Suspension bent, unable to set camber

zo1d

zo1d

zo1d

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Joined
18 Sep 2005
Posts
487
Hi,
I have a 17 year old Polo 6n2 GTI only 1 previous owner with full history, I recently had new tyres and wheel alignment done and the camber on the left front can't be set to manufactures specifications (confirmed by 2 separate garages). I did hit a curb quite hard but there was no visable damage to the tyre, wheel, or any of the suspension components.

I'm trying to decide what to do to, tyre place reckons it could be a bent suspension strut, my mechanic reckons it could be the wheel hub carrier, wish bone looks perfect so I'll highly doubt the inner chassis leg would be bent and car drives almost straight apart from a little extra wear on the inner edge of the front left tyre.

What do you think is the most cost-effective way of trying to resolve it, new struts first (guess I'd need to replace them in pairs)?

Thanks in advance!
 
Shocks are cheap and easy and also make a difference when the previous ones are 17 years old (I did my entire truck for $400 with Bilstein as an example). Then I'd go from there. Cheapest option first.
 
zo1d said:
Hi,
I have a 17 year old Polo 6n2 GTI only 1 previous owner with full history, I recently had new tyres and wheel alignment done and the camber on the left front can't be set to manufactures specifications (confirmed by 2 separate garages). I did hit a curb quite hard but there was no visable damage to the tyre, wheel, or any of the suspension components.

I'm trying to decide what to do to, tyre place reckons it could be a bent suspension strut, my mechanic reckons it could be the wheel hub carrier, wish bone looks perfect so I'll highly doubt the inner chassis leg would be bent and car drives almost straight apart from a little extra wear on the inner edge of the front left tyre.

What do you think is the most cost-effective way of trying to resolve it, new struts first (guess I'd need to replace them in pairs)?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

The most cost effective way of trying to resolve it, is to get it taken to a garage and have them find out exactly what is wrong before throwing parts at the car in a hope of solving it.
It should stop you spending money on parts unnecessarily.
Even if the old suspension is tired, the problem needs finding first before fitting new suspension.
 
I'd be half tempted to just fit a set of camber bolts to allow the camber to be set correctly.

Providing it's only out a small amount that is, if it's clearly sitting with big positive/negative camber on that corner then it's obviously something majorly wrong
 
Something's clearly bent, and it's going to be difficult to tell what it is without being able to compare known good parts with bad parts. It'd be a shame to start butchering it from standard.

On a related note, my wife did ~£3k damage to the suspension and front sub frame of my EP3 Civic by sliding into a kerb at about 10mph, bouncing off and touching the kerb on the other side in snow about 8 years ago.

That car basically had an entire new front suspension setup.
 
It's a 17 year old polo it drives straight and has a small amount of uneven tire wear I'd just forget about it the benefits of fixing it clearly don't justify the costs!
 
I'd be surprised if there were any 17 year old Polo GTIs with camber that's within manufacturer spec these days, seems to be a common fault on them that causes the wheels to sit at all kinds of odd angles.

There also seems to be a shortage of tyres that fit the wheels properly too, wouldn't be surprised if the two are related as you often find both issues on the same car ;)
 
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