Buying / inspection advice Octavia vRS 2007

[brad]

If the road has enough camber & the gutter is high enough and you aren't morbidly obese you can put the LHS wheels on the gutter & shimmy under...

I've done it that way - even better if you have some 50-100mm timber to drive onto

[Smiley_Walsh]

Ah! True. I've read this before. Will give that a go. Cheers.
I used to own ramps, trolley jack, and axle stands in the past. Didn't even need them to get under the Outback though..

[Smiley_Walsh]

Smiley - post up what they set the alignment to. Ask the tech to get the rear camber around -1.0 degree (-1.2 at most) or they get sawtoothing on the inside edge.

The Tech where I am getting the alignment done (Spot On - Campbeltown) reckons giving -1.0 / -1.2 rear camber will cause sawtoothing..

Any reason, or further info?

[Smiley_Walsh]

Set to -1.2 rear camber -0.8 front. Toe-in 2mm

[brad]

The Tech where I am getting the alignment done (Spot On - Campbeltown) reckons giving -1.0 / -1.2 rear camber will cause sawtoothing..

Any reason, or further info?

The original factory spec for the rear is -1.25 deg to -2.25deg with 0mm to 4.2mm toe in. The negative camber as you got close to -2 was great for hooking into corners but caused sawtoothing and noise.

The figures were revised with less camber.
For the standard suspension 2UA, 2UB & 2UC the rear figure was revised to -0.8 degrees +-0.2deg. (sorry my head only works in decimal degrees, can't do degrees & minutes)

For the vRS it was revised to -1.25 degrees +-0.1deg (1.15 deg - 1.35deg).

Toe-in was revised to 0mm-3mm (this might be wrong as I'm trying to convert from deg to mm). It's 10' +-2'

If I was setting up a vRS for trundling around the suburbs / motorways I'd be aiming for as upright as the adjustments allow (-0.8 hopefully) but I know that most aligners won't go outside the recommendations which is why I said -1.0 to -1.2.

I'd be aiming for the minimum amount of toe-in to make the rear more lively but a lot of people don't like that.

Anyway, you've had it done now and it's probably better than it was.

What did they charge you? Any idea what machine they had?

Last time I asked matt at Camden GTI if there were any decent aligners in Campbelltown he burst out laughing.

[Martin]

Interesting...I've done 56k on the VRS now

No idea what the specific settings are at the rear - other than notionally "stock"
The rear tyres are not wearing at all (they may last over 80k!) and I have no handling or noise complaints

On the front, I have the supaloy control arms and the camber/castor adjuster
It's set to maximum negative camber -1deg45min - so almost -2 deg (nominal/stock toe)
This is totally fantastic for hard cornering - it's exceptionally sure footed indeed (you have to drive it hard to believe it)
I can even do a lot of braking and turning at the same time - car is totally able to handle that
Under the car, it's hard to notice, but I do believe the inside edge of the tyre is a little more worn than the outside
Pretty happy with that as I expected more significant wear (I expected the need to flip the tyres on the rims)
However, there is a downside, low speed traction has been sacrificed, I need a very flat and good piece of road to use full throttle in 1st/2nd gear (also note this is a stage 2 ECU)
Even on a good quality road, if it has excessive curvature for water run off I can't put the power down hard in 1st/2nd
When I wear out the front tyres I will change the front setup to give max castor (rather than max camber)
This is as per Brad's point - get the wheels as vertical as possible for daily usage - more useful
The extra castor will induce more negative camber when I turn the steering wheel

I am running a 1992 Nissan Pulsar SSS in the Pulsar Challenge series (circuit racing)
I've only done one race day so far - I drove very conservatively as I had a lot of mistrust of the car
It was death trap when I got it - I completely replaced all suspension bushes, brakes and wheel bearings
(I was also expecting the engine to expire - people are blowing water pumps and engines when they buzz them)
Front -2.5 degrees camber, +1.5mm toe out
Rear -2 degrees camber, 0mm toe
The handling feels great - very little under steer (especially if you get onto the throttle)
Here is an in car video of lap 1 - notice just how little steering input is needed
Corner speeds are 70 to 110 kmph
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtGdalwFVX0
You'll also notice how they totally smoked me on the straight
Looks like two problems, my engine (~200k) may be tired (the only thing I've done to it is changed the oil and filters)
and the stock exhaust is too restrictive - everybody else is running 2.5"~3" straight through exhausts, no cat
I'm the only guy with a street legal car - I drove to the track, raced and drove home

[bobski]

Last time I asked matt at Camden GTI if there were any decent aligners in Campbelltown he burst out laughing.

My brother in law worked for one of the major suspension suppliers. He reckons if it takes less than 45 minutes to setup the alignment on a euro like a Skoda, they aren't doing it right. I always thought he was pulling my leg until my local "Tyres and More" ruined the inside edge of my fronts within 10000km.

[brad]

Martin, On the Pulsar I'd consider a little bit of toe-out on the rear (1-1.5mm each side) if there is adjustment for it. It will act like passive 4 wheel steering and make the car turn-in quicker. OTOH, it also makes it a bit squirrely. Or did you arrive at those settings by copying the successful cars? (worked for me when i was racing).

Love the video - there's certainly some interesting cornering techniques up front. What happened to the Z-car you had?

All the settings I do are for "average drivers" who want maximum tyre life & minimal noise. If the driver likes to consistently give it a bit around corners then you need to be a bit more aggressive with settings.

The best way to do it is to look at how the tyres are wearing & adjust the car to suit.

[brad]

My brother in law worked for one of the major suspension suppliers. He reckons if it takes less than 45 minutes to setup the alignment on a euro like a Skoda, they aren't doing it right. I always thought he was pulling my leg until my local "Tyres and More" ruined the inside edge of my fronts within 10000km.

It depends on how far out it is. The one & only alignment my car has had took the guy 30 minutes. He only had to adjust the LH rear. Everything else was OK.

OTOH, the same guy took an hour to do my mates Polo, which according to this forum can't be aligned and only has toe adjustment at the front

I really wish I had access to a machine. It would make life much easier.

[bobski]

I really wish I had access to a machine. It would make life much easier.

I wouldn't have a clue what I was doing. It'd probably catch fire. We had an Aurion company car that one shop could not align properly in 3 tries. Took it to a different workshop (always ask your BIL first!) and they aligned the hell out of it in 30 minutes. People are rocks or diamonds everywhere I suppose.