Front wheel camber shims

[801802971]

I noticed recently that my front wheel camber was noticably excessively negative and on investigating,noticed that the bolt on the inside bush on the track control arm was not in the centre, it was pushed to one side, on both sides (Part No 13885).This confused me as I changed them 3 years ago so decided to change them again but to replace them with Poly bushes. When I took them off, I could not see anything wrong with them, they were not split and can only put it down to soft or weak rubber.

The new poly bushes improved the camber considerably but wanted to get the camber checked electronically.Before I did though, I wanted to go armed with a pocketful of shimsbut noticed that you could not purchase the 0.004 or the 0.010 shims anywhere. I therefore investigated how I could source them by using the nearest metric equivalent and managed to find a source. They are 12x18x0.1 and 12x18x0.3 (the 0.1mm and 0.3 are the closest equivalents). The only disadvantage is that you have to order them in packs of 100 but since each pack costs less than £4, it is good value and cheaper than having to purchase new tyres all the time.

I have no affiliation to this company and therefore I am happy to give the name here but if this is against the rules of this forum, please delete the name and I will be happy to give the information to anyone by return of email.

http://ondrives.com

The product codes are CPS12x18x0.1 and CPS12x18x0.3

Hope this help people

Jim.

[redstag]

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Hi Jim,

Welcome to the forum.

It seems difficult to get decent quality rubber bushes / mountings these days. Lots of them seem to fail early.

Useful website. As a matter of interest do you know if the shims made much difference to the camber?



Pete

[801802971]

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Hi Pete,

Thanks for your note. When I took it to my local garage to get the camber electronically tested after I changed the bushes, the near side was 1.6 degrees out and the off side was0.9 degrees out with zero shims on the car. Not sure if it is because the camber is now correct or that it has poly bushes but the steering is so much better. It is not like my modern car but 100% better than what it was and it is nice to see the wheels vertical again.

One other thing, getting the poly bushes into the arms requires a lot of patience and skinned knuckles using a threaded rod, nuts and big washers.They are not split bushes like the modern ones but come whole. Would take them to a garage with a press if I was doing it again.

Hope this help.

Jim

[dasadrew]

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Err, you've lost me on this one. Surely it is the castor angle which you mean??? :?

I can't see where you would put shims on the track control arm?

Shimming the drag strut would indeed have an effect on castor angle but no noticeable effect on camber surely?

It is the castor angle which affects steering greatly as it determines the self-centering forces.

However, if your "man" says that the camber is incorrect, then I guess the only way is with adjustable TCA's (although I'm not sure if anyone does them for the Stag)

Anyways, thanks for posting the info on the shims

[801802971]

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Sorry, it may be the way I described it but I did not put the shims in the Track Control Arm, I only replaced the end bushes on the Track Control arms which certainly improved the Camber.However, I wanted to get the Cambercorrect, thusI got it professionally tested and put the shims in the bolts on the bottom of each strut which screw into the vertical links. I only mentioned replacing the bushes in the Track Control arms as the rubber ones only lasted 3 years and changing them did improve the Camber.

Sorry for any confusion.

[dasadrew]

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Ahhh! Got you now. That does make sense then

Interesting, however, if anyone has measured the Castor Angle as that could be adjusted fairly easily by shimming the drag strut.

[NickA]

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Do you mean you've addedshims where the Shim (A/R) is on the picture? or were they added somewhere else? I've alway mean to have the Stag four wheel aligned on a modern setup. Be interesting to see the results.

[801802971]

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Yes Nick, they were added to the top bolts. Interestingly, there is a posting on this forum that states the shims should be added to the bottom two bolts rather than the top but I needed to add them to the top, as shown on your diagram.

It will probably be a few years until I notice any wear on the tyres to ensure they are wearing evenly but the car does look a lot better and does not havethat tired look, if you know what I mean.

Before anyone asks, yes I did fit the spacer 133572in the top bolt.

[redstag]

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However, if your "man" says that the camber is incorrect, then I guess the only way is with adjustable TCA's (although I'm not sure if anyone does them for the Stag)

Monarch have them on their website

http://www.monarch-stags.co.uk/

[dasadrew]

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I'll note that - thanks! At the moment though, I think I'll save my blood pressure and not look at the price!