Castor Adjustment??
- Thread starter 2002turbo
- Start date
the only way to adjust that is to install castor / camber plates at the top of each front strut. i only know of one that works for stock struts - KMac
They aren't adjustable.
Question is how much they are off?
But if you say, car is drifting, must be more.
That lead to the next question, why it's off?
Had the car a crash? If not, any bushings worn ore loose?
Shock strut bent?
Wheel bearing ok?
Breiti
Question is how much they are off?
But if you say, car is drifting, must be more.
That lead to the next question, why it's off?
Had the car a crash? If not, any bushings worn ore loose?
Shock strut bent?
Wheel bearing ok?
Breiti
Caster is off a lot, about 2 deg. Camber is off about 1 deg. Toe was off a bit too but that was adjusted out.
Car belonged to others for 40 years before me, don't see crash damage but who knows 40 years is a long time. The spare rim was bent so there's a clue. The thing is, the problem seems to have developed after I replaced the steering arm and ball joint boots, and the droplink bushings on both sides. It's the right front that is off. Something is clunking in the right front (recently) as well, so maybe that's the culprit. We can't see anything flapping about or loose on its mounting.
No play in the suspension or bearing.
We adjusted the toe to bring that in, it's green now but car is still drifting if anything, worse.
Shock strut maybe .. no easy way to tell?
The 3 bolts in the shock tower are tight with no sign of washout.
Car belonged to others for 40 years before me, don't see crash damage but who knows 40 years is a long time. The spare rim was bent so there's a clue. The thing is, the problem seems to have developed after I replaced the steering arm and ball joint boots, and the droplink bushings on both sides. It's the right front that is off. Something is clunking in the right front (recently) as well, so maybe that's the culprit. We can't see anything flapping about or loose on its mounting.
No play in the suspension or bearing.
We adjusted the toe to bring that in, it's green now but car is still drifting if anything, worse.
Shock strut maybe .. no easy way to tell?
The 3 bolts in the shock tower are tight with no sign of washout.
The caster (“Nachlauf”) should be fixed by the position (alignment) of the top bearing from the shock tower and the fixed position of the steering joint at the bottom of the shock tower. The camber (“Spreizung”) is fixed by also the fixed position of the top bearing (alignment to the right/left) and by the alignment of the wheel bearing part. See picture below.
Maybe you can do a visual inspection of the straightness of the shock tower. It is one of the first parts that gets misaligned in a crash.
Maybe you can do a visual inspection of the straightness of the shock tower. It is one of the first parts that gets misaligned in a crash.
stphers
Well-Known Member
Measure the wheelbase length from side to side and see if there is a major difference. I would also measure the toe in , even though it is not the best way to do it, to see if there is any thing drastic
Thanks, Rick
Thanks, Rick
You will probably end up replacing the front strut.
steve48
New Member
If there are no loose fitments, and the alignment shop measured Steering Axis Inclination (SAI) and Included Angle (IA), you can narrow down the likely bent / shifted component(s) with this table. The process served me well isolating 'cross' alignment issues, where one wheel deviates greatly from specs. E9 Spindle and Knuckle are in-unit, which simplifies that source. Small side to side deviations are common and not usually a cause of drifting or pulling. In my experience, albeit on Hondas and Acuras, differences of 1/2 degree of camber and 1 degree of caster induce pulling to side.
