Fixing a front end collision. WAY out of alignment and off camber

LeeSmthsn

Active member
Joined
Feb 29, 2008
Location
Topton, NC
TDI
98 Jetta
I've wrecked my 98 a3 twice now. both front end collisions.

the first time (3 years ago) i replaced the radiator, ac condenser, and L headlamp, but I didnt notice a difference in steering or alignment. however, my hood, grille, bumper, quarter-panels etc. have been jacked up since.

This year I ran the car off the road in a storm and crashed (uphill) into an embankment. The plastic brush guard underneath the bumper was ripped off, the bumper bent back, up and out near the wheel wells, and i pulled plenty of mud and rocks from underneath the engine bay. When I went to change my oil a few weeks later, I noticed that i had also bent my radiator in towards the the engine enough that I couldnt even get my oil filter out (i could unscrew it, but it bumped into the fan housing when attempting to remove it). The radiator still worked fine though. Now i'm looking for new radiator mounts.
HOWEVER, the steering started pulling slightly to the right and the tires started to wear off-camber (ONLY wearing on the outer edge of both front tires). After wearing through 2 new tires in 2 months, I began replacing parts that I hoped would fix the cambered tire wear: tie rod ends, control arm bushings, and strut mounts and bearings. The steering was slightly less loose, but still significant off-camber wear. When I took the car in for an alignment after replacing those parts, my mechanic walks out with a sour look on his face and an ugly vehicle alignment report in his hand explaining to me that my passenger side camber was at a -3.3. He says the only way to solve this is replacing the steering spindle.

Can anyone further explain this to me or point me in the right direction?? thanks
 

Genesis

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 26, 2003
Location
Sevier County TN
TDI
'03 Jetta Wagon
You bent the knuckle or either the upper or lower mount points (E.g. control arm on the bottom, or the top attachment point) or the frame components where those attach, or maybe all of the above.

Either un-bend the unibody if that's where the problem is (e.g. take it to a frame shop) or find the bent parts and replace them.
 

Matt-98AHU

Loose Nut Behind the Wheel Vendor
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Location
Gresham, OR
TDI
2001 Golf TDI, 2005 Passat wagon, 2004 Touareg V10.
If the lower control arm bent, the camber would be positive, not negative.

You likely bent the knuckle or strut. It's also entirely possible to adjust camber as-is by loosening the two bolts that hold the strut to the knuckle. There's a HUGE range of adjustment there.

Though I will say that most Mk3s when you adjust them as far negative as they can go, they still don't quite reach -3. Usually around -2.7 or thereabouts in my experience. But the possibility remains that it could be adjusted back into spec with the parts that are still on the car. This is a HYOOOOGE range of adjustment on the mk3 from the factory.

Also, the OUTER edges of the front tires wearing is from the tires also being toe'd in too far. If it was camber causing the wear, it would only be the inner edge of ONE tire, not the outer edge of both.

To get you by for now, the alignment guy can adjust the camber as best he can with what you got and then set the front toe back to 0 and you'd be OK.
 
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