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[RacingSnake]

That front left hand camber is way out when comparing to WIM spec.

I hope not as was set by a garage listed on the WIM website!

Bear in mind that the springs and dampers are brand new, so I would hope they would set it to the lower tolerance so that in time when the springs sag the camber does not increase beyond a level to cause damage to the tyres.

[RacingSnake]

That front castor is oppsed. Needs the front subframe moving. Which means starting over.

Camber should be nearer -1.10 than that too really. But seen worse on that front.

Moving the subframe sounds a mare of a job. Is a WIM garage even going to be able to do this?

[Webby the Bear]

That front left hand camber is way out when comparing to WIM spec.

I hope not as was set by a garage listed on the WIM website!

Bear in mind that the springs and dampers are brand new, so I would hope they would set it to the lower tolerance so that in time when the springs sag the camber does not increase beyond a level to cause damage to the tyres.

Just checked Autodata at the standard Vauxhall spec (ignore the WIM settings for now) and your camber reading's even worse! it says here it should be 1 degree 40'' +/- 45.

Yours is way out. What shop did you use?

[chrisgixer]

That front castor is oppsed. Needs the front subframe moving. Which means starting over.

Camber should be nearer -1.10 than that too really. But seen worse on that front.

Moving the subframe sounds a mare of a job. Is a WIM garage even going to be able to do this?

It's not too bad. Loosen the 6 sub frame bolts, lever the subframe within the play of the bolt holes to settings, tighten bolts. But as everything hangs off the subframe, it will alter the camber and toe, so the entire front end will have to be re done.

Wim are aware of this. Can't speak for the franchises though.

[RacingSnake]

Yours is way out. What shop did you use?

I'll PM you

[RacingSnake]

That front castor is oppsed. Needs the front subframe moving. Which means starting over.

Camber should be nearer -1.10 than that too really. But seen worse on that front.

Moving the subframe sounds a mare of a job. Is a WIM garage even going to be able to do this?

It's not too bad. Loosen the 6 sub frame bolts, lever the subframe within the play of the bolt holes to settings, tighten bolts. But as everything hangs off the subframe, it will alter the camber and toe, so the entire front end will have to be re done.

Wim are aware of this. Can't speak for the franchises though.

Thanks for the advice. Looks like a trip to WIM HQ looks the way to go then.

[Kevin Wood]

Just checked Autodata at the standard Vauxhall spec (ignore the WIM settings for now) and your camber reading's even worse! it says here it should be 1 degree 40'' +/- 45.

Yours is way out. What shop did you use?

As said, 1^o10" is a better target to aim for. Recommended figures are no use once the suspension has got a bit of wear on it.

As for +/-45' tolerance... If the job's worth doing..

Agreed, that caster value is way out, though. It won't drive straight until that's resolved. I'd venture to suggest that something is bent for it to be that far out, but might just be subframe alignment.

[RacingSnake]

Just checked Autodata at the standard Vauxhall spec (ignore the WIM settings for now) and your camber reading's even worse! it says here it should be 1 degree 40'' +/- 45.

Yours is way out. What shop did you use?

As said, 1^o10" is a better target to aim for. Recommended figures are no use once the suspension has got a bit of wear on it.

As for +/-45' tolerance... If the job's worth doing..

Agreed, that caster value is way out, though. It won't drive straight until that's resolved. I'd venture to suggest that something is bent for it to be that far out, but might just be subframe alignment.

If -1°10' is the recommended target, I'm not that far out then.

However it seems to be a bit academic at the moment though if the caster needs resetting. The car has never had an accident in the time my family has had it, and we've had it since it was 1 year old. Any ideas what could be bent? It's recently had new lower wishbones so it's not them. Unless the whole subframe is bent out of alignment, but it would need to have been a hefty whack to do that though I would have thought.

[chrisgixer]

There's huge gob in the subframe holes. Huge.

[2woody]

I'm guessing you'll be running 17 inch wheels then ?

[Webby the Bear]

Hang on a sec boys.

My R/H front camber was (and still is) 1o 35''. This ''technically'' is in spec. When I posted these results up WIM and a few members said that even though the tolerance is +/- 45'' this was way out and needed adjusting or I'm going to get severe wear on the shoulder.

Yet we're looking at these figures of Racing Snake's and no one's concerned about the camber figure being 0o 50''.

Only difference between RS's figures and mine is 5''. So surely he should be having the same concern over the tyre wear on the shoulder as well? Or have I missed something 

[chrisgixer]

Rs's camber is the more vertical side of -1.10.

Where as yours was cambered more than -1.10.

I haven't checked what been quoted to what scale but also consider some places work in 100ths (?) of a degree. Wim work to degrees and minutes (60 minutes to a degree, not a 100th) or something like that.

But as said, it's matters little, as the caster error means it will all go to cock when the subframe is moved.

Yours, as we know on here, will give shoulder wear at the book settings of -1.45 mins.(15 minutes away from 2degrees)

Ime there is no case at all for setting camber beyond 1.15 even on sports suspension, and the likes of irmscher providing top mount stickers Warning owners that camber MUST be set to -1.40. Mins. Utter bollards.

1.20 will cause excess wear by the time the middle tread is low. Set it to -1.40 and you'll have tyre strands wacking the shock mount spring cup in under 7k miles.

[Webby the Bear]

That explains it Chris. thanks for that! 

[RacingSnake]

Right then, just a quick update to this thread. Thank you very much to all who replied and gave advice.

I had the two rear axle mounting bushes replaced today, and the handling has improved dramatically, so it appears these were a culprit. Absolute bugger to get out though apparently!

In a few weeks (once the new suspension has settled a bit) I'll go and get another wheel alignment done and hopefully that will be the handling problem sorted.

[RacingSnake]

A quick question for you knowledgeable people:

Would the process of changing the front dampers affect the caster angle?