Camber settings

[Cueball]

Yeah, cost me £60 and the bloody cars rears off to the left!

 

[Tony Hunter]

degrees and minutes 60 mins in 1 degree

You know what I mean, you arse.

 

[imprezaworks]

Yeah, cost me £60 and the bloody cars rears off to the left!

Been there done that, annoying to say the least

 

[KevF182]

does it wander to the left, i.e pull itself that way, or does it drive straight and true but with the steering wheel off-centre? Agree with Chip - check steering is centred by applying full lock to lock (should be eaqual), it will help diagnose.

From the print-out of the settings it has quite a big thrust angle - the rear axle steers left slightly, pushing car right slightly - meaning that when they set the front straight on the ramp, the car actually needs to be steered slightly left to match the direction the rears are pointing. Quite common, though usually after a knock/repair job of some sort (though some say quite normal on French cars :S)

Yes, its not right, but the problem looks like it lies in the rear (from the print shown) not the front. Most people just correct the steering center to match the rear thrust angle, which works well enough for most people, and this probably has not been done, as others have already said.

If it has a pretty obvious, sharp pull to the left on all surfaces then it might not just be what I have suggested above.

 

[Cueball]

It wants to pull left, steering wheel turns left also.

 

[Cueball]

Cheers for the help, I think my best bet is to give them a bell after Xmas and explain the situation.

 

[Steven103]

the car actually needs to be steered slightly left to match the direction the rears are pointing.

Is it me or shouldn't it be the other way around? The rear wheels POINT right. Therefore STEER the car left. Therefore surely the front of the car (as you can't change the rear without new bits/some serious bending(?) ) needs to steer right? Making the wheels all go in the same direction, even if the body/chassis actually moves like a crab eveeeerrrrr so slightly (where slightly would be the angle that the rear toe is out by).

Setting the front tracking to steer left slightly would just set it up like an Indy Car (perma-tendancy to turn left)

 

[KevF182]

Yep.

I would want to know what the caster is measuring on either side, in that case. The Hunter system can measure this, so I'm wondering why they have not done that on your car? Ask them.

 

[KevF182]

Is it me or shouldn't it be the other way around? The rear wheels POINT right. Therefore STEER the car left. Therefore surely the front of the car (as you can't change the rear without new bits/some serious bending(?) ) needs to steer right? Making the wheels all go in the same direction, even if the body/chassis actually moves like a crab eveeeerrrrr so slightly (where slightly would be the angle that the rear toe is out by).

Setting the front tracking to steer left slightly would just set it up like an Indy Car (perma-tendancy to turn left)

You and I are thinking the same.... but...

I said the rear axle points left. And that is correct. I said it will steer the car to the right, and that is correct also (think fork-lifts).

But we both agree on the result.

All I'm going on is the print-out. And from that i would expect the car to drive straight but with the steering wheel off-centre. This is not happening so i suspect something also is odd about the front caster.

 

[James28]

Shame to hear you've got a problem mate.
Just to clarify, that alignmycar site isn't the name of a copmany, basically just lists any independent garages that have registered with them as having laser alignment equipment. Bit like a search directory.

As for getting lower profile tyres that's rubbish. Don't. It'll look rubbish.

As said best idea would be to take it back and explain your not happy. If after that it's still not right maybe try a different place.

 

[Tony Hunter]

If it was me, I would get the back end sorted out and get that pointing in a straight line first,but I'm fussy.
Looks like it's had a knock at sometime.

 

[ripp]

Just a quick shot at work, sits a lot better, very happy with them. Not sure whether to get the wheels done black or not, quite like the anthracite on that photo lol

Are you sure that is 60 mm lower on the front? Mine rubs on the wheel arches and it's 25 mm lower (in the front) on gaz coilies.
I wouldn't go lower than 40 mm in the front as there will be a lot of stress on the drive shafts
I'm running 1,5 degree negative on the front (camber bolts) and 1mm toe out, rear is standard if that helps. The car goes as I wanted to
ps: don't get the wheels black, car looks spot on

 

[Chip-mk1]

Are you sure that is 60 mm lower on the front? Mine rubs on the wheel arches and it's 25 mm lower (in the front) on gaz coilies.
I wouldn't go lower than 40 mm in the front as there will be a lot of stress on the drive shafts
I'm running 1,5 degree negative on the front (camber bolts) and 1mm toe out, rear is standard if that helps. The car goes as I wanted to
ps: don't get the wheels black, car looks spot on

Is yours a sport though, his is a non sport so it has to drop quite a way just to be down at the same height as a standard sport.

 

[Cueball]

Mine is a sport. I'm sure it's 60mm at front, it's rubbing on the arches so I'm going to have a play tomorrow.

 

[ripp]

anyway I've seen loads of sports claiming they're about 60mm lower, still don't know how they achieve that!

 

[Cueball]

The young lad at the wheel place said I need to get smaller tyres on it because of how low they are but I don't know if he's talking b****cks. I'd rather just adjust the fronts to 40mm like you said and keep the 205's.

 

[ripp]

I'd do the same tbh. the 182 looks good with that tyre size. or maybe go to 15" like many did and run 195/50 tyres, they will be a little smaller but not too much. For me though, 16" is the best compromise between looks/practicality/performance so I'm keeping them. If you're planning to do trackdays you will be better with 15" though

 

[Cueball]

Can someone tell me looking at the printout if the left front and right front camber adjustment is right, is it not meant to be negative -1.5, mine is just 1.5 so I'm guessing it's positive. The rears look fine though.

 

[Cueball]

I'd do the same tbh. the 182 looks good with that tyre size. or maybe go to 15" like many did and run 195/50 tyres, they will be a little smaller but not too much. For me though, 16" is the best compromise between looks/practicality/performance so I'm keeping them. If you're planning to do trackdays you will be better with 15" though

Cheers mate, think I will keep the 205s and just adjust the height of the coilovers. Once this is done I'm assuming I'm going to have to take it back to get aligned again?

 

[ripp]

yes, every time you alter the ride height you'll have to do the tracking. how come you're 1.5 deg positive?? you're running camber bolts?

 

[Cueball]

I ain't got a clue, does that print out look wrong?

 

[ripp]

yeah it does! 1,5 positive is insanely wrong! if you got camber bolts you can correct this
what coilies are you running? quite lazy to go back couple of pages

 

[Cueball]

Ktec racing ones, only cheapy ones. Only just noticed that its 1.5 positive! Fs

 

[Cueball]

These, http://www.k-tecracing.com/show_product.asp?id=2853&appid=2

 

[ripp]

at 1,5 degrees being positive or negative it's easy to notice when looking from the front straight at the wheels. The cheap K-tec coilies have built in camber adjustment, just go to someone who knows what he's doing and get the tracking done like tony earlier said, 1,5 negative and 1mm toe out and you're good

 

[Cueball]

Tony just said 1.5deg so I just assumed he meant positive not -1.5. Bugger.

 

[ripp]

LOL you learn as you go on no problem
remember 1,5 degrees means 1 degree and 30 minutes as this can be confusing to some people

 

[Tony Hunter]

Tony just said 1.5deg so I just assumed he meant positive not -1.5. Bugger.

Sorry I just assumed it would be taken as neg.

Nobody that I know would set anything up with positive camber.

 

[ripp]

only if you have a truck trial 8x8 TATRA maybe as those always seem to be positive

 

[Cueball]

Will i be ruining anything with camber set to 1.5 positive? Is it something I should get fixed immediately ?

 

[ripp]

you will ruin the handling mostly, but try not to go like that too long as you'll prob stress other components in the suspension

 

[Cueball]

I'll ring them tomorrow and try and get in for Friday, cheers

 

[Cueball]

Noticed the tyre is rolling over on the inner side, that alone tells me it's 1.5 pos camber, booked in tomorrow to get it fixed thank god!

 

[ripp]

looking from the front of the car, if the top of the tyres are pointed to the engine you have negative camber, or positive the other way around

 

[Cueball]

The guys are saying they can't get 1.5 neg on these ktec coilovers. Fs

 

[Chip-mk1]

Whichever side will go to the least, set it to maximum on that side then set the other side to match, thats your only option with the hardware you have in front of you unless you are going to start filing out the mounting holes.

 

[Tony Hunter]

The guys are saying they can't get 1.5 neg on these ktec coilovers. Fs

Where the fk are you,kwik fit ?.Have they ever seen camber bolts and do they know how to use them?Have they got the little tag in the right way?

 

[Cueball]

Lol you would of thought so! Anyway they have managed to get 1.0 neg on each side, he recommended that I don't get 1mm toe out or it will be rubbing? They managed to fix the steering going left. Think thats the last time I'll be going there to be honest.

 

[2Damnsly Andy]

If your not rubbing your not low enough

 

[Dan519]

The guys are saying they can't get 1.5 neg on these ktec coilovers. Fs

cup packed 182 fitment? yeah, no chance, I've struggled to get 0.5deg before without going very very low