Camber and tracking all wrong????

[dr_mat 0]

Gotta be the rack then... :(

 

Meanwhile, my VR is insistent that it WILL NOT let go of the passenger side wishbone bush. That baby is seized in TOTALLY solid. Vince doesn't wanna try any harder for fear of trashing the captivated nut on the subframe!! Which means I'm gonna have uneven wishbone bushes. Smeg.. :(

[monVR6 0]

Sorry to hear about your wishbones !! Hope you get it sorted !!

 

Sorry to hijack the thread - is there anyone with a VR6 Watford way?? I'd be interested for another opinion on how mine drives??

[stevemac 0]

my VR is insistent that it WILL NOT let go of the passenger side wishbone bush. That baby is seized in TOTALLY solid. Vince doesn't wanna try any harder for fear of trashing the captivated nut on the subframe!! Which means I'm gonna have uneven wishbone bushes. Smeg.. :(

I'm surprised that's the case - very little of the bushes actually contact the subframe (just the centre pins). Has he tried any other methods to remove the bush, other than just beating it with a hammer :roll:

[dr_mat 0]

It's just the bolt seized in. I dunno what he's tried, I tend to assume he knows what he's doing...

[Supercharged 2]

dr_mat, I thought you were getting new wishbones fitted??

[stevemac 0]

It's just the bolt seized in. I dunno what he's tried, I tend to assume he knows what he's doing...

Right - I thought you meant he'd removed the bolt & it was just the bush that was seized. I assume it's the rear bush which has the problem - the bolt hole fills with water from above & this will have rusted the bolt solid.

[dr_mat 0]

Nah, if he'd removed the bolt we wouldn't be talking about it!

No, not having new wishbones, just new (rear) wishbone bushes. Wishbones are fine, not crooked, not rusted through, no problems to report. I don't pay for new things just for fun, you know!

[mrbeige 0]

Had the geometry laser aligned yesterday....what a difference! 8) 8)

 

My car was running NS camber -2.5deg and OS camber -1.3deg !! :shock:

And the toe was all wrong as well

 

How running -0.5deg camber on both wheels, and its so much better. I would definately recommend this if you've lowered your Corrado yourself!

 

Now It handles really well, just as a Corrado should! :D :D

[Dilated 0]

Got mine back from the garage on saturday morning, they fit the new steering rack and did the tracking and everythings cushdy. The steering feels heavier now, which isn't a bad thing, I think it feels a little more solid now to be honest. Thing is, it drives exactly the same as before, no problems - just like I said in my last post that it feels a little skittish still. Is tracking and geometry the same thing? I thought track was toe in/toe out and other geometry alignment consisted of camber etc. Would having the "tracking" set cover all the different adjustments when they did the rack, or should I get the geometry laser aligned like mrbeige?

[stevemac 0]

Is tracking and geometry the same thing?

No - tracking & geometry are very different.

 

Tracking is just making the front wheels parallel (within certain tolerances) to each other.

 

Geometry (4 wheel alignment) makes all 4 wheels line up with each other. Camber will be set, tracking will be set, castor (on cars where this is adjustable) will be set.

[kebabman 0]

Anyone recommend somewhere (other than a dealers) to get a 4-wheel alignment done around Oxford? How much should I expect to be paying?

[Jim 1]

AMD have Libert 4 wheel laser alignment and are only in Bicester. Not sure what the going rate is though for an alignment?

[dr_mat 0]

AMD charge £60 + VAT according to their website.

 

And on the subject of new racks etc: my experiences.

 

I now have a recon rack fitted, along with new track rods and track rod ends. Rear wishbone bushes were to be replaced, but the FRONT wishbone bush bolt wouldn't budge on the passenger side, so they couldn't remove that arm and therefore couldn't replace the bush. The front wishbone bush bolt uses a captive nut inside the subframe, and they didn't wanna risk breaking that.

 

So how's it handling? Better. Much better. The car feels much more positive, much more solid. There is still a tiny amount of play noticeable in the steering, where the load transitions from one side to the other, but it's much much better than before. Plus I don't get the big heavy clunking noises on bumps any more and there's much less weaving on uneven roads. But it does still weave slightly and it does still have a tiny bit of vagueness. I'm sure that can only be explained by one thing - it has to be the column or the UJs, but is it worth the time and labour to swap those? Probably not...

 

I suspect there was vertical play in the old rack, causing it to bounce up and down on rough surfaces. This would explain the unpredictable steering weight, and the clunking.. But that's just my theory.

 

Meanwhile, my rechip has unleashed the Schrick properly. It was being held back previously by a butt load of pinking (mostly not audible, but the ECU knew about it). Now I'm getting 199 lbft at 3600 rpm. :twisted: I've not gained any top end power output, but I very rarely go above 5500 rpm anyway. And with 199 lbft (*) at 3600 I don't think I ever will again!! :)

 

* - yeah I know I hate relying on rolling road "crank" figures too, but there's no at-the-wheel torque figures available. Believe me, you can feel the difference between this peak of "199" and the previous peak of "187" (ish).

[Kevin Bacon 5]

You'll never get the steering 100% the way you want it with standard components. I've driven enough low mileage Corrados now to know that a slight bit of vagueness at the dead-ahead is the nature of the beast. Mine's the same with a new rack and chassis rebuild, but it's not enough of a problem to justify any further work.

 

A lot of it is down to tyres aswell and also road surfaces.