front camber adjustment on mk1

hi all,

i recently had my tyres changed due to flat spots and a rubbing sound that i'd started to hear.

my mechanic mentioned that the tyres were rubbing on the arch somewhere but there is at least an inch clearance around the tyre and there has never been a rubbing problem before a month or two ago.

i bought new 195/50 pirelli p6000s for my set of mim 1900 (alpine) wheels.

the place i went to get the tyres changed (protyre in enfield) said they didn't know how to adjust the camber on the front wheels (!).

so i have a couple of questions:

1. how can they adjust the camber? can i bowl up to them with my haynes manual and show them???
2. could this rubbing actually be on the arch? the car has coilovers, but there have never been rubbing problems before about a month ago. is there a possibility it's started to rub on the suspension leg instead or something?

i'm really gutted the car is doing this. if anyone can help it would be really appreciated.

Andoni

if they dont know then never go back to them ever ever again. it is the simplist job in the world to adjust camber on a mk1.
there are 2 bolts on top of the hub. the top one has an eccentric washer. loosen bottom bolt. loossen top bolt turn top bolt till camber is correct and tighten.

they must be really rubbish if they cant do that.

when you had new tyres fitted, were they they same size as the ones you took off?

my mate had rubbing issues running 195 width on a 15" rim with collies.
a 185 tyre sorted that out.

ash x

you can just "un do the bolts move and do up though"  

you will need a camber gauge (a basic one is less than £30 on ebay and well worth it weight in gold!) you will also need the tracking setting once the cambers been changed,

the way to set it is as follows:

find level ground and park the car up with straight steering and the tyre pressure correct, a normal level of fuel so 1/2 a tank or so etc etc

calibrate the camber gauge as per the instructions (a spirit level and a straight wall will help)

then measure the camber, either by removing the centre cap of the front wheels, or by plaacing something staright and flat over the wheel rim / spokes but make sure if you do it the latter way that you avoid the tyre bulge at the bottom of the wheel as this will give a false reading.

this is the camber of the wheel at the moment.

the ideal for road use would be between -0.5 and -1deg, but for more fast road use and track use -1.5 is the ideal (this is what all my cars have run)

now you know how much camber you need to add, jack the front of the car up, support on axel stands and make sure its level vai a spirt level applied to the car (this is important that the car is level! )

now for the adjustment. you kow from measuring it on the floor how much you need to add or take away, so now its in the air put the gauge back onto the disck face betwen the bolt holes, so as close to the centre of the hub as possible, and reset the gauge back to 0.

now undo the 2 bolts that hole the hub to the strut, just slacken them off and move the strut / hub untill you get the right amount of camber, - ie if you had 1.2 deg and wanted 1.3, add on an extra 0.3 deg of camber.

once its set do the 2 bolts back up beng careful not to move the strut / hub and do the same on the other side.

put the wheels back on, lower back to the ground, and roll the car forward abd backwards while turning the steering to resettle everything, then recheck the cambre on the wheel and tweak if needed.

a thing to note though is that with wide wheels and / or coilovers the amount of cambre that can be achived can be limited due to the inside face of the wheel / tyre contacting with the strut, so please check for this before driving the car! and if needs be reduce the amount of cambre to achive clearance (and adjust both sides, its not un known for one side to catch and the otherside to be marginally clear but the cambre must match from side to side.)

also note that when the cambre or the ride height has been chnaged the car will need to have the tracking reset as adding cambre will make the car toe in alot, even a small change will alter things alot and eat tyres fast.

cheers

Karl

i ment them adjusting as in the shop. who i'd expect to have camber gauges. having said that i'd be worried if they cnt figure out how to do that.

lots of places dont have gauges or have a clue, most modern stuff is fixed camber now, and its quite a unique thing for the average joe to want their camber setting.

thanks karl, thanks guys for all your help.

as an aside, i had the previous tyres (same size) on for a while before the rubbing started.

i'm not sure what started it. do you think spacers will help?

maybe one of your camber bolts is crackered, or on its way, and its slipping.

if you're feeling flush order some new ones from VW, about £12 per bolt!
don't forget to buy the nuts and washers too. (about 60p each)

ash x