Can Camber be adjusted?

[was8v 0]

Its pretty obvious the camber on my drivers side front wheel is waaaay off: (handling has never been right imho).

 

I'm pretty sure theres a small amount on the bottom of the suspension strut. Is this the case and do we think there is enough adjustment to correct the above camber? Is it only a tiny amount of adjustment available? :confused4:

 

 

(btw the trackday was a present and I would have preferably had all this sorted before going on track! :roll: )

[g60karmann 0]

camber can be adjusted by undoing the two bolts on the bottom of the front shocks then angle the wheel to the right camber and tighten them again, the easiest way to do this is undo the top bolt then just slightly loosen the bottom one and adjust

[was8v 0]

hmmmm just checked the bentley and indeed it says there is a some adjustment available so we are correct.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Not saying your mechanic is wrong, but there is a tonne of adjustment in the struts with the two 18mm bolts loose. The damper might be binding on the bearing carrier. I've made that mistake before. Need to give it a good thump sometimes.

 

IIRC, the lower ball joint can slide in and out too if you slacken the three 13mm nuts.

[was8v 0]

Not saying your mechanic is wrong, but there is a tonne of adjustment in the struts with the two 18mm bolts loose. The damper might be binding on the bearing carrier. I've made that mistake before. Need to give it a good thump sometimes.

 

IIRC, the lower ball joint can slide in and out too if you slacken the three 13mm nuts.

 

 

Cheers.

 

Well I guess the thing to do is have a look myself. I don't really have the time hence using the mechanic grrrr. There are no good VW specialists around here unfortunatly.

[was8v 0]

How would I do it myself approximatly?

 

I was thinking of removing the wheel, drop the car back to level, jack the wishbone up to approximatley the normal position, and use a spirit level on the face of the hub.

 

I guess this will indicate if I can get the camber in the ballpark? If i can't pull it out enough then the bearing carrier / car (!) must be bent.

 

what do other people do? Thanks for all the help again! :notworthy:

[andy 0]

How would I do it myself approximatly?

 

I was thinking of removing the wheel, drop the car back to level, jack the wishbone up to approximatley the normal position, and use a spirit level on the face of the hub.

 

I guess this will indicate if I can get the camber in the ballpark? If i can't pull it out enough then the bearing carrier / car (!) must be bent.

 

what do other people do? Thanks for all the help again! :notworthy:

 

Thats what I've done before, or even just eyeball it until getting the allignment set professionally. If you can't get it pulled out enough, your subframe may be mounted incorrectly/damaged or the hub carrier or even the shock (though v unlikely) damaged. Are you 100% sure the correct wishbone was fitted?

[was8v 0]

Thats what I've done before, or even just eyeball it until getting the allignment set professionally. If you can't get it pulled out enough, your subframe may be mounted incorrectly/damaged or the hub carrier or even the shock (though v unlikely) damaged. Are you 100% sure the correct wishbone was fitted?

 

Thanks.

 

The wishbone that was on when the pic above was taken came on the car and appeared to be original.

 

The replacement I got was for a Golf VR6 but shares the same part number as the Corrado VR6 and is the same as the original.

 

Now the new wishbone is fitted the wheel sits in exactly the same place.

 

My mechanic thinks the hub carrier is bent, claims to have measured it and compared to the other side somehow. I just want to check as I'm not convinced he has used the full range of adjustment available from what he has said.

 

It does look an awful long way out though!

[pete_griff 0]

in all fairness you would have to have hit something at a pretty high f*cking speed to successfully bend a hub carrier, and i would have thought there would at least be some evidence of other damage to the car happening at some other time if that was the case...

 

there is loads of movement available once all the bolts are loose, and as kev rightly says - you get further adjustment by loosening the 3 bolts that hold the ball joint in place.

 

i remember as when i had my alignment done, the place had just had the latest system installed and weren't very familiar with it when they did my car - i went in and saw the full amount of adjustment with the car jacked up - it was loads, i was quite surprised actually.

 

they were trying to say that i would have to file the holes as they couldn't make the camber correct - it was too negtive the whole time.

then i pointed out that the wheel was noticably sticking out more at the top, so they must be wrong and to check the machine again.

after a couple of minutes they had it sorted and now know how to use their machine properly!

 

there really is loads of adjustment - have a look for yourself if you get the time. only thing is you have to get the camber right first, then set the car down on the wheels to do the tracking correctly after that, if i remember correctly...

 

 

hope you get it all sorted anyway buddy :)

[was8v 0]

Righto, if you want a job doing, then do it yourself. :bad-words:

 

Turns out there was plenty of adjustment available. My bearing carrier isn't bent at all.

 

Maybe an easy mistake to make if you are used to working on peugeots etc where theres no adjustment, but he did say he had checked when clerly he hadn't tried hard enough.

 

Thanks everyone. Thread closed.