tsm Posted November 4, 2007 Report Share Posted November 4, 2007 Hi guys, New member here, this looks like a great forum with a lot of knowledge on board I have a 2002 MK4 Golf TDI and fitted a new pair of front wishbones and ball joints last week as the old bushes were split. I had the alignment checked this weekend at Chemix in Stourbridge on their Hunter alignment system. The technician pointed out that the front toe was slightly out so he adjusted accordingly. I was handed the geometery report - the toe had been corrected but the 'after measurements' were still showing the caster in RED, i.e. out of manufacturers spec When I questioned the technician about this he said it was because of the 'ride height' and he would have to weigh the car down to get a correct reading. This did not sound reasonable to me....my car has no suspension modifications, it has factory fitted sports suspension and sits approx 30mm lower than a standard MK4 Golf. I have also had my geometry checked at this same Chemix branch on a few occasions and the Caster has always been within spec - they never had to weigh my car down to get a correct reading. Now i'm not an expert in this field but this just does not sound acceptable to me, I didn't want to kick off without being armed with facts and technical info so thought i'd do some digging on the internet first. Here is a pic of the report, any comments or advice would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted November 5, 2007 Report Share Posted November 5, 2007 Hello.... They are kind of correct...... Although your car doesn't need weights it does need a full tank of fuel. Fact is the castor positions are still high and even, i have no problems with that report Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsm Posted November 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2007 Hello.... They are kind of correct...... Although your car doesn't need weights it does need a full tank of fuel. Fact is the castor positions are still high and even, i have no problems with that report Many thanks Tony, so swapping my wishbones would have had no effect on the caster at all? I was just a little concerned as my car has been aligned on this same system on three ocassions in the past - it has never shown any anomolies with the caster even with quarter tank of fuel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted November 5, 2007 Report Share Posted November 5, 2007 Hello.... They are kind of correct...... Although your car doesn't need weights it does need a full tank of fuel. Fact is the castor positions are still high and even, i have no problems with that report Many thanks Tony, so swapping my wishbones would have had no effect on the caster at all? I was just a little concerned as my car has been aligned on this same system on three ocassions in the past - it has never shown any anomolies with the caster even with quarter tank of fuel. Normally if the castor is wrong it would be due to damaged wishbones/bushings.....In the past the bushings would have been worn so the longitudinal position of the castor would be low..... Now you have solid bushings the castor position is high. The reason they are so high is probably due to the fuel loading? nevertheless most times we are only concerned with low or uneven castor positions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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