Wheel Alignment issues - BNE adjustable strut mounts

deNs

Hey all,

I've recently made a bunch of upgrades to my suspension, with one of the main changes being a swap from standard strut tops to BNE adjustable strut mounts. I found a place locally who I'd been recommended by a race/rally tyre shop and they had good reviews, so I decided to book in with them.

I put new tie-rod ends on and did a basic string alignment in my garage to get it safely enough to the workshop. I eyeballed the top mounts but I knew even just by eye that the camber was a bit more on one side than the other, but with a 5km trip I figured it was no big deal.

I'd seen elsewhere an example of what camber/castor settings were possible with the strut tops, and asked the shop to aim for +5 deg castor and -2 deg camber. This is what the before and after values were:

Some quick things to note:

Inner tie rods/rack ends are apparently shagged - didn't replace them as I'd never done it before but they got me to feel the play in the rod when turning lock-to-lock and could feel some kind of unusual vibration, so took their word on it, and said do most of the settings now, and I'll come back later and they can install the rack ends and do the toe adjustment again next time.Toe in of 0.11 degrees on 16" wheels is around 0.8, so 1.6mm total, which seems pretty conservative? I do realise my original toe-in was a lot more! ;) I asked why the difference between the two sides, and was given the explanation of wanting to compensate for road camber. I've not had a wheel alignment end up with measurements uneven between both sides, and I think that he simply got fed up of adjusting the strut mounts (see below)I explained to them as best I could, with photos of what the mount looks like prior to install, how the mount is adjusted by unloading the car and rotating the mount, probably from underneath.

So while all the 'after' figures are green, the castor is a degree out between both sides and negative camber isn't where I'd asked. I don't care about tyre wear as it's a weekender and rotate tyres regularly enough. With that said, the way the strut tops look is very different after being adjusted:

As you can quite clearly see, they are not a match. The castor settings are different because the right doesn't match the left in how the mount is rotated, but the camber does match because he's adjusted the slider plate to adjust the camber independently, but only on one, to match the other.

He insisted that things can 'move about' and settle after a new install, which I do appreciate, but if I've paid $160 for a wheel alignment only to have to get it done twice because they did a hack job the first time, I don't feel like I should go back.

Am I overreacting? Should I get them to fix it or cut my losses and take it to somewhere more competent?

Philia_Bear

I've personally never bothered with adjustable top plates on a 940

0 total toe

Max caster possible

~0.5° neg camber at rest

Are ideal settings for a 945

ramrod

The fact that you have asked for advice here is indicative of having received a serviced which you're not satisfied with

They have their method, which may or may not align with your best interests

Go back, explain what you want to have done, if they refuse explain you're unhappy as a customer, should not have to pay double

Spac

On the passenger’s side, I don’t know how they could get more negative camber without reducing positive castor (and vice-versa) - the sliding adjustment is maxxed out, so the only way to get more is to rotate the entire strut top.

Depending on how much highway driving you do (as opposed to fanging on interesting roads or track use), then I doubt that you want more than 1.5* of neg.

I haven’t found a wheel aligner worth pissing on. None of them seem at all interested in doing anything trickier than setting the toe-in… As frustrated as you might be, this seems to be above average service (which is different to saying that it is good service).

deNs

Thanks for the input all. 0 total toe is what I'll ask for when the rack ends are replaced, and see if they're able to set both sides evenly and perhaps just aim for -1.5 camber and as much castor at that camber setting.

Spac, you're right and greater than -1.5 deg camber is likely unnecessary, even for a weekender. I thought I might need it for tucking the wheels I now have on it, but even at -1.3 it's within the guards and doesn't rub so happy days. I do know what you mean about not being able to find a decent wheel alignment mob. I don't get why it's so hard - do people who want it done properly just do it themselves?

All of this definitely makes me want to continue doing it at home with fishing line and a ruler like I did to get it good enough down to the shop (albeit way toed-in).. just need to be able to do camber/castor. I am no pro, so I doubt I'll do that anytime soon.

I'll likely jack it up to see if I can make it easier to move the adjustment as BNE has 3D-printed sleeves that go on the strut bolts so that there's no slop around the bolt where it sits in the slots of the strut mount, but it's not the easiest thing to spin about for adjustment and I think the guy got impatient with it.

But with all that said, I paid for these fancy schmancy strut tops, so I'm gonna use the whole range of adjustment dammit! /s