[Vits93]

The old girl has caster problems, it pulls to the left pretty bad even after the wheel alignment. I cant find any caster bolts or even camber bolts that have the bolt length and i dont know if the offset bushes like the ones from bits4vits fit the calmini arms. If anyone can point me in the right direction my right arm will love you for it.

[FullyZooked]

Bits4vits is where my camber bolts came from. I'd be surprised if the calmini struts had wider mounting points than stock so they would be fine.

Someone correct me on the cal struts if they know otherwise.

[atari4x4]

camber bolts to suit a Vitara will fit any strut, not sure about the caster bushes fitting the Calmini control arms... as a guess I would say no.

[christover1]

What makes You sure its a caster problem?

Could be the infamous idler arm/bush issue?

If it is a caster problem caused by a big lift, search "hagen widening mod"
for a possible solution

[Vits93]

Yeah Atari your right bits4vits bushes won't fit the calmini arms.

Christover1 i had a wheel alignment done and they gave me the print out showing its out left is +1.33 and right is +2.20. I did have a look at the idler arm just to be safe nothing is bent, got the missus to move the steering wheel left and right and i couldn't see any play in the bushing.

I think i will have to find a place to make up some offset bushes for the calmini arms.

[christover1]

Hopefully there is something off the shelf from some other fitment..

[atari4x4]

Vits93 wrote:

Yeah Atari your right bits4vits bushes won't fit the calmini arms.

Christover1 i had a wheel alignment done and they gave me the print out showing its out left is +1.33 and right is +2.20. I did have a look at the idler arm just to be safe nothing is bent, got the missus to move the steering wheel left and right and i couldn't see any play in the bushing.

I think i will have to find a place to make up some offset bushes for the calmini arms.

is that camber or castor?

[Vits93]

atari4x4 wrote:

Vits93 wrote:

Yeah Atari your right bits4vits bushes won't fit the calmini arms.

Christover1 i had a wheel alignment done and they gave me the print out showing its out left is +1.33 and right is +2.20. I did have a look at the idler arm just to be safe nothing is bent, got the missus to move the steering wheel left and right and i couldn't see any play in the bushing.

I think i will have to find a place to make up some offset bushes for the calmini arms.

is that camber or castor?

Caster

[royce]

for that much different I would be looking for whats bent first, thats a fair difference

otherwise a 'dodgy' person might slot the left hand rear mount outwards a bit until the castor was correct and weld soem washers in place to fix it in place and correct the castor

[Vits93]

royce wrote:

for that much different I would be looking for whats bent first, thats a fair difference

otherwise a 'dodgy' person might slot the left hand rear mount outwards a bit until the castor was correct and weld soem washers in place to fix it in place and correct the castor

i think the cross member has been pushed to the right but shouldn't it be very noticeable to make nearly 1 deg difference and it didn't pull to left before i put the lift kit in unless the lift exaggerated problem.

[royce]

does it drive straight if you sit in the right lane of a multilane road? IE so the road is cambering to the right not the left?

[Vits93]

royce wrote:

does it drive straight if you sit in the right lane of a multilane road? IE so the road is cambering to the right not the left?

Nah its pretty bad, the 12 o'clock position on the steering wheel on a straight flat road sits at about the 2 o'clock position, no matter what road I'm on I'm always pulling the steering wheel to the right.
Do you think i could use 14mm camber bolts to replace the control arm rear bolts? I just don't know about the length of the camber bolts, standard bolts are 90mm from under the bolt head to end of the thread .

[royce]

do you know what your camber is? I've found shitty camber accounts for more weird shit than castor

I think youd be better of trying to find some eccentric bolts out of some other car with similar bush dimensions

[Vits93]

royce wrote:

do you know what your camber is? I've found shitty camber accounts for more weird shit than castor

I think youd be better of trying to find some eccentric bolts out of some other car with similar bush dimensions

Sorry that's what meant to say

[Vits93]

Well i fixed the caster issue, i used Royce's 'dodgy person' idea and slotted the rear holes, it was that bad the bolt holes had to be moved 8mm to the left but it now tracks correctly. Thanks everyone for your assistance. Here's some photos excuse the welds

[shandy92]

Hey all, i know this is a bit of a grave dig but searches will do that. Had a wheel alignment today as i was getting bad wear on my new tyres:( it pulls to the left rather bad. Camber and toe are good, but caster is bad LH IS -0.03deg and right is +1.4. I have a straight heavy duty idler arm brace.

What should i be looking for? Worn bushes in front control arms? Busted strut mount bush?
Thanks
Mitch

[fordem]

Caster is the front~back tilt of the "king-pin" - since you have macpherson strut suspension there is no "king-pin" perse, so you're looking at an imaginary line drawn from the strut mount at the top to the ball-joint at the bottom - the points around which the wheel pivots.

Anything that moves one of these points in a front~back direction will cause the caster to change, anything that moves them sideways will cause the camber to change.

I find it strange that camber would be good & caster out - but - if that's what you got I would be looking for a bent control arm.

[shandy92]

Yeah i understand the concepts, ture shop pretty much said every bush in the front end causes caster issue! Which im not that retarted. So flogged out control bushes wouldnt cause it?

[got_bar_work]

Tiny amounts yes
Check ur towers
One could be bent back

[fordem]

If the bushes are shot they will affect both caster & camber - which is why I find it strange that camber is good but caster is not.

[shandy92]

Ok ill check the towers, i got camber bolts in so they prob adjuted them to fix the issue. Or would it be way out still?

[shandy92]

Well checked the towers, couldnt really fault them. Its only 2 deg between the left and right, should i be able to see that? I compared both sides without a difference seen.

Can someone measure between the two front arm mount bolts? Pls (center of bolt to Center of bolt).
Thanks

[christover1]

I get 450mm but it is dark, so not dead accurate.

[shandy92]

Ok thanks chris, how do u find the castor correction bushes? Did u take both arms completely off to fit them?

[christover1]

shandy92 wrote:

Ok thanks chris, how do u find the castor correction bushes? Did u take both arms completely off to fit them?

Mine seems to handle much better with them.
Hardest part was removing the old bushes.
I did it with the arms off, as my bushes needed a lot of aggression to remove.
If Your bushes easily remove, then on car could be done.

[shandy92]

Ok thanks, how long did it take you all up?
Mine is 43.8cm.

Thanks

[christover1]

Was all done in a day.
So allow half a day for a fit bloke with good tools.