wfillingham 0 Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 How much movement is there supposed to be on the bolts for a 1997 VR6... suposedly unmodified, but when I got it it did have a turret strengthening strut.When I dismantled the LHS strut, it apears that you could have a huge amount of adjustment(hub to strut), and there is no clear or accurate way to mark this, apart from scribing around where the bolts go. I have put it all back together, and got the bolts in the correct place, and it appears perfect, handles perfect etc. like it used to, but just seems bizarre that you could in theory have this huge adjustment. various manuals seem to imply the bolts should be a tight fit, or have very little movement. Is this corect on the VR6 or has mine been modified in some way. Note, that when I dismantled it, the whole suspension seemed suspiciousely brand new, not what you would expect from a bit of metal exposed to the element for 6 years and 58k miles.Also, where should I got to get camber measured properly?or given it steers straight, should I just leave it alone? Link to post Share on other sites
Pittuf 0 Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 Doing this myself this weekend when I fit my coilovers, and am instrested in the setting of the camber issue myself.In the guide Binliner posted the other day it says you should set the camber to neutral, how do you know/do this? (but to be fair it does go on to say you should get it set correctly at a garage once finished) Link to post Share on other sites
Pittuf 0 Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 lol, see the freudian slip where I said instrested Link to post Share on other sites
dub_weiser 0 Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 Get your wheels alignment and tracking done when fitting coilovers and that will sort out your camber. Link to post Share on other sites
Pittuf 0 Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 Was gonna do this anyway, needs to be set up properly, but i'm sure i've seen acf8181 talk about how he likes the camber set, not sure if he does it himself tho?I'd guess that to get them pretty even when doing it you either pull the strut away from the car as much as possible on both sides, or push into the car as much as possible on both sides, or equally, try and get them in the middle? :? Link to post Share on other sites
VRmonster 1 Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 this is something you should have set up professionally. i have had to adjust camber on a wheel i bumped, and it keeps re adjusting itself over time. Link to post Share on other sites
Pittuf 0 Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 Yup, will defo get it tracked and aligned proffesionally, just curious mainly due to the comment in the guide Justin posted as mentioned earlier :-) Link to post Share on other sites
eViL 0 Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 Yes but the question still is.. how can you mess around with the camber and alignment on your drive?What do you mess with or hit with a big hammer? Link to post Share on other sites
acf8181 0 Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 Was gonna do this anyway' date=' needs to be set up properly, but i'm sure i've seen acf8181 talk about how he likes the camber set, not sure if he does it himself tho?I'd guess that to get them pretty even when doing it you either pull the strut away from the car as much as possible on both sides, or push into the car as much as possible on both sides, or equally, try and get them in the middle? :? [/quote']you be right...i love my set up....but i have no idea what it is, or whether both sides are the same (which is the critical bit really), i also get perfect tyre wear.you wanna knwo how i set it up? i just pushed both sides to the maximium negative camber (thats top of wheel in more than the bottom of the wheel)...i've never had it checked (nor the tracking for that matter).its worth noting that i probably got lucky...i imagine the cars is pretty even both sides, unless its had a wack against a kerb or an accident (which i'm pretty sure mine hasn't been due to the dates on each wishbone (yep, they're printed on them) being the same and being from the year the car was built.it is best to get it checked, and i'd recommend setting it to full if A)you can drive bloody well, B)you drive hard most of the time. A because it will give the car much more mid corner oversteer, and make the steering more responsive (i.e. less lock is required for corners), and B casue if you usually cruise around you may well wear the inside of the tyres out too much.read the above, and make your own decisions on what best for you...what i like may not be what you like. its also worth noting that since i've added poly bushes, the car is very very twitchy in a staright line even...but i love it, it feels alive. Link to post Share on other sites
binliner 0 Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 Get your wheels alignment and tracking done when fitting coilovers and that will sort out your camber.tracking and wheel alignment are the same thing and getting that done wont sort out your camber. you need to make sure you go to a place that does 4 wheel alignment and can measure the camber Link to post Share on other sites
wfillingham 0 Posted June 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 I will definately get the camber adjusted properly, as it has been ages since i had wheel alignment checked as well, so would be worth getting everything done.... Link to post Share on other sites
ingham 5 Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 i had a mk2 years ago that thad a bent strut giving too much camber and i got some bolts of vw that allows more camber ajustment the bolt was a smaller dia .these will fit mrk 3 golfs.they were sold for cars with big wheels so they would fit under arch.dont know if you can still get them.might try as they were only a few quid Link to post Share on other sites
ingham 5 Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 try this part no N903-334-01 standard bolt 12mmspecial bolt 11mm (extra camber)i put two in and i got loads of extra ajustment note this part no is from 1992!!!! so it might not be valid,hope it is Link to post Share on other sites
wfillingham 0 Posted June 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 okay.. 1. I need measure the current bolt diameter.2. In its previous life it had huge wheels on it.... I can tell this as the plastic inner arch has been worn away.....3. it has got lots of other various mods left on, but has standard wheels...hence, i think before I bought it, somone removed the large wheels and put them back to standard.4. this indicates, that the bolts may have been changed then for smaller ones, and also the adjustment may still be different to standard.5. Hence, if meausrement proves they are the non standard bolts, then i think the first thing I need to do is put the standard ones back in, in order to restrict the amount of movement that is possible during adjustment.6. So far, ringing round indicates that main dealers are the only place who will set the adjustment. Link to post Share on other sites
acf8181 0 Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 it is possible to check your camber yourself if you have a perfectly flat ground, a spirit level, some string, and a measuring tape...i think, i've worked it out that i could check it, but i dont have a flat bit of groud. Link to post Share on other sites
ingham 5 Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 i set mine by eye but you gotter know what you doing,fine ajustment is hard[ Edited Fri Jun 18 2004, 02:03PM ] Link to post Share on other sites
binliner 0 Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 okay.. 6. So far' date=' ringing round indicates that main dealers are the only place who will set the adjustment.[/quote']keep ringing!have a look in yellow pages there'll be some places that do camber adjustment. Where are you? Link to post Share on other sites
acf8181 0 Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 you could try speaking to race teams that are nearby...they certainly have the facilities and know-how to do a perfect job. but you'll need to tell them what settings to go for.maybe try typing rally preparation into yell.com as well. Link to post Share on other sites
wfillingham 0 Posted June 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 got the spirit level out for a quick check.... and turns out that there actually is a large amount of negative camber (top of wheel inwards?) this was based upon the RHS that has not been dismantled, and given I re-assembled the LHS with the same position this is also equal. Also, now that I have looked at it, the front wheels are visibly pointing in at the top. Basically, given it goes round corners really well, and the tyres are not wearing badly in any strange way, then I will leave the position how it is. Link to post Share on other sites
ingham 5 Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 as long as they are the same should be ok Link to post Share on other sites
acf8181 0 Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 it should have about 0.5 neg as standard i think.i have about 1.5-2.0.camber is the simplest way to alter the handling of your car...but you have to know what you want from the car. Link to post Share on other sites
VRmonster 1 Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 i like my camber set to standard, which is 0.5 according to my local allignment place. at 0.5 it seems to flow well around corners, with very little understeer considering its pretty flat. tried it with 1.5 for a few days, and the car seemed to pull too quickly into corners and would slide out. probably because of my low quality tyres. but i reverted back anyway.[ Edited Tue Jun 22 2004, 12:14AM ] Link to post Share on other sites
wfillingham 0 Posted September 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2004 This is just an update to conclude what actually happened in the end.got it done properly by apex tyres of peterborough, and was £35. They put it on a Sun laser alignment tool, and it turned out that both sides had about 1degree 40mins negative camber, and that wheel alignment was out by about 1.5 degrees. I had them set the camber to neautral, and to sort the wheel alignment. It now drives perfectly, and does not wheel spin so easily either, which it tended to do before. i suppose with neutral camber you have better tyre contact when in a straight line.As a free bit of advert for Apex tyres(Werrington, Peterborough), they were very quick, and you don't need to book in. just go in a lunch hour, and they do it straight away. Link to post Share on other sites
acf8181 0 Posted September 28, 2004 Report Share Posted September 28, 2004 you set your camber to zero!!!!!!!you are gonna kill the outside edge of your tyres within a week, unless you never go round corners.standard is half a degree, and most people with mkIII's still wear the outside with that.i have to run 2 degs to wear it evenly, most people need between 1 and 1.5. Link to post Share on other sites
Nerih 0 Posted September 28, 2004 Report Share Posted September 28, 2004 i have 1.5 degrees and the car runs perfectly. Link to post Share on other sites
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