Geometry calibration, what is it and why?

[the bruce]

 

[Cij84]

I know Tony from Lexus Owners Club, he has worked wonders for the IS200's as they came from the dealership how to say it...."not right" he has from what i have seen a fantastic set up in his garage, and able to perform and show you exactly what he is doing to your cars geometry whilst setting it up!!

Chris

[Teutonic_Tamer]

I know Tony from Lexus Owners Club, he has worked wonders for the IS200's as they came from the dealership how to say it...."not right" he has from what i have seen a fantastic set up in his garage, and able to perform and show you exactly what he is doing to your cars geometry whilst setting it up!!

Chris

MANY main stealers completely fook up geometry settings . . .

IMVHO, you should never let a stealer loose on alignments.  I had my previous S4 done by an official Audi garage (Huntingdon Audi), and they messed it up so badly I had two monster blowouts at three figure speeds on the Autoroute in the south of France!  Thankfully Michelin France came to my rescue . . .

[majinvash]

^^^^
Don't know if this info will help, but here goes:

If you are having a laser alignment on say a Hunter rig, one of the presets is called: "Volkswagen : Golf V 2004-09 : Sport Suspension GTI (G08/1JE)".

Ranges are:

FRONT : LEFT & RIGHT

Camber: -1º14' - -0º14'
Caster: 7º17' - 8º17'


Toe: 0º00' - 0º10'

Hi

Heading up to a local trusted garage to have the geometry on my car sorted. ( Denmead Tyres )

They have a hunters rig.
Are the above settings the ones you would recommend getting or would I be much better with getting another "fast road" setting put on?

Cheers

Mat

[RedRobin]

Hi

Heading up to a local trusted garage to have the geometry on my car sorted. ( Denmead Tyres )

They have a hunters rig.
Are the above settings the ones you would recommend getting or would I be much better with getting another "fast road" setting put on?

Cheers

Mat

....Hi Mat, and a Warm Welcome to the forum 

I have used Denmead twice (via JKM). I would take their advice as it might be influenced by how your car is individually already set up. My suspension was set up by VWR but yours may never have been specifically set up.

It will be interesting to compare our Denmead Hunter settings.

[majinvash]

Cheers Bud.

I am pretty sure its not been done since It was new or at best by main stealer's.

Getting a set of F1 Eagles soon, so going to get it all done at the same time. £480 fitted :D

Trying to decide weather to get the WALK and the relevant front bushings to support that done at the same time.

Coming from a 350bhp Scooby I am really missing being able to put the power I have down.

[RedRobin]

Trying to decide weather to get the WALK and the relevant front bushings to support that done at the same time.

....As soon as you've had WALK and bushings I think you'll need alignment done. So you might be going for an alignment twice in fairly quick succession.

If you are definite about the WALK and bushings (all fronts or just arm to balance WALK), then I would leave the alignment until they are installed and put up with the new tyres without up-to-date alignment as long as as it's not too long.

I've changed tyres plenty of times without alignment every time.

[majinvash]

From reading the reviews on this site.

I think its these that I need?

   Front Wishbone Inner Bush (Front)   2   1   PFF85-501   
Ex. VAT:     £18.65
Inc. VAT:     £22.38
   Front Wishbone Inner Bush (Rear)   2   2   PFF85-502   
Ex. VAT:     £24.15
Inc. VAT:     £28.98


Annoyingly the pricing on the Powerflex site is half that I can find on the net from suppliers.. I am wondering if the main site is actually listing the trade pricing?

[RedRobin]

^^^^
I don't know the part #'s on mine but they are installed as shown (purple):





^ Powerflex.

[the bruce]

I'd go for the SuperPro or Whiteline front bushes that have a pattern to keep
some grease.

 

For spirited driving get the rear camber reduced to a value close to front camber
and front toe slightly increased (+10' to +15) while having rear toe close to zero
(0' to 5'). The car will turn better.

The main problems with most shops are:

- get both sides as equal as possible (VW allows huge tolerances)
- they often "forget" to reduce rear camber after lowering

[Hedge]

For spirited driving get the rear camber reduced to a value close to front camber
and front toe slightly increased (+10' to +15) while having rear toe close to zero
(0' to 5'). The car will turn better.

Is that Toe in or Toe out?

[RedRobin]

^^^^
My Toe, both front and rear is 0º07' on both Left and Right.

I remember that VWR slightly increased my rear camber a fraction after lowering on KW=V3's.

[the bruce]

Is that Toe in or Toe out?

Toe in as almost always on a street car. 

[Hedge]

Is that Toe in or Toe out?

Toe in as almost always on a street car. 

Thanks Bruce. 

[the bruce]

To make things more clear when you read alignment data:

Positive toe values are 'toe in', negative numbers are 'toe out'.

Keep in mind reducing rear toe in (or even toe out) wil help turning, but at the same time unsettle
the rear end. Toe out on rear is too dangerous at higher speeds, so not recommended on street.
A slight increase of toe in on front will help turn in and steering response. Again: Don't overdo it.
Stop at +15'.

Guess I don't need to explain positive and negative camber as almost anyone knows stock cars
run zero to few negative camber and increasing negative camber helps cornering speeds greatly.