Bit to close for comfort.

[kipperbailey]

Mine has done exactly the same, both fronts were done worse than yours, had mine lowered too.....

[fabiamk2SE]

Mine has done exactly the same, both fronts were done worse than yours, had mine lowered too.....

How much did you lower it by? And what using, springs or coilovers?

[TomR88]

You must try having a full passenger load, THEN try a full turn of the lock - this together with the vertical dynamics of reduced/variable clearance during road going mode behaviour may provide some futher clues.

Does this car normally carry passengers, or, just a single driver most of the time?

 

I am also very surprised that the OP has not mentioned that audible clues were not heard at some stage.

hi,

 

We very rarely have a full car and usually it is my other half that drives it. She couldnt hear anything out the ordinary but did always mention that it never stayed straight and always having to correct it. She does like to take the corners a little faster than she should.

[sharkrider]

mine is lowered, and I track it like a loony, and dont get wear like that (I also have 15mm spacers on the front) ...

 

I would suggest you get the suspension checked for something amiss, a ball joint? bottom arm bush ?

[Richf]

When I had my eibach springs fitted I had a full geometry check afterwards and camber adjustment was required on the front , the back was all to **** as well but that was from the factory as the car had only done  800 miles

[Laars]

I was under the impression that only tracking can be adjusted, not camber. On stock setup that is.

Edited 6 May, 2015 by Laars

[Jabozuma]

Front can have both toe and camber adjusted. Toe is dead easy camber requires a bit more work so it is more expensive. There is no adjustment for the back at all BUT adjustment to the front WILL have a substantial effect on the back suspension geometry, both camber and toe so both need to be watched.

Suspension geometry must be adjusted after ANY work was done on suspension. Lowering springs or coil-overs fitted require suspension geometry adjustment.

Even whacking a noticeable pothole puts the suspension out.

Looking at the photos the to out and resulting negative camber were massive. If you look at the tyre you will see the side wall being almost driven on, nicely worn.

This is consistent with lowering springs application, especially where the car with stock susp was borderline already.

[Laars]

After having springs installed I had the alignment done twice and both times they only adjusted the toe, camber wasn't too much off, so that's not an issue, but they were saying that it can't be adjusted. So they were feeding me BS.

I ended up adjusting the toe myself as they couldn't get the steering wheel straight. I know it's not ideal, but carefully measuring you should be able to adjust the steering wheel angle without messing with the setup itself.

[punyXpress]

Not been rubbing on the spring platform has it?

Or do you have particularly savage speed humps in Wellingborough?

[TomR88]

We have quite a few speed bumps but not enough to cause that. The main cause was the garage didn't track it properly when I took it into them.

[Jabozuma]

After having springs installed I had the alignment done twice and both times they only adjusted the toe, camber wasn't too much off, so that's not an issue, but they were saying that it can't be adjusted. So they were feeding me BS.

I ended up adjusting the toe myself as they couldn't get the steering wheel straight. I know it's not ideal, but carefully measuring you should be able to adjust the steering wheel angle without messing with the setup itself.

 

Common thing as they mostly do not know how to use the Hunter alignment rigs. The key is to visually centre the steering wheel and lock it first before the machine is turned on. This is the only way to achieve a reliable and satisfactory tracking. Chap at the garage was boasting how he helps his track racing buddy to set up his car geometry for the track work while he was doing mine. I was waiting in the lounge while he was doing it. Paid, drove home, complete mess. Turned around, told him how to use his kit (wasn't too amused...) and hey presto, still runs well after a year and few track days .

 

One has to remember that when the toe settings are being changed it effects the camber for both front and back wheels at the same time so with toe adjustment one can address camber issues as well.

 

If you want the camber done you need to ask for it and it is usually twice as expensive as normal tracking.

[2ndskoda]

Jabozuma wrote -

 

"One has to remember that when the toe settings are being changed it effects the camber for both front and back wheels at the same time so with toe adjustment one can address camber issues as well."

 

??????? Sorry? - please explain how.

[Jabozuma]

Perhaps I was not entirely clear, you cannot adjust the camber that way but while adjusting the toe the camber changes as well.

I am not very good at explaining things at all otherwise I'd be making money from teaching people .

If you consider two extreme toe positions of front wheels, max toe ina and max toe out the wheels not moving in any other plane will end up with a different actual cmaber settings i.e. the contact patch of the tyre will be at a different angle to the ground. This is as close as I can explain it.

[2ndskoda]

I appreciate what you are trying to explain (but would point out that the caster angle is influencial here also) -

 

however it was the specific point you made about the front wheel adjustment somehow affecting the rear wheels that I could not understand.

There is no mechanical link whatsoever between the front and rear wheel arrangement /adjustment.

Edited 6 May, 2015 by 2ndskoda

[Laars]

What Jabozuma was after I believe, was that as you cannot adjust the rear wheels, you need to compensate for the rear values by setting up the front accordingly. This is how it needs to be done

[Jabozuma]

I appreciate what you are trying to explain (but would point out that the caster angle is influencial here also) -

 

however it was the specific point you made about the front wheel adjustment somehow affecting the rear wheels that I could not understand.

There is no mechanical link whatsoever between the front and rear wheel arrangement /adjustment.

 

I know and I see how this is impossible. Rear torsion beam has no camber adjustment whatsoever. You would have to modify shock towers to be able to do it so specific coil-overs are a potential solution if somebody would like to have this adjustment in mk2 vRS .

I will need to think about it a little bit more, one thing I saw with my own eyes was that when they were adjusting the rods for the front toe settings camber and toe readings for the rear wheels changed as well on the Hunter machine.

Edited 6 May, 2015 by Jabozuma

[2ndskoda]

As I understand it, Jabozuma is specifically referring to camber angles.

 

No matter what he does to the front, it will not alter the camber at the back which will stay at the same vertical angle viwed from the rear UNLESS deliberately altered in some way.

 

I can see that if the vehicle centre line is not truly at 90 degrees to the rear axle (hub centre to hub centre)  - and the same line does not go centrally between the front wheels - that introduces a whole host of new factors.

 

He also said - "one thing saw with my own eyes was that when they were adjusting the rods for the front toe settings camber and toe readings for the rear wheels changed as well on the Hunter machine."

I assure you that what you witnessed was the changing relationship / measurement between front and rear. The toe adjustment at the rear would not alter - it is just the readout change that you saw.

 

Sorry mate to be pedantic here, and no offence intended whatsoever, but was on the tools for 40 years plus, and would not wish for others to totally be mislead by the earlier comments made.

Edited 6 May, 2015 by 2ndskoda

[Jabozuma]

In absolute terms it does not change. When you look at the whole vehicle geometry then it will change. Alteration to one wheel will have an effect on the chassis as a hole and will alter the spatial relationship of each wheel to the chassis at the same time albeit by very small amounts. They adjust it one wheel at  time and this is why, because chassis moves and rear wheels do have suspension with movement independence the relationship of those back wheels to the chassis will be altered as well  hence changing camber and toe reading at the back when adjusting one of the front wheels. So despite no adjustment being made the spatial reference of back wheels to the chassis changes or the chassis is "moved" via the front wheels adjustment.

 

So, I agree with what you are saying that rear is not being adjusted as it has not adjustment yet the values do change.

[kipperbailey]

How much did you lower it by? And what using, springs or coilovers?

H&R 40mm springs.... Got skoda garage to do it too..

[rerving]

Same problem a while ago 

[TomR88]

Did u find out way caused it

[kipperbailey]

And how did you solve it of you did??