Can it be done? Mine's horrendous....

Someone must know?

Yours sounds bent.

The back axle is a one-piece swing arm. You can remove the rear coils and subsequently slam the rear like six inches, but the camber and toe should still be the same (wheel clearance permitting).

I wouldn't have thought it would've stayed the same Mikey?

The Toe and Camber comes set from the factory, built into the rear beam, move this around it's Pivot point and it will change. You could try using camber shims or something to correct the toe? Put them between the beam and hub, but not to introduce camber, move them around to correct the toe?

nope it should stay the same in theory because the pivot point is swinging from a different axis..

bit chav diy but you could try washers between the hub and axel, like some boys do when diying camber but in the front two or rear two, depending on if you have posative or negative toe.

but like mikey said, sounds like you axle is bent.

get some pictures up :)

nope it should stay the same in theory because the pivot point is swinging from a different axis..

bit chav diy but you could try washers between the hub and axel, like some boys do when diying camber but in the front two or rear two, depending on if you have posative or negative toe.

but like mikey said, sounds like you axle is bent.

It won't stay the same. Think about it, if the rear beam is set for no toe, and some camber, if you lower the car and rotate the beam then you will end up with less camber and more toe.

To fix it, you need to make a purchase of some camber shims, usually 20 quid a pair. Whip the stub axles off and put these shims in. Very simple. If you want it set properly get your camber and toe measured by your local (decent) laser tracking place. I set the camber and toe back to standard on mine after dropping it 80mm, and it made the world of difference in the wet.

nope it should stay the same in theory because the pivot point is swinging from a different axis..

bit chav diy but you could try washers between the hub and axel, like some boys do when diying camber but in the front two or rear two, depending on if you have posative or negative toe.

but like mikey said, sounds like you axle is bent.

How?

As said in the previous post, the camber and toe are built into the rear beam. At a standard rideheight this will be the same as standard, lower the car and the beam will move upwards, meaning that it is moving around its axis (where the beam mounts to the car). Move the beam and the camber and toe move with it about this axis, meaning that it will not be the same lol.

I'm confident it's not bent because:

1. It's the same both sides.

2. It's never been flagged up when four wheel laser aligned.

I can't explain why or put logic to it, because as Mikey said, in theory, there's no adjustment between rear hub/beam on a fixed rear setup like the mk4 Polo has, but, for some reason, when seriously reducing the ride height of the rear end, the camber significantly changes (negative) and it looked as though the toe in was more severe than standard too... but this could be illusion?

I may try shims/washers then and see if it can be corrected, not sure how safe this is though.

There would be no change if there was no camber at normal ride height. But yes,if there is some negative camber at normal height then it will toe-in as the axle swings up and forward.

This would help handling,with the wheel toeing-into the corner under load.

But when lowering the car,this isn't wanted.

I can only suggest custom made camber shims to re-position the wheels how you want/need them to sit. The holes could be radially slotted to make them adjustable by dial action.

There would be no change if there was no camber at normal ride height. But yes,if there is some negative camber at normal height then it will toe-in as the axle swings up and forward.

This would help handling,with the wheel toeing-into the corner under load.

But when lowering the car,this isn't wanted.

I can only suggest custom made camber shims to re-position the wheels how you want/need them to sit. The holes could be radially slotted to make them adjustable by dial action.

In that case, all i can think is, maybe when you reduce the ride height the standard camber/toe is more noticeable as the wheel now sits closer to the bodywork.

For cornering it should improve, as you say, just doesn't feel 100% planted when driving in a straight line even with front aligned properly.

No worries, if it's meant to be like this, then that's how it can stay.

The camber will reduce and you will have toe in if you lower the car and rotate the beam about its axis.

You need camber shims if you want it set up correctly. It'll be the toe in that's giving you bad cornering and I'd imagine its twitchy in a straight line.

Can someone explain why everyone seems to think that if you lower a solid beam in one axis, it changes its shape in the other two axes?

Because when the rear trailing arm (on the passenger side in this case) is horizontal with the wheel east of it,the top of the wheel is at 12 o'clock.

Turn the axle a quarter turn with heavy lowering so that the trailing arm is now north east,and the top of the wheel is now at 10:30.

Therefore,instead of the wheel tilting 12-in/6-out it is now tilting 10:30-in/4:30-out.

50% of the previous camber is now toe-in instead.

The camber will reduce and you will have toe in if you lower the car and rotate the beam about its axis.

You need camber shims if you want it set up correctly. It'll be the toe in that's giving you bad cornering and I'd imagine its twitchy in a straight line.

Because when the rear trailing arm (on the passenger side in this case) is horizontal with the wheel east of it,the top of the wheel is at 12 o'clock.

Turn the axle a quarter turn with heavy lowering so that the trailing arm is now north east,and the top of the wheel is now at 10:30.

Therefore,instead of the wheel tilting 12-in/6-out it is now tilting 10:30-in/4:30-out.

50% of the previous camber is now toe-in instead.

Yes guys it's starting to make a bit more sense now and yes 'runforrest' it doesn't feel as planted as it should be really, does feel a little twitchy in a straight line a mild corners.

OK, START AGAIN, SO I UNDERSTAND FULLY, CORRECT ME IF WRONG:

Camber and toe i understand.

As mikey said, as you lower the car, the wheel is essentially moving around a certain point, meaning what WAS negative camber has now become toe in, and this is surely because the CASTER has been changed, i.e. as you look at the face of the wheel its now altered from 12 oclock and 6 oclock to 10 oclock and 4 oclock as mikey says, for example.

SO... if you could correct the CASTER that has been affected by lowering the car, you would be returning the toe in to negative camber thus solving the toe problem. You can then affect the camber until it reaches it's optimum setting via a second shim?

Correct?

Eibach make camber/caster shims, this SHOULD correct the problem (i think).

:)

You just need a set of shims, you can set camber and toe at the same time. It will correct the problem. Get your settings measured, get a set of shims, it will make sense and will fix your problem.Trust us.

Edited 19 July, 201115 yr by runforrestrun

ah i get ye now, but to be fair. 120mm witch is realy all your going to be able to drop a 6n, it will only put the camber and toe out a minute or two, even 5minutes would not be noticable to the naked eye.?? and how is this one polo suffering from a problem more so than the dozens others that have been lowerd without any other adjustment and with no horendous result? or am i completly wrong?

ah i get ye now, but to be fair. 120mm witch is realy all your going to be able to drop a 6n, it will only put the camber and toe out a minute or two, even 5minutes would not be noticable to the naked eye.?? and how is this one polo suffering from a problem more so than the dozens others that have been lowerd without any other adjustment and with no horendous result? or am i completly wrong?

Fair point, it's not as though my car looks seriously damaged or anything lol, it's probably the same as most others out there, but i can feel that it's not as planted as it should be to drive.

My mk2 is dropped 80mm on the back, the toe in should be between 0.17deg and 0.67deg, and until I put the shims in it was 1.09deg, which was more than enough to make the handling crap. It would twitch in a straight line on the motorway and in the wet it was worse. Fitting shims made the world of difference.

Everyone that's lowered it will have the same problem without shims, but most people won't notice in the first place, or won't be aware that there's a method to improve it if they do.

ah i get ye now, but to be fair. 120mm witch is realy all your going to be able to drop a 6n, it will only put the camber and toe out a minute or two, even 5minutes would not be noticable to the naked eye.?? and how is this one polo suffering from a problem more so than the dozens others that have been lowerd without any other adjustment and with no horendous result? or am i completly wrong?

Fair point, it's not as though my car looks seriously damaged or anything lol, it's probably the same as most others out there, but i can feel that it's not as planted as it should be to drive.

Its not just you. I noticed i had toe in when i had my coilovers on, so ignore everyone who's saying its bent. :)

supose id depends on what size wheels yur running too, tve 6.5 scoda felicia alloys and i need to get spacers to get them out to the arch, there still well inside it like. and as for it not being as planted as it should. mine stiks lke shit to a barn door on corners, obv not near as good as civics or most jap yolks, or saxos for that matter. but i just had it down to its a polo.. i love my polo as much as anyone on this site. but ffs lads, its a polo, built by vw to be a populare lil run around, on a budjet, and not designed to be a track demon. its just not what there about..

anyway, bring on the haters!