fmstocco

I bought two new tires and went to the shop for mounting and balancing. Also, I just did my front control arms last week and needed to align it. The problem is that I don't know if that camber issue was there before I changed the arms. But I believe the arms replacement I did does not have something to do with that.(?)
But I guess I'll leave it that way. The guy put some terror on it because he is a tire guy... I give him some credit because he said he doesn't have the tools needed to do the job, so he was not trying to sell the service.
But the only implication is irregular tire wear right? If it wont damage my new suspension, I'll leave it.

4Driver4

If it is even on both sides, the car is stock and the control arms good, there isn't much you can do without going to adjustable control arms.

Drive car, monitor tire wear.

fmstocco

Ok! I'll do that, thanks!
I'd realy like to know why this thing is out. Any tip?
I just can't figure it out.

jamesm0913

It doesn't matter if the camber was wrong before this alignment.

I just recently replaced my control arms, because of uneven tire wear on the inside edge of the driver's front. Since you have replaced your control arms and the new alignment has equal amounts of camber on both sides, which they do by shifting the subframe, your car is as good as it can be. IIRC, the range of camber goes up to -1.9 degrees so you are in the limit. Rotate tires every 5k miles and you should be able to avoid any exessive tire wear. It will not impact your new control arms in any way. Rough roads will slowly kill your new contol arms, rest assured.

fmstocco

Thanks a lot!!! Very good to hear it!

lastls1

Stern adjustable upper control arms.

alternety

I have a 1999 A6 Avant Quattro. I had bad (read they would not rotate them because wear was so bad) wear on the outside edge of the passenger side. Put now tires on and had it 4W aligned. Shop said they were in spec. No explanation for dead tires. Any troubleshooting ideas on this issue? Current tires don't get very much mileage at the moment.

fmstocco

Did you check camber at the shop? What is your camber measurement now?

socalclimber

1. There may be nothing wrong at all. Maybe the measured camber value is wrong because alignment equipment is off? If it really bother bothers you, get a 2nd opinion to verify if, indeed, camber is out of spec.

2. Camber seems very close to spec anyway. In the paper Bentley Service Manual, for FWD normal suspensions (1BA, 1BH, 1BP, 1BC) it says:

camber -50'+/- 25' (which is -0.83 deg +/- 0.42 deg)
max diff bet sides 30' (which is 0.5 deg)

60 minutes (') = 1 deg

Thus, an acceptable camber range is -0.41 deg to -1.25 deg. If -1.5 deg that alignment shop measured is accurate, you are only 0.25 deg out, i.e. not very much.

When you did control arms, did you tighten control arm bolts with suspension loaded (weighted)? It couldn't hurt to loosen bolts, bounce car a bit to let suspension relax, and retighten. Things may have changed a bit in a few weeks? Maybe control arms are not in a neutral position and skewed camber value?

Just throwing a few ideas out there.

fmstocco

Thanks, I realy believe this is nothing to worry about.
I lifted the supension with a hydraulic jack before tightening as high as I could. I believe it's all fine.
Thanks a lot!