Camber out / outer edge tyre

[jasper5]

Right folks....lots of humble pie here from me

I went to mot garage this morning for a mot test and had a chat with the guys there, 4 of us all agreed the adjustment was for camber, but we were all WRONG!!

I have just got in from taking off the wheel on my 406 estate and undoing the eccentric bolt to see exactly what does happen and settle the argument for good.

When the adjuster is turned, the stub axle (which the wheel is bolted onto) pivots on the link arm 3 in the diagram which allows the sideways movement needed to alter the TRACKING at the rear!

It has nothing to do with moving the rubber bushes which is what I was thinking needed to happen to get sideways movement and the eccentric bolt has NOTHING to do with camber.

So, big, sincere, apologies to DDD and Markw and anyone else for doubting their word!!

I hope this clears things up and we can move on to the next problem

Sorry guys

[GingerMagic]

Well done John. You took the bull by the horns to settle things and ate humble pie when you realised you were mistaken.

Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks after all...

[Welly]

I always admire a man who can put his hand up to being mistaken, I'm a champ at this myself.

To be fair though jasper would work on countless different types of cars and vans so his knowledge has to be spread, no-one would argue that he's purporting to be an expert on 406's only and let's be honest this rear suspension gubbins has always been a mystery area on this forum; no-one modifies it, no-one rebuilds it or anything.

This subject should be taken as a 'learning experience' and the thread benefits the knowledge.

[steve_earwig]

I guess we could have spent weeks pondering this one, lots of "thinks", "possiblys" and endless supposition, hats of to the man who took the time to find out for sure

Thank feck that one's sorted, let's move on to the next mystery area...

[markw]

Respect to Jasper.
I was not seeking 'Brownie Points' or anything like that at all, and your professional experience was never in doubt.
But with most things car related, I prefer to adopt the strategy of finding out why and how things work rather than just accept that they do!!
A good learning experience all round.

[Doggy]

Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks after all...

Say What?

I was equally mistaken.

I think quite a few of us have experienced uneven rear tyre wear and resolved the problem by replacing the link arms and/or adjusting the eccentric bolts. So we were doing the right thing, but calling it something else. Right?

[dirtydirtydiesel]

, No worries jasper.
I was not out to prove anyone wrong, just trying to spead the knowledge that I have gained .
Glad this has been resovled once & for all .
To Doggy & the o.p, it don't really matter what you call it tracking / toe or camber adjustment
To get even tyre wear at the back you need to make sure that the rear alginment is right, this cost's on average £60+
So you may as well fit new top link arms / bars & eccentric bolts & washers first

So no ill feelings taken or ment this has been resoved once & for all let's move on to the next prob

[jasper5]

Excellent

[406HDi3]

So have you all concluded that outer edge tyre wear can be stopped by 'tracking' even if, the camber is reported 'out' during the tracking alinement process?

[jasper5]

So have you all concluded that outer edge tyre wear can be stopped by 'tracking' even if, the camber is reported 'out' during the tracking alinement process?

It seems so, adjusting the top link eccentric bolts to the correct setting should solve the tyre wear issue.
As I wrote earlier, this adjustment is for tracking, maybe the people who reported that the camber is out are mistaken, i don't know without seeing their report.

[steve_earwig]

From what mjb said above, the only chance of changing camber seems to be by undoing the lower arm bolts, (hopefully it's got enough play in it) set the camber & tighten it all up again.

[mjb]

From what mjb said above, the only chance of changing camber seems to be by undoing the lower arm bolts, (hopefully it's got enough play in it) set the camber & tighten it all up again.

So have you all concluded that outer edge tyre wear can be stopped by 'tracking' even if, the camber is reported 'out' during the tracking alinement process?

In my case it was severe inner tyre wear.

[steve_earwig]

That's why I said "changing" , it could go one way or t'other I surmise. Btw did adjusting your camber involve the use of a sledgehammer?

[406HDi3]

Sodding cars eh. I've just also had new rear discs/shoes and pads since tracking. Now the sodding pads are humming both sides at low speeds. Back to the garage ...