Alignment: No camber or caster adjustment?

[Monzaveo]

Hi everyone.

I finally got a chance to get my Aveo re-aligned...

The tech showed me the machine which said that there was no actual adjuster for the camber or caster. My Camber was off. Caster was in spec.

He said the fix was to loosen the strut to the spindle bolts and try to use any available play to get the right adjustment. If necessary they could grind a little bit to get the right adjustment.

Does that sound right?

[petrified.rabbit]

buy camber bolts, get good ones.

[Monzaveo]

Thanks for the tip,

Are these bolts an ad on? Is there no way to make the adjustment to a factory aveo?

I just want to be sure my tech had the correct info.

[petrified.rabbit]

there is some "play" in the connections, but the bolt give you a range in +/- degrees.

a few tips though, buy good ones, i have had the cheap ebay ones fail. how do you think the car will handle when the spindle can pivot separate from the shock? happened to me, damn alignment shops.

which brings me to the next point, DO NOT tighten them with an impact!

let the mechanic know you have them, you loosen the nut, turn the bolt to adjust camber, tighten the nut.
installing them on top is more typical, but i have been low enough is some cars to do both.. not necessary typically.

[serega12]

buy good ones, i have had the cheap ebay ones fail. how do you think the car will handle when the spindle can pivot separate from the shock? happened to me, damn alignment shops.

I don't trust camber adjustment bolts altogether anymore after the eBay one crapped out on me... literally. I had them installed and alignment done at a local tire/wheel shop, same shop I bought the wheels and tires from. Not a bad shop, but I think they used impact on the eBay bolt, which ripped the bolt head off. They either didn't notice it or failed to let me know... either way, when I had the wheels off in a week or so from then, I noticed that the bolt head was sheared/twisted off and it started backing out... already backed out about 1/4 - 1/2 inches.. have I not noticed that before I put the wheels on - it would be just a matter of days before the disaster would happen. I called them and complained, told them I would go with the original bolts, but would like them to re-check the alignment for free, which they did. The alignment is slightly out of specs on one side, which means that the tires will possibly wear a few thousand miles sooner than they should, but I would rather replace tires sooner than crash somewhere because my whole assembly failed.... That's my take on those. So unless you're doing a huge drop (which would require coilovers because most of the springs for our cars out there don't drop you more than 1.5" unless you cut them further), you should be fine without the bolts.

And back to the original info, yes, your mechanic did have the right info about aveo having no camber adjustment.

[Monzaveo]

Thanks for the info/answers !!! Much appreciated.

I heard the tech hitting my stock bolts with the impact...hope they'll be ok.

[petrified.rabbit]

mine were sheared off completely on my aveo, both sides of the heads were missing. i only notices changing my wheels too, two weeks and 900 miles after the alignment. and you are right could have been a disaster if the spindle would have wobbled out while doing 80 mph on the highway.

I replaced mine with the grade 8 camber adjusters from my vw. they can be use with an impact, and at this point i have been using this same pair of bolts for 10 years, 9 on my vw. 1 on the aveo. no problems whatsoever.

They only offer like 3/4 of a degree though, because of the lobe to strength design, but it is enough.

[serega12]

mine were sheared off completely on my aveo, both sides of the heads were missing. i only notices changing my wheels too, two weeks and 900 miles after the alignment. and you are right could have been a disaster if the spindle would have wobbled out while doing 80 mph on the highway.

I replaced mine with the grade 8 camber adjusters from my vw. they can be use with an impact, and at this point i have been using this same pair of bolts for 10 years, 9 on my vw. 1 on the aveo. no problems whatsoever.

They only offer like 3/4 of a degree though, because of the lobe to strength design, but it is enough.

Could you possibly send me the specs/part number for those? i could use those, if they're pretty much a direct fit. I'm also fine with 3/4 of a degree, because I only need to adjust .5 degree to be within specs. And grade 8 is what the stocks are right?