Front Subframe Alignment A3 8P 2006 (Camber Issues)

[8PRyanB]

Good Evening,

Has anyone dealt with re aligning the front subframe on an 8P A3 before? I’ve got positive camber on my near side front wheel and negative on my offside front wheel. Front Subframe was missing two 18mm front bolts when I bought the car (sketchy I know), I replaced the bolts but obviously the subframe would of shifted being driven with the two missing. Has anyone experienced this or know where the alignment holes are for the front subframe on an 8p a3 or simply know how to align one correctly/special tools needed?

Is there a certain way it needs to be done?
Hunter alignment? Would subframe alignment be included in a Hunter alignment service?
More than happy to pay what it takes to get it sorted..

Tried everything in my knowledge and losing my mind with it atm..🤯🤯

Any help is very much appreciated 😃👍🏼

Thanks in advance, Ryan.

[Magnet]

Hello Ryan from the Homeland, 

Strange why two mounting bolts were missing. Any suspicious indications of accident damage? What is the actual difference left to right? 
Have you checked that the upper spring seats are sitting properly? Any evidence of wishbone damage or bush wear? 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[8PRyanB]

2 hours ago, Magnet said:

Hello Ryan from the Homeland, 

Strange why two mounting bolts were missing. Any suspicious indications of accident damage? What is the actual difference left to right? 
Have you checked that the upper spring seats are sitting properly? Any evidence of wishbone damage or bush wear? 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Hi Gareth, thanks for the reply. I have no clue regarding why they were missing, the car was lowered on coilovers by the previous owner and I can only assume with the car being so low at the time it’s moved/loosened the bolts over time.. I’ve replaced the bolts with oem anyway. 
No direct suspicion of accident damage, everything looks straight bar the slight positive camber on the near side wheel..

Apologies for sounding silly here but what do you mean by measuring the distance left to right?  

When you say upper spring seats do you mean the top mounts? I’ve got the both sides set with the arrows facing front and back of the car with the rubber tab sitting at 4pm if we were looking at the top mount from the top of the strut if that makes sense..

No visual damage to my eye. Could the hub/steering knuckle be bent or lower control arm? 
 

many thanks, Ryan. 😃👍🏼

[Magnet]

Thanks Ryan,

On your topic of camber …

I ask ‘What is the actual difference right to left’? ( degrees difference).

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[8PRyanB]

9 minutes ago, Magnet said:

Thanks Ryan,

On your topic of camber …

I ask ‘What is the actual difference right to left’? ( degrees difference).

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Hi Gareth, I haven’t measured the distance, you can see it visually.. 

 

I’ll attach some photos now for reference. Bottom arm setup and difference in camber between both wheels. The side with the positive camber also seems to sit slightly higher, by maybe a quarter of an inch or so..
 

Many thanks, Ryan. 😃👍🏼

[8PRyanB]

[8PRyanB]

[8PRyanB]

45 minutes ago, Magnet said:

Thanks Ryan,

On your topic of camber …

I ask ‘What is the actual difference right to left’? ( degrees difference).

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Hi Gareth, along with the other photos I’ve attached above, I’ve take a few more. You can see in this one in the difference in ride height too. Side with the positive camber is noticeably higher. Not sure if it helps but hey ho.. 😅

 

many thanks, Ryan. 😃👍🏼

[cliffcoggin]

Ryan.

Unless you can be absolutely certain, which seems unlikely in this case, that your car has not been bent I suggest you get the chassis checked and straightened before attaching sub frames or anything else to it. If the the chassis is not correct nothing else will line up and the car will crab along the road, destroy its tyres, and drive like a pig.

[Magnet]

Thanks again Ryan,

My thoughts were that you had carried out work on the car, attempted to have the wheel alignment checked, and found the cambers on the respective wheels were x degrees left, x degrees right ( where x is usually < 10 degrees). 
I’m now getting the picture ( pardon the pun) that this is (substantially?) visibly wrong. If this is correct, you certainly have an issue!

Again - just an impression - but does this car come with a chequered history ( coil overs etc.) ? 
In addition ride height differences (measurements should always be taken wheel centre to under wing) indicates non matching springs and/or breaks. 
All of this isn’t going to help you, but this is indeed a can of worms, and could be anything from basic misalignment as Cliff suggests, to wrong wishbones etc.etc. etc. 

One step ahead would be to get the car sitting on correctly pressure checked tyres, and take it for an alignment check, to see what you are actually talking about, before deciding where to go from there. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 
 

[8PRyanB]

6 hours ago, Magnet said:

Thanks again Ryan,

My thoughts were that you had carried out work on the car, attempted to have the wheel alignment checked, and found the cambers on the respective wheels were x degrees left, x degrees right ( where x is usually < 10 degrees). 
I’m now getting the picture ( pardon the pun) that this is (substantially?) visibly wrong. If this is correct, you certainly have an issue!

Again - just an impression - but does this car come with a chequered history ( coil overs etc.) ? 
In addition ride height differences (measurements should always be taken wheel centre to under wing) indicates non matching springs and/or breaks. 
All of this isn’t going to help you, but this is indeed a can of worms, and could be anything from basic misalignment as Cliff suggests, to wrong wishbones etc.etc. etc. 

One step ahead would be to get the car sitting on correctly pressure checked tyres, and take it for an alignment check, to see what you are actually talking about, before deciding where to go from there. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 
 

Hi Gareth, thanks for you response. Yes the car was previously on coilovers, ridiculously low. I’ve reverted the car back to standard since purchasing it.

I’ve had a little look this evening and it appears I maybe wrong with the subframe issue.. Something is bent I’m sure of it. Bottom arm or hub/steering knuckle. I’m going to take measurements off both sides tomorrow to see if I can see differences etc. 

If you see the last two photos I attached on the my previous post if you zoom in on both you can see on the side I’m having issues with, the bottom ball joint thread has literally no gap between the end of it and the cv joint. However if you look on the drivers side, the gap is noticeably larger between the top of the ball joint thread and the cv joint..

 

So all in all, still need to figure it out. Just hoping it’s a bent bottom arm or steering knuckle. 

 

Many thanks, Ryan. 😃👍🏼

[Dave8P]

Hi Ryan,

did you resolve this issue after?

thanks