Massive Negative Camber on Rear?

[metricspaces]

Just sent my S3 in to get reallignment and the guy has told me that I've got -2.10 (passenger side) -0.5 (drivers side) camber at the rear.

The rear camber isn't adjustable on an S3. How could it be out so much on the back?

What would people recommend I do?

I've asked for -0.5 camber on the front with parallel toe back and front. The Audi mechanic has told me that the recommended toe for the front is 8 degrees???

 

[metricspaces]

Just to note. My S3 is totaly standard 1999 APY.

I had play in the front wheels and the car was pulling to the left. Got the track rods replaced yesterday to sort out the play in the wheels and having the allignment done today. Thought this would sort my car out finally!

 

[[Dave B]]

Their is a very small amount of adjustment on the rears, but I doubt it will fully correct -2.10. For completeness you need adjustable rear tie bars.

I had a similar problem with mine when a local garage changed the rear N/S bearing and when they fitted the suspension there was excessive negative camber. I took the car back and pointed it out and they adjusted it back to the 'normal' setting (whatever that was). I then got it four wheel aligned which did show the camber was out, but within tolerance. I have the report somewhere....

Has the car had any bearing or suspension work done?

 

[metricspaces]

Has the car had any bearing or suspension work done?

I've only had the car a year and it's had nothing done to the rear. I don't know of anything done to it before that - no record in the service history\receipts from the guy I got it off.

Really pi55ed of with this now coz I'm heading across to the UK on Monday to get a remap and thought the car would be fully sorted.

Not quite sure what setup to use now. I've told the guy to do the following

• Front: -0.5 camber left and right, parallel toe left and right
• Back: parallel toe left and right....he said there's nothing he can do about the messed up rear camber.

I'm just wondering should I now be using a different setup to compensate for the negative camber.

I'm getting this done at an Audi main dealer so costing quite a bit. I don't want to have to go back again.

I just really want to get the car stop pulling to the left, really annoying me now as I do 90% of my driving on motorways.

 

[metricspaces]

Any advice greatly appreciate . I'm leaving at 2pm to go the pick the car up. So, anything you guys can throw my way will help. Thanks!

 

[<tuffty/>]

Check to see if you have a broken rear spring. This is a common fault on A3/S3's. This will lower the affected side and increase its negative camber.

Toe will also effect camber to a point, this can be adjusted on the rear of a quattro by loosening the bolts holding the suspension arm to the chassis however for yours to be the figures you suggest, I suspect a broken spring.

Lowering typically adds negative camber to a quattro A3/S3 which can be dialled out using adjustable ties bars.

<tuffty/>

 

[metricspaces]

Check to see if you have a broken rear spring. This is a common fault on A3/S3's. This will lower the affected side and increase its negative camber.

Toe will also effect camber to a point, this can be adjusted on the rear of a quattro by loosening the bolts holding the suspension arm to the chassis however for yours to be the figures you suggest, I suspect a broken spring.

Lowering typically adds negative camber to a quattro A3/S3 which can be dialled out using adjustable ties bars.

<tuffty/>

Cheers. Now that you mention it. The MOT said something about a hairline crack in the spring. The guy told me he got his mechanic to check it out and nothing was found. I got a mechanic to check it too and put it through the MOT in Ireland and nothing was found. Maybe it's gotten worse? Will check that out thanks.

 

[metricspaces]

Hmm...just gave my mechanic a shout and he couldn't see anything wrong with the rear springs.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Its usually the little pigtail bit at the end of the spring that breaks off. Check both sides for comparison. Its typically not a lot that breaks off so will normally go unnoticed.

<tuffty/>

 

[metricspaces]

Thanks. Will pass that on, see if he can spot anything!

 

[metricspaces]

Was on to my mechanic again. He said he's pretty sure my springs are good, he can't notice anything wrong with them, darn

 

[metricspaces]

Update on this...l went to another mechanic. They guy owns an S3 too. Low and behold. The spring on the passenger side at the rear is cracked!

Took him about 2 seconds to figure that out.

He was able to tell it had cracked based on two things

1) The end of the spring at the bottom was all sharp - obviously because it cracked

2) The very bottom of the spring on the drivers side had three rings of the spring at the very bottom...whereas the one on the passenger side only had one ring at the very bottom. If that makes sense.

Just another fine example of wasting money by bringing a car to Audi.

The mechanic I brought the car to today said there was no point in doing reallignment until the spring was replaced. He charged me nothing.

I feel like going back to Audi and asking for a refund of the £150 I paid them to do nothing, because they should never have done the reallignment if the spring was broken, they should have known that they could never have gotten it right...and I did tell them in advance that it was pulling to the left a good bit. I even told them to check for a broken spring at the end of the spring...they told me there was nothing wrong with the springs! So annoying!!

 

[<tuffty/>]

Glad you got it sorted mate (I won't say I told you so... ******!!! just did!!! LOL) ;P

<tuffty/>

 

[metricspaces]

(I won't say I told you so... ******!!! just did!!! LOL) ;P

<tuffty/>

You did indeed! And I told the ****** Audi mechanic as he was working on the car, who told me that none of them were cracked - specifically told him to check the ends of the springs to see if any bits had broken off already.

Guess if he had found one of the springs were broken, then he couldn't have billed me for reallignment???

You reckon I should go ask for my £150 back? In fairness, they did wash my car, most expensive car wash I've ever had!!!

 

[Andy_S3]

I cant believe Audi didnt spot the cracked spring, shocking really. I noticed it when my OEM spring snapped in exactly the same place as yours and I didnt even have to take the wheel off!

 

[metricspaces]

What do you reckon my chances are of getting anything back of Audi ... suppose it's a waste of time, but may be worth a try?

 

[s3_kev]

definantly go back mate thats terrible that they didnt see the spring broken especially after you telling them to check it, possibly get the spring replaced and then tell them to re align the car foc as they cocked up in the 1st place and also get them to fit the spring foc, muppets why is it every audi dealer seems to be so rubbish dont matter where you live there all at it

 

[metricspaces]

The mechanic who spotted the broken spring with me has overhauled the suspension on his S3. I took a drive of it...and liked it a lot !!! So I think I may just go the whole hog and do it myself.

So, if I went back to Audi, I'd just be looking for my money back, which I can imagine the answer would be "but we spent an hour rigging your car up on the machine for allignment, and then spent and hour trying to reallign it".

 

[s3_kev]

so they still didnt do it properly, there loss not yours dont be a sof touch lol

 

[VeVeX]

You should go back to Audi with your car. The fact that it took time to do the job is irrelevant as they shouldn't have started it in the first place with a visibly broken spring.

Nice to meet you today btw.

Keith

 

[metricspaces]

You should go back to Audi with your car. The fact that it took time to do the job is irrelevant as they shouldn't have started it in the first place with a visibly broken spring.

Nice to meet you today btw.

Keith

Thanks Keith. The only reason I went to Audi in the first place was because I read somewhere that it was the best place to get the car realligned. How wrong was I !

Nice set up on your car. Hopefully I can get mine like that. Suspension + Remap =