Offside front tyre is wider and quite out than the arches

[aka_kerrly]

PositronicRay said:

Leo123 said:

I m gonna take it to kwikfit tomorrow to do wheel alignment

That'll sort it then.

haha Kwik Fit will probably try and sell you 4 new shocks & springs plus top mounts and tell you your brakes are worn out to.

OP: You just need a C spanner to increase the ride height a bit. Also worth getting a tape measure and a flat edge to measure from the centre of the wheel to the edge of the arch lip to make sure that the car is set at the same height all round.

[andyiley]

Making sure you do it on level ground obviously.

When I set mine up, I used a couple of 3 metre lengths of plastic tube as a level left to right & front to rear with some different thicknesses of wooden chocks under the wheels to get it 100% level first.

Oh, and don't forget the tyres need to be at the correct pressure too.

It took a bit of time, but was worth it in the end.

However if the wheel is physically sticking out from the arch, I doubt setting the ride height up will help, it sounds more like you have another issue with the underpinnings of the car.

[blueg33]

I reckon its just as likely to be poorly aligned body work.. Lower the car that much will show up wing alignment issues that are invisible on standard ride heights.

TBH the car looks ridiculously low

[Leo123]

aka_kerrly said:

haha Kwik Fit will probably try and sell you 4 new shocks & springs plus top mounts and tell you your brakes are worn out to.

OP: You just need a C spanner to increase the ride height a bit. Also worth getting a tape measure and a flat edge to measure from the centre of the wheel to the edge of the arch lip to make sure that the car is set at the same height all round.

U know they actually did and I said no I bought bumpstops of eBay and it works,,, hey open my front tyre to have a look into it and left it unscrewed nearly got killed so went back and went mental on them people

[PositronicRay]

Leo123 said:

aka_kerrly said:

haha Kwik Fit will probably try and sell you 4 new shocks & springs plus top mounts and tell you your brakes are worn out to.

OP: You just need a C spanner to increase the ride height a bit. Also worth getting a tape measure and a flat edge to measure from the centre of the wheel to the edge of the arch lip to make sure that the car is set at the same height all round.

U know they actually did and I said no I bought bumpstops of eBay and it works,,, hey open my front tyre to have a look into it and left it unscrewed nearly got killed so went back and went mental on them people

I may need a bit of a translation, but are you riding around on your bump stops?

[andyiley]

PositronicRay said:

I may need a bit of a translation, but are you riding around on your bump stops?

It's not just you.

[Digitalize]

There's no chance you're near the bumpstops at that height.

Having a car that low isn't simple, it seems like you don't really have much knowledge (and you took it to Kwikst for christ sake), so it might be better to just change it for some dampers and springs.

I'd check the alignment somewhere decent, and have a look in the arches for anything obvious. It's possible it's a coilover fault too, swap them to the other side and see if the fault follows the coilover or stays in the same place.

I've seen Mk5 Golfs much lower with no issue.

[RichB]

Leo123 said:

RichB said:

Leo, it's not difficult, get it jacked up and have a play yourself. Wind on a couple of cm. and see if it makes a difference. And if you've never done it, get it jacked up and ten come back here and ask. If you help yourself there's plenty of people here who will offer (virtual) assistance.

Thanks rich I had a day off from work tomorrow and will do it by myself, I will keep u guys updated thanks

Leo, there's people on here trying to help you but you're not helping yourself. You said you were going to jack it up, take a wheel off and have a look and instead you took it to Kwik-Fit for Chrissake! How many people have told you to try adjusting the suspension? I give up... sorry.

[hobbiniho]

sounds to me like the camber is out which is understandable considering the car has coilovers fitted and im pretty sure on mk5 platform cars you have to release the bottom ball joint to change the struts, simple solution is to take it somewhere with 4 wheel laser alignment and get the alignment set NOT quickfit as at the most they might be able to set the tracking

[PaulKemp]

To check subframe
Jack car put axle stands under
Remove front wheels
Measure subframe to body edge either side in the same place
Whilst your at it do front and rear
If it's cocked to one side take it main dealer to reset
On a Mondeo changing lower arm required dropping the subframe
I put paint round the rubber mounts so I could see where the subframe had to go back to.

[Batfink]

As others have said it could be a camber issue. If its adjustable on the coilovers one side could easily be different to the other. If its not adjustable then lowering the car usually gives negative camber which would give more outer arch clearance.

I dont know the Golf that well but I would guess the engine is on the drivers side so there is more weight on that side naturally and then even more when the driver is sat in the seat. The coilovers may have been set up with that in mind so it may sit lower on that side when driving.

Also the other thing to check is the damper seal condition to make sure that side is doing its job correctly. I used to sell FK automotive coilovers and had more customers than I wanted returning dampers within the first year under warranty with seal failure.

Are you actually hitting the metal arch or the inner arch plastics?

Edited by Batfink on Saturday 24th January 13:02