my fabia has pulled to the left since day one, all i get is oh it's meant to do that, balls! however alignment tried in 3 locations and no one appears to be able to fix it.

fascinating thread. can anyone help with this?

I have a lupo gti (second car to the vrs) which i love to bits. It has non-standard suspension and when i've had the steering geometry set up (on vag beissbarth equipment) the rear toe is out (+ve on one side and -ve on the other). I've been told this is non-adjustable (without the use of a hammer) and that it must have come out of the factory like that.

I can really feel the influence of this when cornering (car resists sharp inputs to the right) and it's something that spoils my overall enjoyment of the car.

Is there a way to diagnose and possibly correct the cause of this? Where could i get that looked into and at what sort of rough guesstimate cost? I'm based in Birmingham.

Thanks in advance.

fascinating thread. can anyone help with this?

I have a lupo gti (second car to the vrs) which i love to bits. It has non-standard suspension and when i've had the steering geometry set up (on vag beissbarth equipment) the rear toe is out (+ve on one side and -ve on the other). I've been told this is non-adjustable (without the use of a hammer) and that it must have come out of the factory like that.

I can really feel the influence of this when cornering (car resists sharp inputs to the right) and it's something that spoils my overall enjoyment of the car.

Is there a way to diagnose and possibly correct the cause of this? Where could i get that looked into and at what sort of rough guesstimate cost? I'm based in Birmingham.

Thanks in advance.

From what you're saying, I think the rear thrust axis is wrong, rather than the toe angles being wrong. If you subtract the negative value from the positive, do you finish up with 0 or 2x the required toe? If so, then the problem is the rear thrust axis. Not that it makes any real difference since hammers or shims under the rear stub axles are the only ways of adjusting these.

From what you're saying, I think the rear thrust axis is wrong, rather than the toe angles being wrong. If you subtract the negative value from the positive, do you finish up with 0 or 2x the required toe? If so, then the problem is the rear thrust axis. Not that it makes any real difference since hammers or shims under the rear stub axles are the only ways of adjusting these.

i don't have the readout to hand at the moment but i do believe that's the case i.e. i end up with 0. pardon my obvious ignorance but could you explain the thrust axis in layman's terms?

can i get this corrected to improve the handling of the car and if so who might be able to do this for me, and for how much moolah?

i don't have the readout to hand at the moment but i do believe that's the case i.e. i end up with 0. pardon my obvious ignorance but could you explain the thrust axis in layman's terms?

can i get this corrected to improve the handling of the car and if so who might be able to do this for me, and for how much moolah?

The rear thrust axis is the angle between the car's centreline and a line drawn between the rear stub axles. If you wind the alignment printout, and it quotes a rear thrust axis value, then the company that did that will probably be able to adjust it, although, as previously, it involves hammers or variable thickness shims under the rear stub axles. I can't recommend a firm near Birmingham though.

Just to add to this intresting topic. We had in our workshop Fabia VRS with coilovers and changed bushes on lower control arms from Leon. It had -1.9neg on one side and -1.0 on other on front. I was pulling to left due to spread in caster (~0.4deg) and big spread in cabmer (duh!). Well.... what we found that someone who did a bushing job, put this togheter wrong and cradle was shifted. As final result we got -1.3 on each side and with proper toe adjustment and customer's car feels like a new vehicle.

This vehicle might not have great adjustment options but there are some ways to fix problem after proper diagnosis. Need someone who really will take time to check and attention to details.