. The culprit tyre is now my spare, though will put it on the front left shortly to see if that causes it to pull right...

It was a process of eliminating the variables.

When talking alignments, it's also worth bearing in mind all machines will read marginally different (even when calibrated religiously) and all cars have differing levels of tolerance so my specs will be close, yet different to yours.

[BLAKROC]

it did it on stock springs too, changing springs made no difference whatsoever.

check your alignment, so toe-in and castor to ensure the set-up is square, there's very little camber adjustment, so a degree of difference isn't really an issue (to my understanding), you'll probably find the right can have more camber than the left. On one alignment, I had a 2degree difference on castor from left to right (that's huge), varied from 3degree on left to 5 on the right. That can be rectified by movement to the subframe. Also check the toe is within spec, anything less for 4mm total should be good for tyre wear. One alignment had me at 8.4 mm total toe, which made steering heavy and also knocked on full lock right hand turning.

If that looks right, what tyres you running? I found that my front right tyre was also contributing to it pulling left once I knew the alignment was correct. I still have the factory continentals. Front left was stuffed by 15,000km, front right wasn't even half life. The culprit tyre is now my spare, though will put it on the front left shortly to see if that causes it to pull right...

It was a process of eliminating the variables.

When talking alignments, it's also worth bearing in mind all machines will read marginally different (even when calibrated religiously) and all cars have differing levels of tolerance so my specs will be close, yet different to yours.

Cheers for the info! I'm running on 4 Kuhmo solus atm, had them for about 6 or 7000km (car has done 50000k). The dealer got in touch again and took the car out (service manager) with me, basically it's not as bad as i first thought. It very slightly drifts to the left which could be the tread on the tyre combined with the camber of the roads.
Went to Pedders for a 2nd opinion, they think it's pretty much fine. And think that a camber kit couldn't be fitted with the polo's setup anyway (?), also couldn't source anything that would've been able to do the job in the first place.

So i'll leave it for now and see how it goes, thanks for all the input everyone. V helpful community on this forum!