My fabia has been wandering to the left ,So after taking advice from our wonderful forum i decided to have a four wheel alignment (the second kind). Well this is my dilemma, i have just (5 mins ago)had my car back and have been told that they found of 4.55mm discrepancy on the rear n/s wheel toeing in , the beam is 4.55mm out but there is no signs of accident damage what so ever and obviously they cant correct it, what would you do in my situation and why is it happening :S ????? Help

there has been a few threads on here before about the rear beam being bent, although the vehicle has never been hit or crashed

you have 2 options, buy some special shims to space out the stub axle and therefore get the rear track straight on your beam

the second option is buy another beam, whether new or from a scrapyard or even off here, but the problem then is your putting a beam on that could be the same as what you already have, i.e. misaligned

My fabia has been wandering to the left ,So after taking advice from our wonderful forum i decided to have a four wheel alignment (the second kind). Well this is my dilemma, i have just (5 mins ago)had my car back and have been told that they found of 4.55mm discrepancy on the rear n/s wheel toeing in , the beam is 4.55mm out but there is no signs of accident damage what so ever and obviously they cant correct it, what would you do in my situation and why is it happening :S ????? Help

Hi Adam

This is just thinking out of the box, but Has the back of the car been lifted by the rear beam ( I don't mean you) but poss preavious owner or if it was taken in for new tyres !

Just as a matter of intrest, if you look on the beam, there is a sticker on it saying "do not jack here" or words to that efect

Radiotwo

where can i buy these shims ,it sounds like the better option?

Is it a really huge pull to the left?? Or can you live with it?

My VRS pulled a lot to the left and had balded the insides of both front tyres, so when i had the tyres replaced I had the alignment checked too

There was a large discrepancy in the figures but we made everything parallel and the tyre wear has gone away but it still pulls a little to the left

As long as it's not trying to spi me off the road or prematurely killing the rubber I'm happy

How confident are you of the accuracy of the alignment check ? Did you get a computer printout showing all the alignment statistics ( including camber angles ) ? . You need to be absolutely confident in the alignment test results before taking any drastic action. Sometimes it's better to spend a little extra on a reliable 4 wheel alignment & geometry test ( i.e. VW dealer ) rather than a test that may be done by someone without the necessary thorough training or without the best equipment.. Also there are different levels of wheel/suspension alignment tests and in cases like this it's best to pay for the most stringent test which requires a considerable equipment capital outlay. At least then you should know what all the parameters are and what the errors are. 4.55mm tracking error is a huge misalignment and needs correction, but other errors ( camber?) may be present that were not included in the the alignment test due to inadequate equipment being used.

I have just had the report arrive this morning and it tells me the near side rear is toeing in by 1.22 degree, i would say the car is drivable but if a solution will only cost a few hundred pound I'm willing to try it , i must admit i am a bit fussy about this sort of thing but i do travel 130 miles commuting each day,But it does seem now im going to have to live with it.