Difinitive DIY Camber Adjustment Procedure?

[jhax]

Good Morning All,


I replaced my wheel bearing in my B4 last week and removed the knuckle from the strut. I am looking for a video or photos of the process of adjusting the camber. It looks like the wheels need to be on the vehicle and the vehicle needs to be on a flat surface. You then get under the car, somehow? Loosen the two strut bolts, and then what? Will the weight of the car automatically bring the camber back to 0? Do you roll the car back and forth with the bolts loosened? How do you get the car up high enough to be able to loosen the bolts in the first place and then tighten them back down?


Thank You,
Justin

 

[ToddA1]

The way the B4 is set up, it’s a pain to make small adjustments. It’s more trial and error, but I use a digital angle gauges at the wheel center cap, or span something across the wheel edges and attach the gauge to that. Plenty of stuff on YouTube.

Jack up car, remove wheel, adjust, tighten bolts, install wheel, lower car, roll back and forth read angle. When the wheel is off, you can attach the gauge to the rotor hat and make a small adjustment, while watching the gauge for reference. It’s going to take a few tries.

Since you only did one side, you’re 50% done, lol. I guess this assumes the other side is correct... My B4 had both pushed in as negative as possible, when I bought it. I guess it was the POs attempt at getting it close....

-Todd

 

[ToddA1]

Btw, when I do wheel bearings, I leave those camber bolts alone. Pull the entire strut assembly while connected to the knuckle, then take the assembly to the press.

An alternative would be to rent the kit from Autozone or somewhere else and swap the bearing, in situ. Or buy it from harbor freight, if you do this a lot.

-Todd

 

[Mongler98]

level and tape measure, as it stands,
math
do adjustment via scribe mark and measuring at he strut and likewise at the ball joint.
PITA but there are LOTS of excel charts to help figure this out on google.
its just some simple level 2 maths you have to get around, or do it the hard way and trial and error.
best way i figured is to make some wood cribbing OR tall ramps if your not low, and do the work as it sits at rest.

 

[jhax]

Is the bottom bolt on the strut the pivot point or the top? I assume the bottom.

 

[ToddA1]

Bottom is pivot.

-Todd

 

[jhax]

And the car pulls left on flat roads. Steering wheel top is at about 11:00 in order to hold it straight. Do I need to push the top of the driver side wheel in or pull it out?

 

[Mongler98]

Toe is completely different.
All you need is some string, something like some jack stands to hold the string, a tape measure and some patience. You want about 1/8 of an inch toe in as a rule of thumb.
There are countless videos of how to do this on youtube. I suggest you freshen up with some of those. I'm a visual learner and a horible instructor so beat to learn from somone else but that's the idea.

 

[oilhammer]

It is easy if you have the correct tools.

I use either the spreader tool that has the threaded rod (lays over the top of the tire and pushes the tire/wheel away from the strut to move the camber positive while the car is sitting on its weight on the alignment rack) or there are also the little inflatable "pillows" that wedge in between the tire and strut and inflate to push the camber positive. To go negative, just let some air out and gravity will do the rest.