Wheel spacing? Problem!

[Dragon Dave 1]

I have been looking at my wheels, thinking about wheel spacers...I then noticed that the wheels sit different on either side of the car. On the nearside the front wheel sits perfect but the offside would need a 10mm spacer to be the same as the nearside. To space the rears out to the same as the nearside front, I would need a 5mm spacer on the nearside rear and a 15mm spacer on the offside rear. So it seems that the offside sits 10mm further inside the arches than the nearside!

I first thought it might be the ground it was parked on so I tried parking it in other places. I recently had new suspension fitted and they did a 4 wheel alignment, I'm going to take it back to them and ask them about it but I thought I should see if anyone else has had a similar problem.

The suspension is Koni, the wheels are 8j x 17 with 205/40/17

Any help on this would be great! Thanks!

[Ben Seabrook 4]

are you sure the wheels are the same width then mate ?

[Dragon Dave 1]

All four wheels say 8J x 17 H2 on the back of the spokes and all four tyres are 205/40/17

I got the car two months ago and have not noticed it until now but I didn't compare either side with a tape measure until now.

[Ian_rogers 0]

I had a similar problem on my last car (mk2 Ibiza) but was just the rears, never investigated it tho, just didn't run spacers.

[Dragon Dave 1]

I have checked the offset and all four are ET35.

[legvw 0]

Has your car had any body work done? Rear arches, or rear quarter?

[Dragon Dave 1]

Yes, it's had welding done on the offside rear arch but I'm pretty sure it's not 10mm further out. The arch is inline with the bumper, the same as the other side. The bodywork looks right and the wheels are recessed 10mm on the front wheel too. I haven't had any work done to the front wings.

[legvw 0]

Oh, could your rear beam have moved?? I can't remember if it have left to right adjustment on the mounts or not?

[Dragon Dave 1]

I had new suspension and bushes fitted front and back and the guys that fitted it also did 4 wheel laser alignment. I will go back to them and ask them about it but I wanted to get some other opinions.

[Dragon Dave 1]

I think it may be the camber of the wheels that is causing this. When the car is on flat ground and I put a spirit level to the wheel, it is not vertical. I think if all the wheels were aligned vertically then I wouldn't have a problem. The tires are also wearing out on one side of the tire.

I'm having new tires fitted on Friday and they said they would check to see what the problem is.

I might take it back to the garage that did the 4 wheel alignment, before I get the new tires, so they can see what the problem is. I'm not very impressed with thier alignment.

Could I knock the camber out, if I hit a pothole?

Could the camber change as my new suspension settles?