When you lift a car the camber and toe in changes, same when you lower it.
How is this problem avoided with air lift suspension?
How is this problem avoided with air lift suspension?
Air lift wheel alignment
Flash635
1 - 20 of 20 Posts
The hunter alignment machine has the tech put in the year, make, and model of the car. On a touareg it then asks the tech to check if it is steel or air.
The on-screen directions change depending on which it is aligning.
The on-screen directions change depending on which it is aligning.
Great question. Anyone know how the camber and toe is affected when moving from normal ride height to off-road ride height? Is one of those ride heights going to have slightly misaligned camber and toe settings?
What happens if you leave it in the off-road height setting with sport damper mode? It would mean around town it’s up and then on the freeway it would auto adjust down to normal height along with sport mode which is another 25mm down from normal.
Anyone know if the Touareg camber and toe somehow auto accounts for this suspension height change?
Joined
·
3,362 Posts
Air suspension Touaregs are aligned when set at "normal" height and damper setting. If the car is lowered (sport mode), it gains negative camber and toe-in. If the car is raised (off-road or extra mode), it gains positive camber and toe-out.
I just recently retrofitted the OEM air suspension to my T4 and will be getting it aligned soon. I'll have it aligned in "sport" mode, as that's what I always have it in.
I don't have specific knowledge of the adjustable suspension on a Touareg but I have a lot of general suspension knowledge and I would say that when lowered the suspension would go into negative camber and positive toe OUT.
This cause very twitchy steering and skidiness in the wet.
Raising causes positive camber or probably neutral, and toe in which a bumpy ride and bad return to centre characteristics.
But sport mode is lower and is obviously for higher speeds.
Lowered suspension would be negative camber and toe which is definitely not sporty.
Unless of course it's aligned at sport and you just don't use 'normal' on the road.
Joined
·
995 Posts
Joined
·
3,362 Posts
Whether a vehicle toes IN or OUT when lowered depends on where the steering rack is. If the rack is behind the axle, it will toe IN when lowered, and toe OUT when raised. The opposite happens if the steering rack is in front of the axle.
Source: have owned many slammed Volkswagens and Audis, all of which have the rack behind the axle. Every single one of them had tow IN once lowered.
I remember on my slammed B3 syncro, the front had so much toe-in I was worried that I would run out of threads on the tie rods. I had to custom make toe adjustments for the rear suspension.
So it's true, you really are never too old to learn something.
Most of my experience has been with steering box and drag link which is almost always behind the axle.
The Ford Explorer has the rack out the front but it toes out when lowered.
The difference between Sport & Normal is only 25mm (1" ). Would that be enough to affect the steering alignment?
Joined
·
3,362 Posts
absolutely.
This is of course dependent on where the lower control arm is in relation to it's travel arc.Whether a vehicle toes IN or OUT when lowered depends on where the steering rack is. If the rack is behind the axle, it will toe IN when lowered, and toe OUT when raised. The opposite happens if the steering rack is in front of the axle.
Source: have owned many slammed Volkswagens and Audis, all of which have the rack behind the axle. Every single one of them had tow IN once lowered.
I remember on my slammed B3 syncro, the front had so much toe-in I was worried that I would run out of threads on the tie rods. I had to custom make toe adjustments for the rear suspension.
Joined
·
995 Posts
Instability on the road is another problem.
Not sure what auto setting is but align it in the setting where you'll do most of your driving.
On the street.
Wheel alignment isn't so critical off road.
I had my water pump replaced under warranty by AVS.
To replace the pump the engine has to come out then the wheels aligned again after.
They charged my for the alignment but I noticed that it drove strangely and wasn't stable at highway speeds especially in the wet.
I returned to Brisbane from a trip to Newcastle to find that inside tread of the front tyres was worn.
I got out my string and measured the toe out to be 3mm.
That made a huge difference to the way the car drove and wear on the front tyres.
It was easy to fix the toe out which I did and everything is now good. Note I don't have adjustable suspension.
To replace the pump the engine has to come out then the wheels aligned again after.
They charged my for the alignment but I noticed that it drove strangely and wasn't stable at highway speeds especially in the wet.
I returned to Brisbane from a trip to Newcastle to find that inside tread of the front tyres was worn.
I got out my string and measured the toe out to be 3mm.
That made a huge difference to the way the car drove and wear on the front tyres.
It was easy to fix the toe out which I did and everything is now good. Note I don't have adjustable suspension.
1 - 20 of 20 Posts
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
