RobPhoboS Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Hey guy's, I'm currently just fitting these new arms to the car. However before driving off to get a quick alignment done properly, I just wanted to adjust them myself. If anyone else has these, do you adjust all 3 or just the front one and keep the others done up (hopefully that makes sense). Weight is 2.2kg each (bit heavy but so be it) Here are some photos for you: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilscorp Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 (edited) Use your old arms as templates and adjust so the dimensions look similar would be my tactic. Wouldn't like the part with two welds having the biggest fulcrum. Edited March 7, 2015 by evilscorp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobPhoboS Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 Yep, that's why I was thinking adjust all 3 parts. Thanks for your input. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobPhoboS Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 And just to note, someone else said to adjust using the ends. I'll get back on it in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT4 Zed Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 What does the manufacturer say? Didn't it come with a manual. In my SPLs you use shims close to the ball joint to adjust camber and the inner joint to adjust caster. It tells you how many turns correspond roughly to degrees. Other wise just wind in the inner joints and lock them square and then adjust the ball joint to mirror OEM arms and see what you get from your alignment. Shouldn't be too far off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobPhoboS Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Yep you're spot on mate, exactly as you stated in the last paragraph. Basically I've tightened up the outer ends as there isn't much thread I found, then you just undo the nut either side of the centre ball joint adjuster. So it's actually pretty simple in the end. Just got to have another play in a bit. Nearly there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevoD Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Grundys just been fitting these Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grundy Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 I want to die right now. But I'll update tomorrow, finally got mine on. #teamtarmac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobPhoboS Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) Haha. I'm glad I had that little camber tool (I'll check tonight but the Gunson tool I bought may fit inside the centre wheel cap once it's removed). I had to make the fine adjustments in a very small, quiet trading estate, completely flat surface. My parents drive really affected how off I kept setting it To make the adjustments, ensure you're on a flat surface, take a quick camber measurement, in my case a spirit level across the wheel rim, then using the camber tool in the middle to get an approximate reading. Then just jack up the front on the side you're working on, (you can check the camber again just to see how it is when the wheel is hanging in the air), I jacked it up so I could get to the nuts easier (19mm & 30mm). Undo the 2 locking nuts, and adjust the adjusting nut, lower it back down completely - and measure the camber again. (repeat as required ) When happy, tighten the 2 locking nuts. Feeling pretty good, both are set to around -1.5 however it just needs to be aligned properly again by someone. Edited March 9, 2015 by RobPhoboS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVSV2824 Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Is there any caster asjustment with these then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobPhoboS Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 (edited) Is there any caster asjustment with these then? Tony over at Wheels In Motion said 'All you need to do is adjust the arms pick up point at the chassis to move the castor'. & 'All you need to do is decrease the length of the front upper point or increase the rear point, sometimes we have to do both depending on the adjustment range.' I need to dial my caster back a bit (just over 9 at the mo, trying to get around 7°30 from Tonys advice with my set up). And just to confirm Kam at DW's said yep Edited March 12, 2015 by RobPhoboS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVSV2824 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Thanks for that. So wheels in motion were happy setting your Z up? Is it quite low? Mine is and I'm wondering how they'd go about getting access to and adjusting camber/caster... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT4 Zed Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Is there any caster asjustment with these then? Tony over at Wheels In Motion said 'All you need to do is adjust the arms pick up point at the chassis to move the castor'. & 'All you need to do is decrease the length of the front upper point or increase the rear point, sometimes we have to do both depending on the adjustment range.' I need to dial my caster back a bit (just over 9 at the mo, trying to get around 7°30 from Tonys advice with my set up). And just to confirm Kam at DW's said yep While I agree with the above I'll be very careful unwinding the arm to chassis joints as it does not seem these UCAs were designed for caster adjustment and there is not a lot of thread or strenght in those ends. Looks likely to fail if not fully wound in. I hope I'm wrong. More +ve caster is better especially in the zed with very dull front end feel from stock, so I'm wondering why he would advice less caster than the upper OEM limit!? I've been running near dead on 10 deg with no probs but 9deg should be perfect IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobPhoboS Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 Thanks for that. So wheels in motion were happy setting your Z up? Is it quite low? Mine is and I'm wondering how they'd go about getting access to and adjusting camber/caster... Tony hasn't set the car up, just commenting on my settings (or 'to be' settings as I need to adjust). No my car isn't very low, just on the tein s springs and bilstein b6 dampers. Is there any caster asjustment with these then? Tony over at Wheels In Motion said 'All you need to do is adjust the arms pick up point at the chassis to move the castor'. & 'All you need to do is decrease the length of the front upper point or increase the rear point, sometimes we have to do both depending on the adjustment range.' I need to dial my caster back a bit (just over 9 at the mo, trying to get around 7°30 from Tonys advice with my set up). And just to confirm Kam at DW's said yep While I agree with the above I'll be very careful unwinding the arm to chassis joints as it does not seem these UCAs were designed for caster adjustment and there is not a lot of thread or strenght in those ends. Looks likely to fail if not fully wound in. I hope I'm wrong. More +ve caster is better especially in the zed with very dull front end feel from stock, so I'm wondering why he would advice less caster than the upper OEM limit!? I've been running near dead on 10 deg with no probs but 9deg should be perfect IMHO. Yep, you're 100% spot on about that mate. So anyone else buying/fitting - pay attention to that ! The reason I know is because when I was adjusting them initially, I accidentally unwound them out, so currently they are fully done up I'll just do a very minor tweak on them to see what the system says if they let me sling my car up on it again (local KF - haha, they are very cool with me there). Otherwise for now they'll stay like that, and I'll leave it for which ever place can look at it next time. He's saying that the camber migration will be slow, so it'll tend to hold the position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVSV2824 Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 So been for my alignement today...and I knew they would struggle with the front camber adjustment - couldn't get access to it with car lifted and with wheel at full droop. So is it a case of dropping shock and drop link/removing wheel to gain some clearance, then adjust, re-do the above and recheck figures and repeat the process until it's spot on? Caster was easy to adjust (although not much thread on the bolts to play with as mentioned already) I'll start a new topic to discuss other alignment "issues" (stupid eccentric toe bolt) but I'll keep this one of topic about DW arms Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobPhoboS Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 For me I can just jack the car up with the wheel on (just about touching the ground) and the clearance is fine for me to adjust the camber. I guess it depends on what kind of suspension you have on your car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVSV2824 Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 For me I can just jack the car up with the wheel on (just about touching the ground) and the clearance is fine for me to adjust the camber. I guess it depends on what kind of suspension you have on your car. Coilovers, quite Low, normal 5mm preload = no access. To be fair i did eyeball the arms pretty well when fitting them as they're currently both the same (ish) @ -3.5deg - i would just like a degree taking off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobPhoboS Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 Hmm, unfortunately I can't be of much use in this instance, I know a couple of the other guy's have coilovers and these. Hopefully they'll chip in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grundy Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 I've got no problems adjusting mine with my coils. 10min job. #teamtarmac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVSV2824 Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I psrsonally don't have a problem adjusting them...but when hooked up on a hunter rig, the geo guys struggle to get access to the camber bolts. Maybe I just don't have enough droop at front wheels. I've noticed your quite low also - How much pre-load you have and who set your geo up if you don't mind me asking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobPhoboS Posted March 24, 2015 Author Share Posted March 24, 2015 (edited) Well I'm off to Wheels In Motion tomorrow, Tony has been ever helpful and has informed (warned? haha) Joe about the arms. (edit - Tony is actually coming down tomorrow as well ) So all being well I can report back tomorrow on how it goes but my last experience with them was fantastic (fully adjustable coilovers and suspension parts on my old MR2) Edited March 24, 2015 by RobPhoboS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobPhoboS Posted March 25, 2015 Author Share Posted March 25, 2015 Phew - that was a great experience, excellent place guys ! No matter where you are in the country I'd strongly advise heading to them, especially if you have adjustable suspension parts. Their particular hunter system is brilliant, and of course it's only as good as the operator, in my case Joe was straight on it and Tony (bless him, he's not well at the moment) was overseeing and chatting to me about it all. The very first thing Joe did once the kit was on and it was in the air, was to rectify the issue I had about not being able to get the split pin through the bolt. This was before I even mentioned it, he realised there was a collar that I didn't require on my particular car and once it was off, he got the pins in place. Next up was just a query as to why I wanted -2 camber, and how having it set like that without being able to adjust the rears (standard OEM bits) enough would create some interesting turn-in oversteer..which I don't fancy cheers So they advised what they set, and I guess in the future if I want it more aggressive I'll need the rear adjustable camber arms as well. The car drives far better now, it's not pulling to the left, nor did I have that issue with the pins and needles - so I retract my earlier statement, it must have been due to the odd angles I initially had it It was more expensive than I realised it was going to be but I'm happy with the work done by Joe and WIM. Here is my print out, probably worth ignoring the before as that was me tarting around last weekend and giving up: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grundy Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Awesome, going to give these guys a shout when I get some free time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT4 Zed Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Nice feedback Robbo👠I called them once before a year ago if they could do corner weighting on my zed after recommendation from a friend and they said they had stopped as it took too much time when they could make more money doing just 4 wheel alignment. They gave you a std OEM spec set up there. I still do not understand what he meant about have more camber up front because with the OEM eccentric washer/bolt you would be able to dial a bit over -2deg. In fact being mildly lowered it should be easy. The issue is usually going back into spec and lowering tends to give you more camber. My other observation is the large difference in caster and SAI in front. It's huge. Did they no try to even it out since those DW arms have a small caster adjustability? Anyway you are happy that's all that counts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobPhoboS Posted March 25, 2015 Author Share Posted March 25, 2015 I've got the standard bolts on the rear (I think that's what you're referring to right?), however I do have a pair of Eibach rear bolts but I've not used them yet as I didn't think it required it. So if I want a bit more neg camber up front for turn in, they should be able to push the rear a bit more even with the standard bits out in the rear then ? In regards to the caster and the SAI - what would you think is more ideal ? I can't judge the true feel of it just yet as I only came back on the m25 straight home, I need to nip out and have a play. But needless to say I was a bit nervous Typically I like having responsive turn in, I'm not sure how much of a difference the Eibach ARB's are going to be affecting that feeling after I get them on, as I'm sure they will affect it (well, for the balancing of weight). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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