Adjustable ball joints target geometry settings

[wrlcs]

Having had adjustable ball joints fitted to my Scirocco Inow want to get the geometry sorted. I wasn't convinced about the garage where I had the fitting done for geometry so will go elsewhere. What are fast road geometry targets with adjustable ball joints? As much camber as poss and more caster?

Thanks, Brendan

[rich83]

As much camber as possible. They don't adjust caster

[pudding]

What's the standard camber out of interest?

Does running loads of neg camber not eat the inside edge of the tyres on the MK5?

[rich83]

Stock is about -0º45'

Ball joints -1º50'

[wrlcs]

Should there be any changes to caster from the Superpro LCA, ALK and ball joints?  My caster is unchanged.  I will post the before and after alignment figures later.

[pudding]

Should there be any changes to caster from the Superpro LCA, ALK and ball joints?  My caster is unchanged.  I will post the before and after alignment figures later.

For caster - the strut needs tilting back at the top with adjustable top mounts, or pushing forwards at the bottom with offset ball joints or something.   I'm pretty sure something in the SuperPro lineup gives you more caster.   I think Whiteline also used to do a caster adjusting console bush but it was literally only 1/4 or 1/2 degree more or something.

How much extra caster are you after?   The MK5 already has a fair amount of it as standard.  I find too much caster completely deadens the steering feel.  Think lifeless helmed BMWs and Mercs.  They have so much caster it looks like the wheel will tip over on full lock.

[wrlcs]

I'm not necessarily after more caster but trying to understand how to get the best out of the setup I have without trying a lot of different geometry set ups with the associated time and cost involved.  The caster on my Scirocco is spot on assuming side to side equivlence and being within spec is concerned.  I have done some reading and I have seen that more caster can lead to more sluggish feel and I would say that the steering is already a bit sluggish so definitley no more caster needed.  The toe has been reset from toe out to toe in and equalised at the front and that is more to my particular taste.  My camber at the front is still quite different -1.4 compared to -1.1 so I'll consider getting that addressed.

[Adam0604]

Are you not meant to run more toe out than toe in on FWD cars?

[wrlcs]

I've read that too as it seems that toe out improves turn in.  In my case I was finding with toe out that the first 5 to 10 degrees of steering wheel turn felt under weighted and didn't inspire confidence.  Having toe in now means that weighting up is more consistent.  This is something that I appreciate but I wouldn't say that overall it is better more perhaps a personal preference.

[Adam0604]

Hmm, maybe you had a lot of positive caster to begin with then? And now it is just at right level of positive caster