Camber

[Jamie.]

My old 3 used to click when doing lock to lock too.

[chip]

A bit confused as to how the bolts can possibly not make a difference, they physically move the top bolt hole inwards, how can that not change it?

I dont believe that they knew what they were doing TBH!

The bolt has a lobe in, and it MUST make a difference, there just isnt any for it not to do so when correctly adjusted.

[Evogone]

A bit confused as to how the bolts can possibly not make a difference, they physically move the top bolt hole inwards, how can that not change it?

I dont believe that they knew what they were doing TBH!

The bolt has a lobe in, and it MUST make a difference, there just isnt any for it not to do so when correctly adjusted.

Totally agree.....sound like they dont know what they were doing.....

[Wobba]

I think they have made a bit of a difference, but what the guy has done seems to be be set up both sides equal (+.25, as at one point one side was -.7, a better setting).

Camber bolts make a bigger angle impact than half a degree, and if he has done it right then all I can assume is there is a bent or incorrect component fitted which is messing it up.

Years ago before I lost all faith in normal mechanics to go near my car, I let some fit track rods and they managed to fit them wrong (??!!?!?!!!) which caused havoc to my handling. The guy at the tracking pace could NOT get it right.

[Vandella]

sorry jamie, i meant only on full or very close i get the obligritry click click click.. that happens in most cars yeah?..my mums mondeo does it very loudly!!.. theres an inner one too right..is that the same kinda mechinism.. how do u go about fixing/replacing that..new drifshafts??

I checked there is no signs rubbing anywhere..i dont have anything to get my car up to check for hand spining..will both the wheels turn or just one at a time?

I also went out for a drive this and when the car is straight..its fine. but when i go round any bend be it left or right even a slight bend..mainly/worse when turning left.. and when trying to take a sharpish corner..(that felt fine months ago, is my work route) it feels kinda like im goin ova losts of little bumps and there is a kinda grinding/grating sound like half my pad is in contact or one side is constantly on the disc..

The 'whoom whoom whoom' like noise ive described previously seems to be an exhaust note coupled with the above problem. i just hope thats not another summink to delve into! (i love it really!).
the engine seems to pull fine with no mishaps..so it cant be anything internal...please!?

[Vandella]

also..the bolts are in the correct hole! lol

[chip]

sorry jamie, i meant only on full or very close i get the obligritry click click click.. that happens in most cars yeah?..my mums mondeo does it very loudly!!.. theres an inner one too right..is that the same kinda mechinism.. how do u go about fixing/replacing that..new drifshafts??

I checked there is no signs rubbing anywhere..i dont have anything to get my car up to check for hand spining..will both the wheels turn or just one at a time?

I also went out for a drive this and when the car is straight..its fine. but when i go round any bend be it left or right even a slight bend..mainly/worse when turning left.. and when trying to take a sharpish corner..(that felt fine months ago, is my work route) it feels kinda like im goin ova losts of little bumps and there is a kinda grinding/grating sound like half my pad is in contact or one side is constantly on the disc..

The 'whoom whoom whoom' like noise ive described previously seems to be an exhaust note coupled with the above problem. i just hope thats not another summink to delve into! (i love it really!).
the engine seems to pull fine with no mishaps..so it cant be anything internal...please!?

Even if the strut was so bent it was 4 degrees positive camber, the bolt should still make more than half a degree difference when fully turned.

[Vandella]

shouldnt the caster reading be the same? could this indicate to somthing not right too? Also What is/does SAI mean/stand for?

[chip]

Caster should be roughly the same, but its not unusual to see it vary slightly, there are quite a few components that can have play in them and also when the car has been jacked up and down it can settle slightly differently on the suspension springs, any inclination of the car itself will be transferred onto the caster readings, the changes there arent really enough to indicate a big problem IMHO

SAI is the steering angle inclination, its how far the steering axis is from vertical when viewed from the front of the car, in the same way that caster is steering angle inclination when viewed from the side of the car.
Its effects are kind of similar to caster, what you will often find is that on a FWD car the designers arae limited to how much caster they can give (because of driveshaft angles for example) so they turn to SAI instead to give vehicle stability.

If you google up suspension terms you'll find loads more details than any of us are going to have the time to give here.

One thing to note is that your SAI is higher by a degree on one side than it should be, and lower by a degree on the other side.
Now first reaction to SAI out of spec is normally to think that something is bent, but when its a case of one side is high and the other is low, it normally just means the car bodyshell isnt sitting level relative to the base of the tyres (the floor), ie your car is leaning by 1 degree to the side, this can be corrected by altering your corner heights on the suspension.

[Wobba]

When you say the passenger side is not playing ball, it seems the camber prior to adjustment used to be more favourable (-0.2) than it is now. I can only assume the guy has sent you out with equal camber both sides to create some kind of steering consistency...however, I suspect you have a bent part as the SAI on the drivers side is low.

It could be the following, probably drivers side:

Valver/poverty spec driveshaft on drivers side (wrong length)
Bent/incorrect strut
Bent Wishbone (or even very perished bushes) or incorrect length lower balljoint
Bent tie rod end
Bent subframe

Not sure if this is possible but the position of the engine (due to engine mounts) could be so extremely wrong it would make the bias to left and right suspension as seen there, maybe.