4 Wheel alignment settings for coilovers.

[keano]

Good Evening young men and women,

I'm having a set of AP coilovers fitted on Thursday & on my way back I will be taking it for a 4 wheel lazer laser alignment.

I'm curious as to what settings to have them set at. They will only be used on the road so I don't want any mental, tyre eating, fire breathing, camber settings. (plus i only have standard hubs etc, so I doubt this is even possible)

Would having it put back to OEM settings be ideal or.....?

Thanks very much in advance. 

Nick

[rich83]

OEM setting will be fine mate for everyday pottering about.

I'm always amazed how much different the car feels once its been straightened up :-)

[Tfsi_Mike]

 Camber or bust 

[lee_]

I'm interested in settings too, I had my last car setup by centre of gravity and it felt a completely
different car afterwards. My Mk5 is currently running a fairly nasty amount of camber and feels awful
for it!

[rich83]

Lee. What were your settings?

[Tfsi_Mike]

Asked the doctor of geometry, Nick? Adrian (Carrera2RS) Had his Pirreli in umpteen geo setups

[lee_]

Not had the mk5 aligned yet, its running VW racing / KW competition coilovers which have a bent strut to
allow extra camber.

Once I'm happy with ride height and damping setup I'll get it booked in, at the minute though
its wandering all over the road and struggling to put power down with out the ESP reigning it in
which points at excessive camber or a tracking issue.

[luckyGti]

Not had the mk5 aligned yet, its running VW racing / KW competition coilovers which have a bent strut to
allow extra camber.

Once I'm happy with ride height and damping setup I'll get it booked in, at the minute though
its wandering all over the road and struggling to put power down with out the ESP reigning it in
which points at excessive camber or a tracking issue.

Your a brave man running those kw competions on the road, I did wonder who bought them from the classifieds and whether they were going to run them on a race or road car, I run kw clubsports on mine and find them bone shakingly stiff so wouldn't like to imagine what your going through seeing as yours are an even more aggressive setup.

[Top Cat]

Not had the mk5 aligned yet, its running VW racing / KW competition coilovers which have a bent strut to
allow extra camber.

Once I'm happy with ride height and damping setup I'll get it booked in, at the minute though
its wandering all over the road and struggling to put power down with out the ESP reigning it in
which points at excessive camber or a tracking issue.

Your a brave man running those kw competions on the road, I did wonder who bought them from the classifieds and whether they were going to run them on a race or road car, I run kw clubsports on mine and find them bone shakingly stiff so wouldn't like to imagine what your going through seeing as yours are an even more aggressive setup.

Have you had yours set up properly yet Conan. They felt great on mine until VWR tried to get them right with my works. After that they went harsh. It really needs an expert to adjust 2 or 3-way dampers. Lots of track and road testing to get it right. 

[lee_]

To be honest, despite the use of solid top mounts they ride a lot better than mk5's I've been in with 'budget'
coilovers. However, the damping is quite 'soft' at the minute, as they get dialled in i've no doubt that will change!
I'm working with a KW race engineer to get something that works, seems the competition stuff is well supported!

[luckyGti]

Not had the mk5 aligned yet, its running VW racing / KW competition coilovers which have a bent strut to
allow extra camber.

Once I'm happy with ride height and damping setup I'll get it booked in, at the minute though
its wandering all over the road and struggling to put power down with out the ESP reigning it in
which points at excessive camber or a tracking issue.

Your a brave man running those kw competions on the road, I did wonder who bought them from the classifieds and whether they were going to run them on a race or road car, I run kw clubsports on mine and find them bone shakingly stiff so wouldn't like to imagine what your going through seeing as yours are an even more aggressive setup.

Have you had yours set up properly yet Conan. They felt great on mine until VWR tried to get them right with my works. After that they went harsh. It really needs an expert to adjust 2 or 3-way dampers. Lots of track and road testing to get it right. 

Hey Tc,
Don't get me wrong they are a superb bit of kit and just had them re-set up again at Stattlers as I just collected the car last weekend, so the car is handling superbly at the moment, it's just as far as hearing every creak in the car and feeling every little bump which I suppose is the compromise of having track focused coilovers and the noises may be more to do with my car itself. My v3's were super smooth in comparison but personally I like the more extreme setup so the clubsports suit me perfectly.

 I do have a leaking rear shock so that probably doesn't help my comfort level so it's on my to do list to get them serviced in Germany asap  

[luckyGti]

To be honest, despite the use of solid top mounts they ride a lot better than mk5's I've been in with 'budget'
coilovers. However, the damping is quite 'soft' at the minute, as they get dialled in i've no doubt that will change!
I'm working with a KW race engineer to get something that works, seems the competition stuff is well supported!

They are a superb set of coilovers the competitions and was half tempted myself at that bargain price and personally I'm all for having the best of the best rather than all this budget jazz on the market. It would be interesting to know how you get on with them and seems you are receiving great support from kw which is priceless.  

[Tfsi_Mike]

My V3s are super harsh, have never had a good setup session as planned yet though :(

[luckyGti]

My V3s are super harsh, have never had a good setup session as planned yet though :(

That's a shame as I never had issues with my v3's on the s3 and mk5, Steve mentioned he had a chap who sets up lm cars etc and is a real pro when it comes to proper setups, unfortunately I didn't have enough time otherwise I would of sent mine there as well 

[Tfsi_Mike]

If I get hold of the TTs arms over the new year I will be going to BDM for alignment and tweaking