Alignment (Camber) Question MK4 Jetta

[MAXRPM]

I hit a deep pot hole really hard while driving on our beautiful Bay Area road about a year ago, It damaged the front left side (Driver side) LCA, subframe plate, I changed both, I had a spare LCA I believe from 99.5 golf laying around and I ordered an after market subframe, changed them both, and ever since the accident I can't adjust the left camber to be within range (spec) , the right camber is dead on, so I'm having issues with the tire on the left front side wearing out, here is the question, (left camber is at -2.8) (right camber is at -0.8 within spec) im a novice on this and correct me if I'm wrong if I shift the subframe to the right to bring it within spec I would probably knock the right front out of range? Or can each wheel be adjusted individually?

Basically I'm trying to figure out what is the issue with my left side? the shock is bent? Kuckle? LCA from 99.5 is an odd size?, as we know some 99.5 bring different size in a lot of parts from the rest, any help would be appreciated

 

[JB05]

Can you adjust the ball joint which fits into slotted holes in the LCA?

 

[jmodge]

I don't know if this will help you as it is a different situation, but when I lifted mine I had to file the slots in the LCA slightly to be able to slide my ball joints far enough to reach specs. Mine were slightly positive if I recall. You are out quite a ways though. Bent spindle/knuckle could do it. Maybe time to do larger brakes on the front, or maybe you already have

 

[jmodge]

bent strut also, hope your aftermarket subframe isn't wonky

 

[U4ick]

bent strut also, hope your aftermarket subframe isn't wonky

This........I can't believe you had to replace the LCA and did not bend the strut.

 

[MAXRPM]

No I did not change the strut, maybe it is time for me to get blinstein upgrade, I had these FSDs for approx 10 years,

 

[U4ick]

I hit a curb at 35 m.p.h. on the left front wheel when I swerved to miss an old lady that pulled out in front of me from a grocery store parking lot.

I didn't have time to mess with it so I pulled it around to NTB, Firestone and Goodyear to get a quote, the cheapest was $3200.00.

I decided to find the time. The tie rod was bent like a pretzel, the LCA, was bent, my Bilstein strut was bent and the lower ball joint was trash.
Then after I replaced everything I wound up having to take it all apart again to replace the knuckle to get it to line up. I'm still keeping an eye on the steering rack to make sure it doesn't start leaking.

You'd be surprised to learn how many MK4's are in the pick n pull's because of front suspension damage, I had no idea.

Hitting a curb or big pothole will absolutely total one of these cars.

 

[AndyBees]

OP, to know what the Camber numbers are, apparently you had it on a front-end machine. So, what did the Toe-end look like? Generally, Camber has to be extremely off with a noticeable pull to wear a tire. Typically, Toe-end out of spec is where tire wear begins to show. Camber being out can affect the Toe-end specs.

 

[MAXRPM]

Toe is out too, so I may have 2 choices to fix the issue, 1st choice, I bought new ****ty street line coil over a few years back, im going install them and see where my alignment is at, 2nd I was thinking of getting me an adjustable camber plates to make the correction on the camber with my FSDs, I just love these konis, trying to save them, although I installed them like 10 years ago, I don't have a lot of miles on them, those camber plate are too freaking expensive that I could also use that $ to buy me a new struts, let's see which way I should go

 

[jmodge]

If your toe is out that could affect camber, because you have compound angles when the wheel turns, caster is also in effect now

 

[jmodge]

I set my toe by straightening the steering wheel then eyeball down the inside of the sidewalks. Turning the tie rods until I can see an even amount of rear tire from each side with the steering wheel straight. Painting a white stripe down the center of the tires and scribing a line is what I use to measure toe, at the same height back to front