Alignment oddities California T6.1

[racerke600]

Hi all,

Since I received the Cali, i've been modding it with several bits and pieces.

One of the things was a KW coilover system. I've got KW on my other car and i'm happy with it.

After driving around for some time to let everything settle , we made the final adjustments for the ride height.

At first it was sagging a bit at the rear , I guess beacsue the Cali is already 2450kg without any luggage.

Anyway the rear is now 10mm higher than the front, and when it's fully loaded for a trip it's about level.

So far so good. Next stop was to have an alignment done.

The first problem that presented itself was, what vehicle to choose from the list?
I suggested that they just take the Caravalle half loaded version.

After they set it up, and corrected the front toe this was the final verdict.



All the values where in 'the green' and looked fine to me.

But now comes the 'fun' stuff. Last week I received my banded amaroks from duchy, had some tyres slapped on and mounted everything.
8,5J x 18 all four of them with GG at3's 235/55 18

All looked fine except that my sliding door is touching the door card when almost completely opened.

When I looked at the other side, I could easily tell the wheels is sitting more inwards.

I quickly grabbed a piece of straight wood and placed it against the wheel so that i just stops under the bodywork.
There was a difference from about 10mm more tilt on the left wheel vs the right wheel.

My first guess was that the camber is off, and when I looked at the alignment report it says so.
There is almost 1 degree difference from L to R.

I checked the height and L & R are equal (1mm difference).

I'm now trying to find an explanation where does this differance come from? The only thing that can be set up at the rear is the toe.
Which hasn't been touched and was within spec +19' & +17' vs +15' .

I've also noticed on other aligment reports where the load was unloaded, that the rear toe should be set lower. +05' ?

My first idea would be to go back to an alignment center, and have the rear toe set to spec.
But since my Cali is always heavy i'm not sure what values to use? I think +05' would be better than +015'?

And has anyone experienced the same visual differances between L&R side? Especially with wide wheels sitting near the edge of the bodywork?

 

[racerke600]

Some pictures from the L and R , it's about 10mm diff.


Meanwhile after some more digging on this forum i found the LOAD vs NO LOAD explanation.
So i'm going back shortly to have the rear toe adjusted. But i don't think this will effect the camber by much.

Still in doubt to fit rear adjustable bushes. In belgium they're forbidden, but I guess when I choose the black version I dount they will notice the difference.

 

[Rado]

I have same think on my t6 multivan, that whole body is moved to one side about 5mm.

 

[racerke600]

Yesterday I took her over for another alignment, this time with the banded steels, first alignment was with the standard 16inch steels.

This time we set the the correct model , K4L (Camper) with NO LOAD.

I was a bit surprised about the values from the starting point, I would've thought that these would be the same as the final result from 2 months ago.

Seems they differ quite a lot. Reason? Maybe the oversized tyres with the banded steels?

Anyway rear toe was adjusted , but couldn't be corrected all the way. 0°15' was the max. at the rear right.

The rear left was also adjusted to get close to the 0°05' , that was a bit higher.

But now the L & R are not equal, or are these differences minimal?




Still in doubt to order these bushings for the rear. They are PU with 83 shore hardness (softer than powerflex black).
And they are black, verry important for belgium MOT, everything that doesn't look standard, is 'forbidden'.

Not cheap, about 480 euros with the tool needed to extract the old bushings. But would still need to pay a mechanic to fit these.

But this would allow me to set the toe and camber at the rear, how i want it.

 

[huw169]

Hi. Did you find out what the issue is?
My left rear arch is 12mm further out than the right.
Wheels are all aligned...
Odd.

 

[racerke600]

Hi. Did you find out what the issue is?
My left rear arch is 12mm further out than the right.
Wheels are all aligned...
Odd.

Untill now the only reasonable explanation would be that the camber is the reason.

left rear is -2°06'
right rear is -1°48'

what does your alignment report say?

 

[huw169]

To be fair, I haven't looked yet. It's all the way over in the garage, which is about 5m away, so ill get my lazy arse out there...

Just looking at the way you have measured it, and doing a quick trig calc, and assuming a 450mm distance from center of wheel to arch, then a 1 degree difference in camber would equate to about 7-8mm, so about 4mm based on your actual measurements.

Before I did the calc, I wouldn't have guessed it was that high, but I will check mine this evening. Maybe I should have said 'wheels are all aligned withing manufacturers limits'. With a standard wheel you'd never see it by eye, but my right slider touches my tyre, whereas my left doesn't.

Another way of checking is to get the van on level ground. Hold a spirit level in the vertical position against the top of the wheel arch, and measure from the edge of the level to the rim at top bottom and middle. Ultimately, if the middle measurement is correct both sides then it just a camber issue. I plan to do this soon.

 

[huw169]

My camber is -1.21' and -1.41', so not much in it apart from the 1.41' being just out of spec. Certainly doesn't account for 12mm difference.

 

[racerke600]

My camber is -1.21' and -1.41', so not much in it apart from the 1.41' being just out of spec. Certainly doesn't account for 12mm difference.

that's about the same difference i have.
0.20'

What toe settings do you have?

Only difference is I have a LH drive and you a RH drive. So could be a factory setting?

I there anyone whose arch measurements are equal L to R ?