How do you do yours? Because it seems to be pure guess work if you have to jack up and remove the wheel/refit. I should say with minimal equipment/outlay.
This is how I do it. http://www.autostadt.ie/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=195&t=16674&p=148956&hilit=Camber#p148956 I know it's a little bit of a nuisance adjusting, refitting the wheel and rechecking, but after a while you get a feel for how much you need move it by. I'd always roll the car back and forward, and bounce the suspension before rechecking.
offer this against the wheel with the car stood on flat ground...use a flat bar accross the wheel lips if need be and note the reading so then say you want to move it -1 deg jack up the car and put it on a stand , take the new reading on the disc loosen the bolts and jiggle about until its -1 from the second reading http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SAVE-GARA...568166?hash=item4d35a63a66:g:bOwAAOSw3ydVshHQ
Cheers guys you've both given me ideas there for both parts I'll have to look out for one of those digital angle finders and maybe the old mahogany shelf I saved will pass for the plank. I'm using the between 2 levels (2ft with standoffs & 3ft) with vernier calipers and calculation method at the moment. Using the whole length of 2ft levels 595mm works out quite nicely 1mm = 010' ish. Also you've reminded me that I have a freebie magnetic boat level somewhere. Maybe I can put some calibration marks on it for the adjustment part. I think I need to knock up something to give me a bit of leverage on the hub so the strut bolts can stay fairly tight.
I used to use the magnet , but unless you can get it onto the disc through the spokes , its not that easy . Handy for quick checks though .
depending on the wheel you can sometimes push the magnet thingy against where the center badge would fit , if not get a flat bit of bar and stick it to that
my way was to take a wheel off then put a jack under the balljoint and lower it till that side is at ride height, then make the adjustments. On a MK1 this is easy as it has the bolt with the cam adjustment so you just turn it then lock down. mk2 much harder as its just an oversize hole, so its a case of get some kind of pry bar and lever between shock and bearing carrier till adjustment is achieved then crank down the bolts. if you have 4 hands it would be much easier luckily wsince mine is now wide track to get 1.5 -ve I had to set both to the max -ve adjustment possible so not quite as hard a job as it could have been... edit: oh and measured with one of those ebay special magnetic gauges stuck to the hub, may not be the most accurate but you can at least get the same measurement both sides
Same as above. Measure Camber when on ground. Jack up and remove wheel, measure camber, it will be different to when it`s on the floor, just note by how much. Adjust to target camber, allowing extra for difference between camber on ground and camber in the air.
One problem I've got is the drive is all over the place, but the garage where the checks are done is too narrow to work in. I haven't had a chance to try adjusting the camber with this yet, but the next version needs longer bolts. I've moved onto toe adjustment now as it was wildly out. Does anyone have a guide figure to what a tie rod adjustment adds to the toe? I've found a No.6 SWA cleat bolts nicely onto the tie rod to give a reference point for measurements against the tie rod end lock nut. What's not so good is the offside steering rack boot is damaged and the inner clip looks like it rusted through some time ago.
all in here, along with lots of endless detail which no-one really needs http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?218281
All good. I wasn't very clear, but what I'm looking for is a rough guide to adjustments like the made up figures below. +1mm on the tie rod = +042' on the total toe Halfway through adjusting both sides last night I realised that the adjustment figures off of the rim edges would be far too much on the tie rods. So I reversed what I'd done on the nearside loosing the actual change amount for that side, but it didn't turn out too bad at 056' allegedly.
I agree. The suspension should be level and loaded. I use the Sealey version (see below) - not cheap but keep it in its box and don't drop it and you`ll have it for years. Its very accurate as I have found the settings to be nearly spot on when the car was set up afterwards on a Hunter alignment jig. The trick is to leave it alone for a few minutes as the bubble oil is very thick thereby dampening the bubble movement and making it more accurate. It will also measure caster and king pin inclination should you so wish.
Now that is a handy tool. From memory my MK2 2was set up with it's a teeny bit of toe in (scrubs the outer) and a smidge of camber to bring the contact patch back toward the center on the tyre. (cant remember the actual values) Before I set off for an proper alignment, I eyeballed it like a race car with TOE out and camber and the car wandered all over the place.
Yeah theres not much caster on the Mk2. I'll try the camber advice of levelling it up and loading it when I get the new tyres on Just doing the steering rack boot and tie rod end. The boot came with no clips and the tie rod end really didn't want to come out. I could hear one of the neighbours Effing and Jeffing about the noise as I was upgrading from a 4 pound lump hammer to the 8 pound sledge in the shed
Got the tyres on now apparently one of the wheel rims isn't straight which isn't going to help toe accuracy. One tool I want to buy is the SmartTool Digital Angle sensor at 0 or 90 it's accurate to 0.05 and most importantly has a calibration method not reliant on a reference grade surface, but given the price I've bought one of these after seeing it in the FAQ. It should be ideal for adjustment reference with the wheel off and I think it might be usable on the tie rod as well. This is my toe measuring contraption lol I level down onto the paper and measure between the marks.
Looking at that now I've posted it I think I can turn the narrowness of the garage into an advantage . The axle stand frames are slightly too high and levelling down affects the accuracy so I'll make some dual purpose flip down shelves to hold the level and provide a surface to mark directly. Measuring between will be a bit more difficult than across the floor, but this could be later corrected with a laser range finder.
On a smaller scale.. Toe is the tricky one in closed wheel cars, you'd need to vector the toe under the car somehow. Caster is measured with a guide that clamps onto the hub. The side plates act as a plane to the front plates in the following pic and are fixed to the hub. Height of side plate should be same as radius of wheel. The side plates pivot from the side plates on bearings, camber is measured relative to the side plate. and the top plate is used to measure toe and steering angles.
I like that jig. Ultimately I think that is how it should be done on a large scale, wheels removed and well engineered steel stands bolted to the hubs. I've seen an American system that would be my choice as a pipe dream. The stands were about $900 a pair let alone the turn plates lol. It was shown working off of a dual RSJ jig similar to that used for Project Binky. A total waste for a road car with rubber bushings, but even so. For camber I rotate that yellow level 90 I'll be using the Wixey against it once I get it. The floor below needs levelling with polymer based concrete patch repair, but that's a job for the spring/summer.