Caster out, Fabia Vrs 1. Not adjustable?

[sepulchrave]

12 hours ago, bmbmdmb said:

Update:

 

After adjusting the caster on front left side by movement of console forward, a small change in caster has occurred, by 0.14degrees. The difference between left and right wheel castor values is now within 0.30 max castor. Probably not worth effort

 

This threw out the toe slightly, which was then readjusted on Hunter alignment system. 

 

BTW the operator did turn wheel out to obtain castor value , as mentioned earlier in posts.

 

 

 

Since your deviation between left and right was already within the 0.5 degree maximum before your adjustment and the manufacturer's figures refer to a brand new car rather than an elderly car with tired springs, the point of the adjustment is somewhat moot.

[bmbmdmb]

30 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

0.5 degree maximum

0.3max on the Skoda workshop manual online.

Yes, I would not have bothered if I had not been having an alignment done anyway. Thanks

[Breezy_Pete]

I think you'll find that's 30 minutes, rather than 0.3 degrees.  With 60 minutes to the degree, that is 0.5 degrees, as sep says.

 

 

[vindaloo]

Caster is in the red on both sides. Not sure if that is typical. Appears to suggest the subframe or the console conspire to place the LHF wheel slightly further back.

 

Has the front ARB or bushes been replaced? Has the front subframe been removed or gently clobbered in some way?

 

 

Edit: Oops, read more of the complete story in the thread. Please ignore.

J.

Edited 1 November, 2019 by vindaloo

[Gman1978]

Caster alignment
I've been suffering a pull you the left (curb) for a few years now.

Threw a lot of money at the issue to no avail.

shocks/spring all round

top bearings

droplinks

Track rod ends

front suspension arms

bottom ball joints

Front bushes (revised ones)

new tyres

tracked at kwik fit 3 times.

 

nothing worked. And they told me the only adjustment was toe.

 

The issue was the caster; caster not positive enough on the left.

This thread has been a lifesaver as I think I've now sorted it. I know that I needed to move the bottom console further forward on the left to make it more positive (I guess to match the other side, I don't have access to fiddle with a hunter alignment machine)
I put the car front on stands, undone the four bolts as shown in the vid, (I just show one side in vid) (you will need a breaker bar for the top bolts) and then the subframe+consoles twist as one complete thing so the left is as forward as poss and right is back as poss. See video.

 

my car finally has stopped pulling left.

thank you all.

 

Hunter printouts are both before.

if I get one done soon. I will

add that as an after result.

 

Edited 30 December, 2023 by Gman1978

[J.R.]

Misaligned subframe.

 

I suffered the same, self inflicted when I replaced the clutch, I have no 4 wheel alignment readouts but I do have string, straight edges, tape measures a couple of laser spirit levels and the knowledge and experience to use them.

 

Before the car drove in a straight line without any steering pull, steering wheel straight ahead, after clutch it pulled severely to the left and needed a constant counter steering force to maintain a straight trajectory with the steering wheel 5-10° off centre.

 

I did the measurements from lasers shone from front and back wheels against a target on the B post, front axle misaligned by a lot, rear by a smaller amount, without a ramp I could not get enough force on the breaker bar to release the rear subframe bolts so had to accept that misalignment and make the front parallel to it, I could not quite pull the front subframe far enough so resorted to pre-loading it with a ratchet strap to the rear axle before tightening the bolts, if I had managed to correct the rear first this would not have been necessary.

 

The car now drives correctly without any pull and with centralised steering, I know that it must have a tiny degree of crabbing but nobody would know, I dont hve any figures to quote and I had to check the tracking in a similar manner, my Dunlop guages being across the channel at the time, I have driven 50K miles on tyres that were already part worn when I got the car so the overall alignment must be pretty good, had I not done the corrective moving of the subframe I would have scrubbed them out very quickly.

[Gman1978]

Hi, 

I had no idea that there was any alignment possible on the rear subframe/rear axles?

[Breezy_Pete]

Yeti is probably very different, especially in 4WD version.