Going for alignment tomorrow, what are the specs on a stock height car ?

[jason bouchard]

01 Audi TT Quattro 225 AMU

koni yellow sport shocks, oem springs 17inch oem fat fives with snow tires for winter, 18 inch S5 knockoff wheels with bridgestone potenzas for summer , 25mm rear spacers 15mm front spacers.

What alignment spec #'s should I be looking for on a stock height car that is daily driven, but driven hard. I like the rear to Turn too.

I searched but most everyone was lowered or had an camber kit . my car does not have any kit.


going tomorrow morning to a local GOOD shop

Thanks

[jwalker1.8]

If they are a good shop they will know what needs to be done. Alignment is pretty straight forward. They read toe and chamber angles and make the needed adjustments.

[jason bouchard]

should I ask for specific #'s or is there any #'s for me to go on ?

[jwalker1.8]

No numbers basically you can't adjust camber in back so it is what it is and toe and camber in front they will just make it as straight as possible.

[20v master]

As much camber as they can get out of the front ball joints with zero toe and 1-1.5* negative in the rear with toe at 0 or toe in 1/16th". The specs they pull up as standard will have camber in the -2.x to -3.x range, way too much for even tire wear on the street. Depending on age/mileage on teh springs, they may not be able to get you to a reasonable spec in the rear.

[jason bouchard]

here are my alignment #'s let me know what you think, I have no camber kit so the tech said that he couldnt adjust it, he changed the toe as the car was pulling slightly

[Marcus_Aurelius]

Honestly, it's horrible and I'd take it back for them to fix. How are you going to align a car with 0.21* of toe on the left and zero toe on the right . Some techs really don't get or care about how suspension actually works. Your rear camber is too high also and the specs that 20v recommended are spot on.

[20v master]

Oh wow, yeah, that's horrible. As expected, and just like in my case, you need a pair of adjustable arms in the rear. PM sent Max.

[jason bouchard]

Okay so I'm going back tomorrow, I'll tell them 0 or atleast equally low rear toe and is there a way to adjust my rear camber ? 9without a camber kit)


The car is stock height stock springs, with koni yellow springs

hows the front settings/specs ??

[jason bouchard]

If you want to tell me exactly what to ask for and what needs to be fixed/adjusted and to what #'s
I will print it out and hand it to them

Thanks

[jason bouchard]

ok i'm going soon, any help ?

[20v master]

They aren't going to be able to adjust the rear camber to a reasonable level with OEM arms. Have them balance the toe out in the rear between both sides, and get it as close to zero as possible. The front is fine.

[Marcus_Aurelius]

ok i'm going soon, any help ?

It's said in this thread what's needed.

Have them dial 0 toe in the front Both sides please

Have them dial in 1/16" of toe in the back Both sides for the love of God. The rear camber is still high but there is not much they can do without adjustable lateral links (aka control arms around here).

[Marcus_Aurelius]

The front is fine.

Sure of that?

There is no reason for anything but zero front toe in a street TT... and the reason is because I said so

[20v master]

Sure of that?

There is no reason for anything but zero front toe in a street TT... and the reason is because I said so

Yeah, but a tenth of a degree on each side isn't going to do much. But you're right, if he's going to complain and be that guy, may as well have them fix it.

[jason bouchard]

well He tried working with the rear and could not move the toe at all. . . He unbolted the front of the rear control arm and tried to move the wheel and that didnt work, then we jacked the car up and hit the arm with a hammer and it didnt adjust either. . . any ideas on How to adjust the toe in the rear ? audi of princeton wants 150$ and I aready paid 60$ here

[20v master]

The only toe adjustment in the rear is from the trailing arm (not the lateral links as Marcus calls them, which are the same as what everyone else incorrectly calls control arms). The trailing arm has a large bushing in the front of the arm (towards the front of the car), that connects the arm to a large plate type bracket that bolts to the chassis with four bolts. The four bolt holes in the plate are slotted. Sliding the plate along these slots is the only adjustment in the rear for toe, unless you add adjustable lateral link/control arms. Put the $150 towards the adjustable arms, as you aren't going to be able to get camber to a reasonable level without them, and you won't be able to get toe aligned either way. Before I added adjustable arms, the trailing arm was at the end range of the slots, and toe was dialed in, but I still had way too much camber. Adding the arms gives adjustment for both toe (slightly) and camber.

[jason bouchard]

yea that front four bolt thing is what we worked on and unbolted but we couldnt get it to slide or budge at all I just want to get the toe fixed at this place and then save up for arms which right now could take a while
So any ideas why they wont budge?

secondly, will old original springs cause extra camber in the rear ?
(If i have to get new springs I dont want springs any lower then what I have now since its pretty low)

[20v master]

Yes, this is what my problem was. Stock springs were giving WAY too much camber. Were you trying to move the four bolt plate the right way? The slots only give a limited range of adjustment so you may have been at the end of the range. You could remove the plate and drill out the slots more, but I don't think there is much meat to work with there. Got any pictures? I don't get how stock springs can be "pretty low." There's still like a whole fist full of wheel gap on my 180Q on stock springs.

[Marcus_Aurelius]

Get your money back and go somewhere else that can do it. The rear trailing arm's forward mounting holes are slotted laterally to adjust toe. However, it is not unusual to have the bolts frozen with rust in the laterally slotted holes, a BFH (I'm talking about a real big heavy one) and some rust penetrating fluid will get them free.

[jason bouchard]

im gonna jack it up and pbc blaster the bolts and use the BFH and see if i can get it to budge and then go back to the shop. . . I want it right but I dont wanna piss off this shop because they give me great deals on tires and installs. . . and any alignment ive gotten on any car has been good and on spec except this one

[jason bouchard]

Yes, this is what my problem was. Stock springs were giving WAY too much camber. Were you trying to move the four bolt plate the right way? The slots only give a limited range of adjustment so you may have been at the end of the range. You could remove the plate and drill out the slots more, but I don't think there is much meat to work with there. Got any pictures? I don't get how stock springs can be "pretty low." There's still like a whole fist full of wheel gap on my 180Q on stock springs.

I have a 01 225 and the gap isnt that much at all definitely less then a fist.
**Edit** I just checked on 18's with 225/40 tires the rear is about 3.5 fingers and the front is about 2.5 fingers gap. Stock springs koni yellows shocks.

I did try and move it by hammer and pry but not sure as I didnt have alotta time and I didnt use pbc blaster or anything to loosen up the bolts. . .


Damn I dont wanna have to buy new springs AND arms if I do get springs I want something with no drop and kinda cheap lol . . . Its hard to believe these springs go bad this quickly

[20v master]

I have a 01 225 and the gap isnt that much at all definitely less then a fist.
**Edit** I just checked on 18's with 225/40 tires the rear is about 3.5 fingers and the front is about 2.5 fingers gap. Stock springs koni yellows shocks.

I did try and move it by hammer and pry but not sure as I didnt have alotta time and I didnt use pbc blaster or anything to loosen up the bolts. . .


Damn I dont wanna have to buy new springs AND arms if I do get springs I want something with no drop and kinda cheap lol . . . Its hard to believe these springs go bad this quickly

3.5 fingers ~= 4 fingers = fist width. So buy some custom springs that won't drop the ride height, but they won't be any cheaper than off the shelf offerings.

[jason bouchard]

maybe i'll buy newer oem springs any way to test springs to see if they need to be replaced ?