Chemix hunter 4 wheel alignment and thanks jojo.

[rhubarb4]

Hi guys me and jojo went to chemix last Saturday to get our cars sorted due to my overhaul of the front end and S3dave's rear tie bars, which me and jojo both have fitted recently. I got there half 8 and straight on where my results from first measurement were quite a bit out but better than last years where they couldn't do anything as I had a problem with the front wheel position.

Here's last years result.

Then after the work I had done and with S3Daves tie bars this was how it was before they adjusted it.

Now as they started to adjust things the guy said they couldn't alter the front camber as it was out to far, but luckily I had Joe with me who I must say is very clued up when it comes to cars and handling setups, he showed the guy what to do to alter it as there is quite a decent bit of moment in the ball joint to wishbone fixing point to correct it to almost what we wanted. Virtually everything was adjusted it took quite a while but luckily with Joe being there and giving his input it ended up a great setup.

Here is the final setup, Joe recommended the rear camber to be set at -1 to aid handling, which after a weeks driving it feels very planted and responsive.

I feels great now and well worth the money doing it.

Joe's alignment went very well and a lot quicker as he had less to have adjusted than me and his ended up a great result.

thanks jojo for your help and input.

Cheers, Chris.

 

[Sam_]

Wonder why they left some toe? I had mine setup and the guy said it'd be better with zero toe on an AWD. This article seems to back that up:
Garage Alignment Guide - Turbo Magazine

Saying that, if it drives well, who cares.

 

[jojo]

I did suggest zero toe, but the guy gave me a funny look, so he probably thought I meant factory toe back to zero?

What I did learn on the day was my theory of having the adjustable tie arms on the bottom was correct(for what I was after) regarding toe vs camber, if you change one, it effects the other, but by fitting on the bottoms, it was much easier to set the toe, more adjustment/range, unsure how fitting at the top effects it though, to be honest.

The front camber adjustment was a bit strange on Chris's car, I think maybe a small adjustment need making on his front subframe to get it more central maybe? But it's not too bad considering how far off it was prior to changing the most of his front suspension, in my opinion.

 

[Sam_]

Yeah some places don't seem to think outside the box with geometry and just stick to OEM. Most tyre places don't seem up for setting up cars how you want, rather how Audi wanted! The guy who set mine up said the same about the arms. I fitted both as I wanted it spot on. That and I'm too lazy to do the bushes in the arms.

Yeah I wondered that about the camber differences. Must have drove weird with more on one side.

Do you know if changing the rear trailing arm bushes means alignment needs re-doing? I've not looking into it much.

 

[jojo]

Yeah some places don't seem to think outside the box with geometry and just stick to OEM. Most tyre places don't seem up for setting up cars how you want, rather how Audi wanted! The guy who set mine up said the same about the arms. I fitted both as I wanted it spot on. That and I'm too lazy to do the bushes in the arms.

Yeah I wondered that about the camber differences. Must have drove weird with more on one side.

Do you know if changing the rear trailing arm bushes means alignment needs re-doing? I've not looking into it much.

Well, the operator did my car afterwards, but he was a bit more laid back with my custom settings I think, as I had after market suspension fitted, Chris was running standard shocks and springs!

Can't comment on how the camber difference would effect it, it's not that far out for a road car, that was the best he could do, one side was on the limit, and the toe adjustment afterwards may have effected it slightly, I will post my geo results later on as comparison.

And yes, you would need the rear toe checked on changing trailing arms, as you would have undone it to replace the bush!