Rear Geometry / Alignment Advice

[Tekara 0]

Just had a tyre place check out my wheel aligment. They advised me that the rear is out with no means of correction, and as such that it would be best to get that sorted before paying to have anything adjusted. I've been given a print of all the figures. Any advice on how to correct the rear camber.

[Chris VR6nos 0]

Looks like a good place that did the measuring.

The rear angles are adjustable but the means of shims i believe though i've never done it but sure someone on here must have.

 

 

Chris

[Tekara 0]

Yeah i was pretty impressed, had it done with Merityre in Andover. Didnt charge for it either which was a welcome bouns.

[Chris VR6nos 0]

WOW that's rare, worth taking it back to them when sorted if they are that conscientious!

 

 

Chris

[Yandards 0]

I have just had a look at ETKA for the shims on the rear axle and I can't find any shims listed.

 

Anyone know where you are supposed to get these mythical items from? (Apart from Vince obviously!)

[RW1 0]

Yandards, there are no shims.

 

Engineering shims, peel off affairs, choose your thickness and then split the supplied pack at that point. Quite rare to find.

 

 

.

[Yandards 0]

Ah, can get them from work, not sure if they will be the right diameter though.

[RW1 0]

But if you pack the right rear, the left rear could go worse and stay out of spec!!!

 

Rear camber on post '90 - all C's is 1'30" +/- 10".

 

There's something twisted about this rear axle. Left rear stub axle bent slightly??

 

 

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Plus the front right camber is out as well and needs adjusting to be -1'20" +/-20".

 

Assuming this is a VR6.

 

If not all other models are -0'40" +/- 20", in which case the front left is out.

 

.

[Yandards 0]

Looking at the pic at the start of this post it is a VR as the limits for the set up are shown at the top of the boxes.

 

The front camber is adjustable of course so that should not be a problem.

 

We are not talking about a huge amount of error here - a total of 60 minutes on one side and 16 on the other. It is just as possible that some serious wear in the rear beam bushes could cause this amount of error. We don't know the full state of the car, mileage etc and as such it is difficult to make an informed best guess.

[RW1 0]

Guessed it was a VR6 but put alternative data just in case.

 

Bushes, yeah, would agree and quite likely. Like you say, mileage of the car is unknown.

 

 

.

[Tekara 0]

Sorry for the later reply guys. It is a VR currently got 118k on it.

Had the following replaced that could affect the suspension

All springs + shocks (VAG)

Rear disk + bearings

Rear bumpstops

Front Subframe + Wishbones

Front Top Mounts

Track Rod Ends

Ball Joints

 

Have considered getting the rear bushes changed, but that’s partly why i was after advice, to avoid spending cash unnecessarily. Could old bushes cause this problem?

[RW1 0]

Have them checked.

 

 

.

[olly elworthy 0]

also check your new rear wheel bearings are still tight, sometimes they need re adjusting afer they have covered a few miles and worn bearings will put your camber out,,, something to consider maybe?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Settings are quite a way off. I had mine done on Stealth's new BiessBarth VAG 1881 full laser alignment rig on Saturday and it's quite a procedure, well worth watching as the accuracy of that machine is unbelievable. Vince did a perfect job of getting the left and right toe/camber exactly matching and the rear toe whilst not in the green, was well within tolerance. 0.02 in the red IIRC. He's only seen 2 Corrados show green at the back and said my settings won't manifest themselves as anything untoward on the road, which is the main thing.

 

Anyway, yes check the rear bearings and personally I don't think rear bush wear is enough to throw the wheels 2 deg negative, unless they're severely collapsed.

 

I have heard of rear beams bending slightly in the middle, but it's quite rare.

 

If the bearings and new rear beam bushes doesn't get the camber in spec, you'll have to shim the stub axles....which are available from the dealer in numerous sizes. They don't appear on EKTA.

[edd 0]

Funnily enough i had a chat with Kev and Jim about this on Sat at Stealth because the rear camber on my C often looks out... which it isn't and has been put down to my wheel offset. But heres a link i found previously when it was bothering me! Whether its true or not is a diff matter.

 

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1328094

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I've not heard of the metal behind the stub axles sagging! It's only a 1 page thread so hints at how common that problem is! And it's not common as they make out anyway. True, most Corrados are out at the back to some degree but not enough to cause problems. The amounts the cars tend to go off at the back is prob just 10+ years worth of settling..... it's just that alignment machines treat even 0.001 differences as wrong, and therefore red!

[Yandards 0]

I also watched Vince set my C up on his shiny machine and it is a twitchy beast to say the least.

 

I would agree with the rear bearing check as the installation procedure for these is a bit vague at best, the force required to get the shim to move is going to vary depending on the strength of the individual involved. As with all new parts fitted they will bed in so the bearings are the likely option.

 

It is also worth getting the rear beam bushes done as you have changed most of the other suspension components!

 

I would also be interested to know how accurate the cars were set when the left the factory what with the amount of 'set-up' in the rear beam brackets.

[Jim 2]

Its a funny thing cause i'd never really noticed it before but when your motor was sat back on the deck again edd it just looks like the camber was really out.. I thought I was imaginging it but this probably confirms that its not entirely in my imagination.

 

Nice to meet you though by the way - we were discussing coming in to interrogate you when we saw your Rado roll past with the forum sticker in the window ;)

[edd 0]

Yeah Jim mines a bit of a paradox really.......I had issues with mine after i fitted the H&R's and koni's on mine due to excessive tyre wear that was eating the inside edge on my rear right tyre, unfortunatley i had recently done quite a lot of wheel/tyre swapping and had no idea exactly what the state the rear tyres were in when they went on. Anyway after afew weeks letting the springs settle and prior to a full alignment i decided that i had excessive rear camber and that was at fault. But as it turned out, the front settings were all over the place but the rear was if i remember correctly -1'38 on side and 1'28 the other so in tollerance. And tyre wear has not been an issue since

 

Tho im going to have to go find that alignment report again tonight cos i've got the dreaded "corrado paranoia" creeping into the back of my mind.... again!!

 

Out of interest do you have any strange tyre wear Tekara??

[edd 0]

obviously both readings should be negative camber in the last post :D - otherwise i do have a problem.

 

edit wont work

[Tekara 0]

edd Taken a look over the rear tyres, both are beginning to show wear on the inside edge, only minor as they are relatively new tyres

 

Thanks all appreciate the suggestions and advice, will get the garage to check over the bearings and bushes. Fingers crossed that will be the cause.

 

Are there any easy checks that can be done to see if anything is sagging ?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The sagging, if present, will be too minute to see by eye.

 

I've been quite lucky with mine as it wasn't far off from perfection according to Vince, which is all the more remarkable given the previous owner's Dad bumped into me in Halfords last year and claimed it was written off :? All I can say is, if it was, the bodyshop responsible for the repairs did a feckin good job of rebuilding it! It drives like a different car following the laser alignment.... you notice it more on bumpy B roads with adverse cambers that try and drag you into the verge. It drives effortlessly on such roads now and it feels effortless as a driver....I can carry 20mph more on the same roads than with the old setup and the car feels completely relaxed....although that's also partly to do with the H&R coilovers, which are absolutley stunningly good :-)

[trev-b 0]

Does anyone know if VW dealers can supply shims or if its possible to "bodge" it by making up home made shims from thin gauge sheet metal?

[trev-b 0]

Job done, rear camer back in tolerance!

[Henny 0]

trev-b, how did you get it back in tolerance?