Rear Camber Adjustment

[The Tortoise]

I just had an alignment done after hitting a pothole on the highway.

The right rear camber was -1.20 before and after the alignment.

Is there a way to correct it? And if not, is this an issue?

 

[CrazyMonkey]

The rear suspension on the TDI is a twist beam like the FWD VW's of yore. There's really no way to adjust other than shims between the trailing arm and the stub axle... or loosening up all the bolts and trying to shift the whole assembly side-to-side. I wouldn't worry about -1.20 degrees. You want camber to be slightly negative.

 

[The Tortoise]

Thanks.

The left side is at -0.54 so at least they aren't too far off.

 

[oilhammer]

You bent your rear axle beam.

 

[The Tortoise]

Go me!

Thanks for the reply. My concern is whether or not it's sufficiently off to warrant fixing. I can't imagine it's cheap.

It's not terribly far out of spec.

 

[oilhammer]

If tire wear becomes an issue or the handling of the car, then yes it should be addressed. Chances are, so long as the tires are rotated as they are supposed to be, and you do not use crappy tires, you may not have much of an issue.

You may be able to find a used rear beam for a reasonable amount.

 

[thundershorts]

I doubt if anthing got bent. The factory doesn't seem to have been real fussy. Mine at 200 miles had about 1/2 degree difference in rear cambers, front toe was L- .1, R +.1 Not bad compared to my passat, it had a subframe that had shifted. If you replaced the rear swing axle it well could be a lot worse.