This is all on a mk4 Golf GTi, however I utilised the vast amount of information from this site so thought members here would be best off in helping with my situation. 

 

I've recently completed swapping over my subframe, wishbones, hubs, steering rack to those off an Audi TT and Seat LCR. After doing this I booked my car in with Alex@AKSTuning to have a 4 wheel alignment done.

Results are attached.

Before I continue I'd like to point out that prior to fitting the different front end the car did pull slightly to the left when the wheel was held straight. Alex did mention to me previous whilst I still had the standard front end of that the track rod ends looked like they could do with changing but as I knew this swap over was on the cards I didn't bother. When I fitted the new front end I also replaced track rod ends, balljoints and wheel hub bearings for genuine OEM from TPS. When fitting the parts to the car I set up the track rod ends so 9 threads were visible after the lock nut, and the balljoints were set in the middle of the slots on the wishbones. According to a thread on here that's approximately the standard settings for an Audi TT. New Toyo Proxes T1R were fitted also.

Since the alignment has been done the car still pulls to the left when the wheel is in the straight ahead position and overall I would say that yes the handling has been upped compared to the stock front end however not as much as I had expected going off the verdicts by others who have completed the change over which I have read on here and other VAG forums.

Can anyone who has had a 4 wheel alignment done with their car and the TT/R32/S3/LCR please post up or comment on how there results differ from mine? Alex has mentioned to get back to him with what I think from the change and also whether the steering centres up so I'd like to have more options available should it mean getting in back up on the ramp and looked into. He mentioned that one of my balljoints is now sittings fully inwards in the wishbone whereas the other is fully outwards. A cure for this supposedly is to loosen the subframe bolts and move it slightly (apparently there's a bit of movement available in them), before tightening back up, this may allow actual adjustment from the balljoints/wishbones which IMO I thought was the whole point so as to allow set up to a more track focused car should that be what's required.

i took my air bag out and re centered my wheel

guss84 - thanks for the reply.

Alex too mentioned I could re centre the wheel however the part that concerns me is why one of the balljoints has to be adjusted inwards most and the other outwards most, in order for the camber to be correct. Surely this defeats the point of having adjustable camber to offer the opportunity for better cornering albeit at a sacrifice of other factors?

 

A point that was made to me by another VAG specialist was the subframe could be off centre, apparently there's 5mm or so of possible play in them. They also mentioned this was the same with regards to the rear beam.

I'm just wondering now whether instead of custom values for a more 'fast road' setup, the car has been simply set up to a standard Audi TT values?

New one to me as mine set up better than it had before did you refurb the arms or hubs before fitting in anyway? It is a possibility with the subframe as from what I have seen the tolerances involved with subframes where the bushes fit are what can only be described as sloppy and once again you change subframe bushes at all before re installing?  

Just loosen the subframe and shift it over, I had to do it with mine as I had 1.5 degree's of camber 1 side and half the other, with the ball joints in a similar setup to what you have.

 

Shifted the subframe over, and then moved the ball joints out on both sides and I had around 1 degree each side then

^ this

 

You need to get basics straight

 

Altering the steering wheel is not a solution tbh

thanks for the replies all.

 

guss84 - arms have been fitted with Superpro front bushes (I luckily sourced a set of the rare 30mm TT wishbones) and Superpro castor increase rear bushes. New balljoints from TPS were also fitted. As for the hubs they had new wheel bearings (again sourced from TPS) fitted and the track rod ends were also replaced (you guessed it, from TPS).

Subframe bushes have not been changed, so maybe this could be looked into.

 

Cossie1 - is this something that should be done as part of a 4 wheel alignment? It was mentioned by Alex and tbh I'm surprised he never did this considering it's just a case of loosening/tightening 4 bolts after shifting it over a bit.

 

snow_muncher - I totally agree with you. The issue should be sorted rather then masked.

 

From my understanding of the read outs the car will always pull to the side as the thrust angle is out. I'm concerned as to why the balljoints are fully inwards and fully outwards and this to me suggests that an issue is being masked rather then fixed.

The castor and the toe seem ok to me, although I'm sure these 2 could both be spot on with a bit of work.

I'm going to call up a more specialist alignment centre tomorrow and see exactly whether it's the norm to shift subframes and rear beams as part of an adjustment focusing more on a 'fast road' set up.

Also I wouldn't mind finding out whether the values that have been tried to achieve where in fact just standard TT values.

 

Hopefully with this new information Alex will take another look at the car and get it set up to how it should be. For me at present the swap over is not at all like what others have experienced according to their threads.

 

Anymore information anyone thinks may help please do reply.

 

Thanks

No adjusting the subframe is not something that would usually be done as part of a wheel alignment, however if you know the guys well that are doing the alignment for you, a few extra beer tokens should help get it adjusted.