Rear shock replacement - alignment needed?

Printable View

08-04-2009, 10:57 AM
jmoser

Rear shock replacement - alignment needed?

Do you need a wheel alignment if you replace the rear shocks on the XC or not?
Will probably have front struts done when I buy new tires soon but may put off the rears unless it will cost me another alignment 6 mos later.

Any expert advice is appreciated!
08-04-2009, 02:15 PM
Aviator

I wouldn't say an alignment is needed as the shock isn't really attached to an adjustable suspension or steering component; it's not really doing the same job as the front struts are, really.

Dave.
08-04-2009, 04:33 PM
JRL

No
08-04-2009, 09:11 PM
sjonnie

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmoser

Do you need a wheel alignment if you replace the rear shocks on the XC or not?
Will probably have front struts done when I buy new tires soon but may put off the rears unless it will cost me another alignment 6 mos later.

Any expert advice is appreciated!

What alignment is going to change if you do the front shocks? Only the camber and as far as I can tell it's impossible to adjust that outside of spec anyway. 0.3+/- 0.9 degree isn't really a very precise setting and the range of variability in the spring strut, +/- 0.5 means if you set it in the middle it's pretty much guaranteed to be within spec. I've removed and reinstalled front shocks several times without realigning, it's not an issue as far as my tires can tell. There is no rear camber setting, again, it's 0.3+/- 1 degree, hard to miss. As far as I can tell, toe in is the only real concern. If your caster is out of spec it's because something is broken :D
08-05-2009, 04:48 AM
billr99

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjonnie

What alignment is going to change if you do the front shocks? Only the camber and as far as I can tell it's impossible to adjust that outside of spec anyway. 0.3+/- 0.9 degree isn't really a very precise setting and the range of variability in the spring strut, +/- 0.5 means if you set it in the middle it's pretty much guaranteed to be within spec. I've removed and reinstalled front shocks several times without realigning, it's not an issue as far as my tires can tell. There is no rear camber setting, again, it's 0.3+/- 1 degree, hard to miss. As far as I can tell, toe in is the only real concern. If your caster is out of spec it's because something is broken :D

For many years the only adjustability, other than toe, in front strut-type suspensions has been with whatever slop there is between the mounting holes and bolts holding the bottom of the strut to the hub carrier. Hence the camber kit available from IPD which basically gives you a smaller diameter bolt with an eccentric to assist in adjustment. With the stock bolts you might be lucky to get a half degree of range but usually way less. Obviously the OEMs do this to aid in assembly of the car when there is no wear or bent bits yet. No need to put every car coming off the line on an adjustment rack.

I've basically done the same thing as IPD on Improved Touring (ITB) VWs that we raced by using one mounting bolt (Grade 8) the next smaller diameter to the stock bolt. In fact, this was the official fix from VW for adjusting out a slightly bent front end. I was able to get about 2 degrees of adjustability by replacing the upper of the two lower mounting bolts. Worked pretty well on those as I was able to run about 1.5 negative. Tried it on a street Golf I had a while back and it worked great there too. Plenty of front end stick, but tire wear went thru the ceiling. I was running Yok 008s and not being known for long life anyway, I got something like 15,000 mile out of a set of tires.

Oh well, the days of my youth.;)

Cheers,

Bill
08-05-2009, 06:45 AM
jmoser

Thanks for all the input - front ends are not my area of expertise so all advice is valuable. Every other time I have had to touch anything on the front end it needed alignment so figured I would ask.