Toe adjustment on rear

[Ca11um43]

Since lowering my car on coilovers I've noticed quite a lot of toe in on the rear, and 3 months later it's starting to wear out my tyre's...I didn't even think the alignment could change on the rear with it being a solid rear axle, but obviously I was wrong and there's no way to adjust it. So what would you guys suggest? It's pretty much at the height I want, so I would rather not raise it, and I've seen other MK1's lower than mine so there must be some sort of solution for this

 

[300bhpdaily]

I maybe wrong but I’m sure back in the day there was a shim kit you could buy to help with toe and camber on the rear beam that fits between the hub flange and axle. I’ll be honest tho I’ve never had to fit one or know anyone who has one fitted. Think it was made Ei Bach. Search Ei back Leon cupra mk1 shim kit it may just be for camber but in theory you could turn it on it’s side to adjust toe in and out.
Have you had the geo checked with a print out so you can see how bad it is?
Have you ever swopped your tyres front to rear in the time you’ve had the tyres on them as the adverse wear might have already been there while they were on the front maybe? I’ve seen that a lot in my time.

 

[Ca11um43]

I maybe wrong but I’m sure back in the day there was a shim kit you could buy to help with toe and camber on the rear beam that fits between the hub flange and axle. I’ll be honest tho I’ve never had to fit one or know anyone who has one fitted. Think it was made Ei Bach. Search Ei back Leon cupra mk1 shim kit it may just be for camber but in theory you could turn it on it’s side to adjust toe in and out.
Have you had the geo checked with a print out so you can see how bad it is?
Have you ever swopped your tyres front to rear in the time you’ve had the tyres on them as the adverse wear might have already been there while they were on the front maybe? I’ve seen that a lot in my time.

I haven't had the geo checked, as I'm not aware of any garage around here who even do it...The place I usually go to (and will be going to again soon), only does front wheel alignments. When the car is on flat ground it looks like both wheels toe in which I never noticed before the coilovers went on. But when the rear is jacked up, the toe looks fine again. I posted the same thing on a few facebook pages, and one guy was explaining all this geometry stuff to me. Don't really understand what he was going on about, but I'm pretty sure he was trying to say that it's normal for this to happen

Also, I did change the wheels around. Only because the rear tyre's needed replacing and the fronts were still good, but I wanted better tyre's for the front. So I put the good ones on the back, the crap ones on the front, then had brand new PS4's put on the front. They wasn't worn on the edge when I first put them on the rear, so I don't think it's that.

 

[MoToJoJo]

Umm, definitely shouldn't be showing any toe on the rear, definitely not both toe in. Rear beams don't change any geometry except for misaligning the beam (which would mean toe in on one side and toe out on the other).

Definitely get it checked asap, either with a string guage or by someone with the right gear because if it is changing geo then you've got very big problems with the beam

 

[Ca11um43]

Umm, definitely shouldn't be showing any toe on the rear, definitely not both toe in. Rear beams don't change any geometry except for misaligning the beam (which would mean toe in on one side and toe out on the other).

Definitely get it checked asap, either with a string guage or by someone with the right gear because if it is changing geo then you've got very big problems with the beam

Somebody else said the same thing, pretty much. He was adamant that my rear axle is bent, but I don't see how It seemed fine before, I installed the coilovers, and that's when I first noticed the toe in...The only thing I can think of is that there has always been toe in, and it was just less noticeable at stock height? But I then had another guy explaining all this geometry stuff to me, basically saying it's normal.

If it comes down to it, I've heard that a new rear axle is fairly cheap on Autodoc and places like that. So I'll just build another one with polyurethane bushings, to match the front.

 

[MoToJoJo]

I can confidently say that the person saying it's normal does not know anything about this kind of suspension.

Beam axles don't have that kind of flex because it would be dangerous to have suspension geometry uncontrolled like that.

If your toe is changing then your rear suspension is well and truly knackered or you have multi link suspension. The latter is great, the former is a bit scary

 

[Rich.T]

Any pix that show the problem?

 

[smutts]

A thought experiment.
If the axle beam rotated about the bushes 90 degrees,, Camber would become toe, & vice versa. So a change of ride height can alter the toe and camber a bit. As to how much? No idea.
The rears on mine (bog standard) do kill the shoulders of the tyres as though they are toed too much. I assume that it's that way to stop me killing myself.
The only car I ever span was a Datsun FII Cherry, Something about downhill wet corners it didn't like. I suppose thirty years of progress.

 

[Connor H]

@Ca11um43 its a normal occurrence when you slam a mk4, the toe camber and caster all go out of whack. theres nothing wrong with your axle.

you can adjust camber and toe with washers, drop plates or shims.

my toe was crazy when i added some camber shims, i used a washer to adjust it.

 

[Ca11um43]

@Ca11um43 its a normal occurrence when you slam a mk4, the toe camber and caster all go out of whack. theres nothing wrong with your axle.

you can adjust camber and toe with washers, drop plates or shims.

my toe was crazy when i added some camber shims, i used a washer to adjust it. View attachment 30727

Well that's reassuring...Was starting to think I was seeing things when everybody told me it's not possible unless my axle was bent As it's highly unlikely that it bent just from fitting coilovers. But what would be my best option? Washers, drop plates, or shims? And any ideas where I can buy them from? The annoying thing is, sometimes they look fine, and sometimes they look like they have a lot of toe in. It all depends on how uneven the ground is, etc etc. So it may be a struggle trying to get the toe right.

 

[Connor H]

Well that's reassuring...Was starting to think I was seeing things when everybody told me it's not possible unless my axle was bent As it's highly unlikely that it bent just from fitting coilovers. But what would be my best option? Washers, drop plates, or shims? And any ideas where I can buy them from? The annoying thing is, sometimes they look fine, and sometimes they look like they have a lot of toe in. It all depends on how uneven the ground is, etc etc. So it may be a struggle trying to get the toe right.

shimming its pretty simple the only thing you need to account for when chucking any kind of shim in to align the caliper as well (not needed with the drop plates) getting to the stubs is a *******, you have to wrestle with a lot of rusted stuff and the disc shields.

the SPC toe shims seem harder to get but that is probably all you need. i should have got 1 camber 1 toe shim myself but im happy with just adding a washer to the lower front stub bolt. start with a 4 wheel alignment if you can to get some figures. i think ive got around neg3-4 camber in the back so im just sucking up my imperfect toe.

what you need is really up to you, some of these bits arent super easy to get hold of as they're mostly for bagged/static stuff. some people say adding a washer instead of a shim is super sketchy, but there's no serious force on the axle. also depends how low you are, because the drop plates will adjust the the caster rearwards.

 

[Ca11um43]

shimming its pretty simple the only thing you need to account for when chucking any kind of shim in to align the caliper as well (not needed with the drop plates) getting to the stubs is a *******, you have to wrestle with a lot of rusted stuff and the disc shields.

the SPC toe shims seem harder to get but that is probably all you need. i should have got 1 camber 1 toe shim myself but im happy with just adding a washer to the lower front stub bolt. start with a 4 wheel alignment if you can to get some figures. i think ive got around neg3-4 camber in the back so im just sucking up my imperfect toe.

what you need is really up to you, some of these bits arent super easy to get hold of as they're mostly for bagged/static stuff. some people say adding a washer instead of a shim is super sketchy, but there's no serious force on the axle. also depends how low you are, because the drop plates will adjust the the caster rearwards.

I did read a pretty old post on here (can't seem to find it now), about somebody having this exact same problem...I think a few people commented saying they used washers, etc etc and there was a big debate about how safe that was I'm not super bothered about it, but I put the coilovers on about 3 months ago and I am starting to notice the tyre's wearing on the inside edge a bit. It's not too bad though.

My car isn't slammed or anything. I'm still on the stock wheels, with a 1 or 2 finger gap (don't even have any recent pictures to show you). I did want to go a tad lower, but I will probably stay at this height now. Already hit my oil pan a few times, so don't want to make it any worse lol

 

[smutts]

After you've got bored smashing the engine sump a few times,
then raised the car back to standard, the problem will be solved.
Mine is standard, & on it's third sump.

 

[Ca11um43]

After you've got bored smashing the engine sump a few times,
then raised the car back to standard, the problem will be solved.
Mine is standard, & on it's third sump.

I don't like how high it is, stock...Hence why I lowered it, and I couldn't go back now Usually it's fine. I've seen people saying they hit their sump going over speed bumps and stuff, but I don't. I have some REALLY bad speed bumps close to where I live, and I have to go over them often. Literally have to stop, and go over them slowly (in most cars). And even then, it's fine Like I say, I've only hit my sump a few times, and left some deep marks/scratches in it. But nothing serious.

 

[Connor H]

Im pretty low and have only hit my sump a couple of times , its the speedbumps narrower than the wheels you gotta watch out for. Even in my GF's stock TT some of them are dodgy.

 

[Ca11um43]

Im pretty low and have only hit my sump a couple of times , its the speedbumps narrower than the wheels you gotta watch out for. Even in my GF's stock TT some of them are dodgy.

They're the type of speed bumps I have to go over quite often. They are massive, and there is loads of them (put there to stop all the "boy racers" speeding through a village close to where I live)...What I usually do is move over to the left a little more, so only the drivers side wheels go over the speed bump. I go super slow over them, as well. Never scraped or hit my sump doing that But by the looks of it, my car is probably a little higher than yours.

 

[Manic172]

After you've got bored smashing the engine sump a few times,
then raised the car back to standard, the problem will be solved.
Mine is standard, & on it's third sump.

If you do start sump banging. Then you could go for these

VW GOLF MK4 AUDI A3 8L LEON 1M SKODA OCTAVIA 20MM ENGINE SPACERS ASZ ARL AL0046 | eBay

Skoda Octavia. These spacers fit a wide range of VW Golf MK4 1.8T Audi A3 Seat Leon Skoda Octavia/Fabia etc with the 1.9TDI engines vehicles listed below:-. VW Golf mk4. It’s a complete bolt on solution with no additions required.

www.ebay.co.uk

They do them in different sizes to help left your engine

 

[Ca11um43]

If you do start sump banging. Then you could go for these

VW GOLF MK4 AUDI A3 8L LEON 1M SKODA OCTAVIA 20MM ENGINE SPACERS ASZ ARL AL0046 | eBay

Skoda Octavia. These spacers fit a wide range of VW Golf MK4 1.8T Audi A3 Seat Leon Skoda Octavia/Fabia etc with the 1.9TDI engines vehicles listed below:-. VW Golf mk4. It’s a complete bolt on solution with no additions required.

www.ebay.co.uk

They do them in different sizes to help left your engine

I looked at those before, but assumed they were only used if the car was slammed and had problems with the angle of the driveshafts, etc But if they will work at my current height, then I may buy some in the near future. I was also looking at a steel under tray for a little more protection, but I don't think it fits with the Cupra R front bumper. So that's no good lol

 

[Kryton]

I appear to have a bent rear beam on mine too. I have an Ibiza but same saga; changed suspension, went to setup, can’t get it to run true. Been fully under it & to a bodyshop and there’s zero sign of any impact or damage. I was told they have had them arrive new in the past with a manufacturing defect so maybe it’s that. As above, part is cheap enough new but not looking forward to how much of a PITA is gonna be without an induction heater