a curiosity/uneven treadwear

[Larry C Leung]

The tanks are vacuum reservoirs (when they don't leak!)

Alignment - 2 possibilities:

1) Too much negative camber, they'll know for sure at the alignment shop
once she's on the rack. Bad news is there is'nt much availible adjustment
on a 4KQ, just shims at the lower A arm mounts. If not, then the shock
towers must be slotted and camber plates must be added. Camber is not the
most common cause, it splits evenly with;

2) Too much toe-out. Drags the inside of the tire along as you drive.
Shop will be able to tell this right away (as could you) if the inside of
the tires are feathered or cupped. If they don't see this, and the toe
was out, get away from the shop fast (reality, most are pretty good about
this IF you see them 1st hand. If it's a mechanic whom has to send the
car out for alignments, it gets questionable, just went thru this myself
trying to make things more convienient (to the tune of 27 miles or so)
for myself. From now on, chosing competence over convienience). Toe is
much easier to adjust on a 4KQ, as long as the adjusters can be freed.
Recommend soaking the joints in Kroil (and if you have the tools,
breaking them free) before visiting the alignment shop. If they can't be
freed, replacement is the only option, b/c the plastic inside the ball
joints can't handle the heat of a torch loosening of the joint. Nothing
special to Audi's here. Also be glad, you can't adjust the toe very
easily on a FWD 4K. 

HTH!

LL - NY



On Tue, 31 Jul 2001 11:38:15 -0500 Jenny Curtis <jenny at physics.umn.edu>
writes:
>Dear Q-list:
>
>We finally got round to pulling that dented fender from the Princess
>last night.  Just out of curiosity, what the heck is that resevoir
>that hides under there?  It looks like three spheres stacked on top 
>of
>one another.  I know I'm lazy but I was too heat stroked to even lift
>the Bentley to find out.  (As if I could ever find anything in that
>thing anyway!).
>
>When we pulled off the tire, I noticed extremely uneven wear on the
>inside of the tire (almost bald on the inside part that's hidden from
>everyday view).  Checked around and the others are the same: inside
>1/4 of the tire tread worn bald, outside with a respectable amount of
>tread.  I'm getting new tires (woohoo!) anyway, but I was just
>wondering if I need to have the allignment done, or if it's a
>suspension matter.  Any guesses?
>
>Jenny
> 86 4kQ: The Eurtrash Princess
>