Advice needed for wheel alignment, best settings

[joby 0]

After fitting some different springs and generally pulling everything apart and changing my wheels from 17 to 16, i need to get the new set up aligned and wondered what the best settings would be! I rang a local 4 wheel alignment place and he said if its been lowered you cant use the original settings and said he could only set the toe, i explained that i would give him some settings but he didn`t seem comfortable with that but would do it! its an early valver with 195/45/16 tyres, any ideas please..

[davidwort 0]

if you can, set the camber to zero, i.e. upright, then get them to set the track/toe to zero

once that's done then the camber is partly personal preference and partly what you can get on the lowered suspension, I easily manage the factory specs on my 40mm lowered early valver, as long as you can get 0.5 degree of negative camber on each side it should handle fine, give the tyres a little while to bed in though. If you want better cornering grip then increase the negative camber a little, you can always get camber correcting waisted bolts if you struggle to get the right camber.

[joby 0]

Thanks david, out of interest what do you think of these apps on your phone thats checks levels you can use it to check camber with a true straight edge against the rim, supposed to be very accurate, im thinking about setting my own aliignment as you did, not a lover of paying for things if i can do it myself, half the fun! Ive done most everything else on my cars so why not..

[daleyboy 0]

I think the chap you spoke to doesn't seem confident in his own abilities which is a bit worrying in itself, the factory specs are obtainable, i know when i watched mine being done there is quite a lot of adjustment available to them. Unless you are going to adjust the camber yourself or are going to change the camber regularly due to changes in ride height, then i wouldn't bother with the correcting bolts, the chap should be good enough to adjust accurately without them.

People do have variations in their settings and you don't necessarily need to follow what vw say to the letter, there have been threads on here with what people have experienced, it can depend on ride height, the size of wheel used, and driving style.

[davidwort 0]

two small bolts and a 2ft builders spirit level is all I use to set the camber, set the spirit level off the rim with the bolts as spacers, about 6mm of deflection back on the top of a 15" rim is about the amount of negative camber needed (work it out with a bit of GCSE trigonometry:) ), cut bolts to different lengths to make setting easier.

I use same spirit level to level the car, two identical plastic spray can caps on the roof of the car with the spirit level across them to make sure the body is level.

You could make up a more elaborate plum line and card gauge but I don't think it would be much more accurate.

A fine, coloured string or monofilament fishing line and axle stands down the sides of the car can get the tracking pretty much spot on, 4 wheel alignment after me doing it proved that.

[LRWMotorsport 10]

I'd trust the method described above over an alignment performed any back-street tyre place, Especially if the guy is uncomfortable with the settings. The old adage "all the gear but no-idea" sounds like it applies here.

 

As Davidwort said factory camber settings are nearly always obtainable with the smaller shanked bolts or the range of adjustment available on the strut.

 

With regard to settings I have found the factory settings not to be a million miles out for the road, perhaps a little more camber (an extra -0.5 - 1) for more spirited b-road enjoyment.

Edited July 27, 2012 by LRWMotorsport
correcting name

[joby 0]

Done some checks and showing 1.3 degree positive camber on offside and 1.5 positive on nearside, how will that affect how it drives

[davidwort 0]

you want some negative, it won't feel very good cornering with anything under 0.5 negative, so positive is bad, will wear outside edges too.

[joby 0]

Thought so, just done some reading, thanks david, how have you found the best way to adjust the camber without jacking the car, as i know you need it flat, you just cant get to the bolts?

 

---------- Post added at 2:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 2:05 PM ----------

 

By the way, thanks for everyones feedback

[LRWMotorsport 10]

You have to adjust, re-assemble bounce the car a couple of times measure and repeat as necessary.

A large differentiation in camber will generate a thrust angle and add have a cumulative effect on tyre wear.