Tuesday, March 01, 2011 - 09:59 pm, by: Justin Prewett(Buzzbox)
Just picked up my new (well to me) soarer a few days ago... so far so good..
It has TEIN coilovers and i have some questions about the suspension..
1) There is a knocking sound coming from the rear (i suspect).. is this from the TEIN's ?? (almost sounds like a rattle, when you go over bumps etc) or could it be something else i need to investigate ?
2) It also needed new tyres all round.. they were all worn down.
So i went and purchased a set of Kumho'a at a good price and i was very happy with the service from the tyre shop.. however the tyre on the rear drivers side was worn badly with the inner side almost gone, like a chunk had been taken off, down to the wire... after the alignment of the new tyres it was explained the camber and toe was out big time.. 2.7% camber and 3.7mm toe if that means anything.
The toe was fixed however the camber is still 2.8% and they said there is not a lot they could do with that.
Is there way to fix the camber so that my nice new tyres will wear even and not wear quickly on the inner wall ???
Wednesday, March 02, 2011 - 12:04 am, by: John Stafford(Johng12)
If the camber was negative 2.8 degrees then that would do it with the inside of the tyre. It should be 1 degree negative but the toe in is near right at 3.7 as it should be 4 mil total. I had my tyres down to the wire with 3 degrees negative on the rear when I bought the car. With Teins the ride height (which will make a difference to the way the car aligns) should be measured from the centre of the wheel hub to the edge of the wheel well (the lowest part of the guard above the tyre) the front spec is 355 mil and the back is 340 mil. If your lower control arm bushes or other rubbers are shot then you will not be able to adjust the suspension properly. As for the rattle, that may be in the Teins or it may be something else, I have one too and getting my shocks completely rebuilt didn't fix it, neither did putting on a completely different coilover system. I put new rear sway bar links but the rattly noise is still there. If you could let me know when you solve it I would appreciate it. Cheers John
Wednesday, March 02, 2011 - 09:16 pm, by: John Stafford(Johng12)
Hi Justin, Use a jemmy bar to apply pressure in the right places (you should be able to figure out where to put it I think to see if the arms can be moved about on the adjusting bolt that goes through the bushes). Andrew Vlamos supplies good rubber control arm bushes (find him on Soarer Central (SC) under the commercial section heading VFT bushes) but for other suspension bushes use super pro bushes by searching for super pro bushes on SC. Cheers John
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car
Wednesday, March 02, 2011 - 11:00 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
You should have enough adjustment (at sensible ride heights) to set the rear camber to zero if you want. The factory specs are very conservative on camber (zero or near zero from memory). I have my daily set at near zero for better tyre life. I have not noticed any loss in driving 'feel' considering the max posted limit is 110 and most roads with this limit are hardly challenging your suspension/tyres with on the grip limit corners.
If you do not have enough adjustment to get a more conservative camber setting then it should be either the ride height is too low, or you bushes are worn out and the slack in them is affecting the alignment.
Basically everything John has said, now that I reread the thread.
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car