Hi all, I have orderd and receved A shinny new set of arb blocks for my mk2f bready :-), to correct the caster of my coilovers as my car has been uncontrollable since lowering, I will be fitting them this weekend, does anyone have any tips? As I have no previous knowledge on this, any musts or must nots? All information is appreciated. Tia

Hi all, I have orderd and receved A shinny new set of arb blocks for my mk2f bready :-), to correct the caster of my coilovers as my car has been uncontrollable since lowering, I will be fitting them this weekend, does anyone have any tips? As I have no previous knowledge on this, any musts or must nots? All information is appreciated. Tia

Nothing much to say really other than it would be wise to have a helper pulling forward your arb as you screw in the blocks...it's fairly stiff to pull on your own,

saying that I've removed and fitted mine twice and can do it alone... if you had seen me your reaction would be "seen more meat on a butchers apron" so I guess anyone can do it themselves with a bit of yanking

raise both wheels in the air and remove the old parts , you should be able to pull the bar forward or have a helper do it , some folk have used a ratchet strap or small jack to force it where it needs to be

you must have the tracking done afterwards

only a couple ways have worked for me. raise front wheels up lift arb up with jack. then fit sizzer jack inbetween gearbox and arb or inside the arch with abit of wood, all just to help push the arb forwrds, good luck on your first go at fitting them :P

Thanks guys will take all advice on board and will update after the weekend hopefully with arb blocks fitted :-)

Hi all just an update, I installed my arb blocks, I no I need to get my tracking done, but I went for a test drive and my steering is just as shit as before!! My steering wheel does not re centalize after a corner, and as I driving in a staight line the weels are fighting againt me, if I let go of the wheel it will automatically full lock its self eather left or right, but more often it will be to the right,, please help!!

You need to get the alignment checked. ARB blocks are just the start of sorting the alignment of a lowered Polo. Most Polos I've driven will hold them selves on full lock though. Just seems to be a thing they do.

yes I was aware I still need get tracking done,the only reason I'm asking is the only place near me that I can get my tracking done is £70, as no one else can get my polo on their ramps!! I dont want to get it done if I will still need to do other thing to get my coilover caster correct? Do.they check the caster angle during allinement,

£70 save up and get it done .I not fitted my arb blocks yet but I tried 3 garages to get my tracking done not one of them could do it as they said its to low and said could not fit wheel brace machine over wheel... I see cars a lot lower than mine on the road how the hell do they get there tracking done..

Edited 7 November, 201510 yr by 1vw2many

If you have a tape measure and some wood you can do it yourself....

If you have a tape measure and some wood you can do it yourself....

Nah tape measure is too technical, cant beat using a bit of string :P

Some garages have trackers that brace on the sides of the tire a bit like quarter to 3 on a clock buy obviously a tiny bit higher else the arms will fall off.

Can do what kwijibo suggested also with wood and string, it's covered somewhere on here.

You should be able to see if your toe is out if you straighten up the drivers wheel then the opposite wheel should look the same and if not then wind in the track rod end on passenger side

I might just buy some new top mounts and caps,, and get them to fit them and do the whole alinment At the same, if it doesn't fix the issue fuck knows whats next but its going to get fairly expensive if I have to go get it tracked every time I change something!!

it will drive bad until the tracking is reset , think about it youve made a big change to how the wheels sit

there will be plenty of garages that can do it , just get around and ask

or look up the string method or tape measure between the front and rear sides of the front tyre tread , you can get it pretty close at home

Edited 7 November, 201510 yr by steveo3002

I track mine with string and a ruler

I track mine with string and a ruler

How do you do it with a ruler Kiran?

Is it basically...string round wheels pulled tight at the back of the car...then measure the gap between the tire sidewall and the string?

Yeah, driver side is fixed so set that to 0 and measure how far out passenger side is adjust and repeat

http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?169701-DIY-tracking-gauge&p=1597992#post1597992

good how to here ...perefectly possible to get it right if you can be bothered to be accurate

You don't take the wheels off if you wanna make it easy for yourself. Just start to raise the car with a jack until the bolts are easy to turn. Swap the new for old. Lower until the holes line up, torque up, job done. Now go and get the tracking done.. properly..

Using string and stuff is just mehhhh.

Using the rear wheels as reference is a waste of time as if the beams over to one side or the front is you just end up all over the place.

On more than one occasion I have properly set people's cars up and been told "it's not far off I did this process" and it's just all over the place.

When you've lowered it none of the suspension is working as it's designed to for a start.

Lowering it ruins the toe due to the bump steer, then pulling the TCAs forward a load ruins it even more.

In my experience these are pretty toe sensitive to how they drive, I reduced mine by around 1/6th of a degree the other day and it's instantly noticeable and different, I highly doubt string and tape measures can be to this level of accuracy.

There's a reason companies spend hundreds of thousands of pounds developing accurate wheel alignment systems..

And also. It's not all about toe (or "tracking" as we seem to be calling it) caster and camber differential left and right will effect how it behaves quite a lot too!

I would definitely recommend getting it done properly

Using string and stuff is just mehhhh.

Using the rear wheels as reference is a waste of time as if the beams over to one side or the front is you just end up all over the place.

On more than one occasion I have properly set people's cars up and been told "it's not far off I did this process" and it's just all over the place.

When you've lowered it none of the suspension is working as it's designed to for a start.

Lowering it ruins the toe due to the bump steer, then pulling the TCAs forward a load ruins it even more.

In my experience these are pretty toe sensitive to how they drive, I reduced mine by around 1/6th of a degree the other day and it's instantly noticeable and different, I highly doubt string and tape measures can be to this level of accuracy.

There's a reason companies spend hundreds of thousands of pounds developing accurate wheel alignment systems..

And also. It's not all about toe (or "tracking" as we seem to be calling it) caster and camber differential left and right will effect how it behaves quite a lot too!

I would definitely recommend getting it done properly

Not that I want to attack your theory of getting it done professionally as we all know that is the real sensible option.

But as far as I know the rear wheels are used for reference when laser tracking too..well it was where I worked. The laser shined back from the front wheels to a ruler board that was put on the back wheels. Then the toe was adjusted and the laser would move left or right to get the design toe

Guess that was a super tracker or similar?

They're generally designed for cars with pegged subframes etc...don't get me wrong it should in theory be right but you never know.

Is there a specific type or machine / equipment that we should look for?

As above the majority of places, especially ones that do it cheaper tend to use a simple laser marker and a type of ruler.

A good while back when i had my Honda which had fully adjustable everything there was only one place I could bring it to and they adjusted everything. They had a very expensive setup which showed castor camber and toe as well as other things. He changed around £150 I think but I didn't pay attention to the machine etc as was on my lunch break. The car never drove so good and I was very happy with paying that.

I think having a list of the "good" machines might help when looking for places to properly track our lowered cars

hunter machines are good- alot of it is down to if the worker cares /has the know how to get it right

I have heard of hunter - that may have been it.

It's true, they could have the best equipment in the world but not giving a sh*t or not knowing how it works will mean a useless waste of money.

I guess going to a place that sells or fits lowering parts etc way be better as most places that sell tyres would only know about toe angle

Edited 15 November, 201510 yr by dixy