negative camber

[melbv]

getting advice and understanding...

is most lowered mkv with aftermarket bigger wheels typically have negative camber?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camber_angle

seems like my 18" wheels cause some rubbering at rear when i do hard cornering
just wondering whether i should go re-align to negative camber?

is mkv gti factory setting already having negative camber?

[Capercat]

Sounds to me you have lowered it too much considering your running 18" wheels.

Post a picture of your car's stance.

[Justin Fox]

Lowering a car will always result in more negative camber. My rear camber was set at -2 but I was rubbing the guards (not the inner liner but the actual guard itself) I was forced to set it to -3 to stop the rubbing.

Just be aware that camber eats up your tyres on the inside!

[Big Yellow]

always get an alignment when changing/lowering suspension. i learnt the hard way lol!

yes camber will cause inside wear, but toe is what causes excessive wear. most the time when u lower the car, toe is what causes most problems.

[Sammy]

Let me dispell a few camber myths.

Toe angle is what really eats up the inside of you tyres, typically increasing camber increases the toe in without an alignment correction. It is possible to run 2-3 degrees of camber without destroying tyre life provided your toe is set +/-0.

The Mk5/6 platform golfs are equipped with eccentric bolts in the rear suspension to allow for 3* camber adjustment. The front has no adjustment for camber, alothough lowering will increse it slightly, you will actually reduce camber with dramatic lowering due to the camber curve of the lower ball joint geometry.

To adjust the camber in the front of a current platform golf you have the following options.

- Camber plates (Ground Control, H2Sport) with a pillowball mount to allow the strut mount to be moved towards the centreline of the car. There is limited range of adjustment when using stock suspension or 'cup kits' because of the large diameter of the coil spring. Some options come with compact race springs and pillowball camber plates (TEIN, JIC Cross, KW Clubsport). Note: Solid mount camber plates will increase NVH!

- Audi TT Mk2 lower control arm and ball joint. These can give you up to 1.8* static camber with stock struts, you can further improve the handling charateristics by also using the MK2 TT Spindles which have a camber curve more suitable to a lower car.

- Custom machined spindles. The Mk4 R32 race car ran spindles that had an upper mount specially machined to run 3* static camber, this is the bit that the lower end of the strut slides into.

- Modified strut towers and eccentric ball joint mounts. This is the route i will be going to maintain factory upper mounts and minimal NVH over stock. Basically you elongate the holes in which the ball joint is mounted and replace the bolts with eccentric items. Along with re drilling the upper strut mounts this should give me approx 2* static camber.

[melbv]

thanks for the replies guys...

i did alignment when lowering suspension and upgraded the wheels at the same time.
will try to take a photo of my rear later.... it sits pretty flush with the guard now....

is it more straightforward to find a wheel with the offset that fits mkv then???
but it seems like most lowered cars with bigger wheels will have the same issue.

[Big Yellow]

depends on how aggressive you want the car to look. mkvs have a weak offset out of the box which doesnt help. anything more than an 8.5" with et45 on 225 tires will give u headaches.

if you're not prepared to do fender work and run stretched tires, don't bother getting anything more aggressive than that!

[Jig]

^ agree. 8.5 will rub the fender for sure so some fendor work will need to be carried out. Never experienced an 8 inch wheel causing to rub even when lowered down to 30mm.

[melbv]

i am not planning any aggressive wheels and offsets.
Just having a typical 18" wheels but the rubbing when cornering just trouble me...

i am not sure to change another set of wheels or do some camber adjusting..
here's hows my car is sitting
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4152/5170628201_7346f9a351.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/5170628175_f45a86e420.jpg

i dont think my car is set too low, neither did i have a very wide wheels. :rolleyes:

[Capercat]

Thanks for posting a pic, I think the image link in broken.

edit: fixed!

[melbv]

haha. i was fixing it when you just looked at it.

so. is it better to change a new set of wheel or do some negative camber setting? ermmmmmm

[JTW]

Never experienced an 8 inch wheel causing to rub even when lowered down to 30mm.

My 8 inch +40's rub... But the ET is equalivalant to 8.5 45ET so no wonders.
I'm on 225's at the moment but want to do 215's just to give me that bit more clearence.

[schoona]

Yeah, I'd say just get some more static neg camber wound in at the rear.
You aren't that low and wheels are conservative, shouldn't be a problem. It's the tyres fault, not the wheels though.

[melbv]

currently Pirelli P Zero Rosso, 18", 225/40 tyres
so 215 will help? as what justin suggested?

[schoona]

Yes. The narrower section pulls the corner blocks of the tyre in more. Hence providing more lateral clearance for the vertical oscillation of the wheel during loading/undulations.

[Big Yellow]

just dial in some neg camber or stiffen up the shocks!

ps. wholly gutter rash!! hehe

[melbv]

lol. yes! i was thinking to change a new set of shoes if this is a problem...
or spend the money to spray gloss black like yours!


just dial in some neg camber or stiffen up the shocks!

ps. wholly gutter rash!! hehe

[clutch85]

The Mk5/6 platform golfs are equipped with eccentric bolts in the rear suspension to allow for 3* camber adjustment. The front has no adjustment for camber, alothough lowering will increse it slightly, you will actually reduce camber with dramatic lowering due to the camber curve of the lower ball joint geometry.

So to add some camber to the rear, can any mechanic just adjust these bolts or do I have to go to some specialist?

Thanks for any help! I'm looking to put 9.5" wheels on the back of my GTI so I'm very keen to know and am very noob with lowering

[schoona]

Any mechanic can adjust the bolts but you'd want them done at the time of a decent wheel alignment to ensure accuracy and consistency.

9.5 is pretty big, guard work? Airride or static? Which tyres? Offset of the wheels?

[clutch85]

Any mechanic can adjust the bolts but you'd want them done at the time of a decent wheel alignment to ensure accuracy and consistency.

9.5 is pretty big, guard work? Airride or static? Which tyres? Offset of the wheels?

Yeah I want a bit more dish on the back (like the white MK5 GTI in the threads I posted http://www.vwgolf.net.au/showthread.php?5847-Wheel-Width-of-R32-vs-MK5-GTI) I dunno how 8.5 +30 would look and fit
I'm gonna go with static based suspension maybe roll my guards if I have to. Probably need about 3 degrees of camber
Tyres are probably gonna be 215s as I spoke to the owner of the car's wheels I like and 225 had some occasional rubbing.

Any advice you have Mal?

thanks!

[schoona]

Well I have never done it before. I've only got 8.5 +45 and 8 +40 under my belt on a MkV.

Just from being around a while and looking though.

Static, you are going to want something pretty fucking stiff. 3 degrees, I'd guestimate more (I don't think you can say, im gonna lower it 50mm and fdial in -3 degrees) because thats BS. You put them on the car and make the necessary adjustments to make it all work.

To even look reasonable it is going to need to be slammed. So being static, with an 8.5 + 30 (on the front) that will poke another 15mm over norm. That isn't such a problem provided you run the 215/40 and dial in camber by one of hte methods sammy mentioned. And your guards will need ot be done, there isnt a "maybe". Especially if you drive it hard.

The rears are going to be pretty mexican without decent camber, I'd suggest trying to tuck top of the rim because oyu are static and buy yourself some clearance that way. having the guard and wheel lip square will probably just lead to disaster.

Yes I saw that thread. Stance isn't a cheap exercise (can be done cheeap but the results dont always look right (personal experience)). For the love of god, get on Import monster and find some genuine LM's second hand. Believe me, a slightly used set of LMs that fit right is much more impressive than brand new cheap copies.

There should be plenty of lows, maybe low enough driveshafts hit rails requiring notching. Who knows, it all adds up. Start with quality products first and that will hopefully eliminate doing jobs twice.

And for hitting big stances I really wouldn't look past airride if oyu want to maintain street practicality and preservation of paint/undercarriage on a "nice" car.

[clutch85]

Thanks for the advice mate! Appreciate your extensive 2 cents
Will keep you posted on how I go!