Quattro Alignment - 5KCSTQ

["Graydon D. Stuckey" <graydon@apollo.gmi.edu>]

All,

	I got my Q aligned tonight finally.  I found out that the left-rear 
upper control arm outer bushing is bad, so I have to fix that before
I can finish the rear alignment.  The good news is that the right rear is
right where I want it, so when I replace the bushing, I can measure off
the right rear tire to get the left rear aligned.  They didn't charge me
anything I think.  He said we would settle up later, but I think that
means "Don't worry about it."   Nice to have a good relationship with the 
local dealer. :-)

	Front camber is	1.4 lt / 1.4 rt
	rear camber is	2.7 lt / 1.8 rt

	Front toe is	0.0 lt / 0.0 rt (inches)
	rear toe	0.1 lt / 0.0 rt (inches)

positive toe would be toe out

	Front castor is	2.7 lt / 1.7 rt

	You can see the effect of the bad bushing in the rear.  I think
the numbers will come out pretty close when the bushing is replaced.  That
part of the suspension will be easy to adjust anyway.  The castor in the
front is only 1.7 on the right due, I think, to Janice's 'excursion' last
winter.  She likely pushed the suspension back a little, loosing the
castor.  It drives very nicely, straight down the road, no pulls, and I
only had to adjust the steering wheel a little to get it on centre.  I 
turned each tie rod end exactly the same amount to centre the steering 
wheel so that I wouldn't loose the toe adjustment.

	I was wondering if the alignment would change the characteristics 
of the car, but so far it still feels the same.  However, the loose rear 
bushing might be causing a little bit of vagueness in the car's 
flat-down-the-road feel.  I'll try to get that fixed this week.  The car 
does have a little better steering response on-centre.  You can feel the 
tires following the undulations in the road now that all the excessive 
toe-out is gone.

	As a matter of technology, I think that a decent suspension 
alignment is basically a no-brainer for some one who really knows 
suspensions.  It is very simple - you set camber, then you adjust toe, 
then you recheck, then you're done.  There is no excuse for shops that 
can't get it right.  I had mine done tonight in less than an hour, and 
even at that, this mechanic was a bit of a boor.  He tried to use 
channellocks to loosen the locknuts on the tie rod ends!  I suppose vise 
grips might have been a little worse.  It can get a little tricky if the 
car has been bent, because that can prohibit you from getting the 
correct suspension settings.

Later, ---------------------------------------------------------- 
Graydon D. Stuckey 	'85 Mazda RX7 GS, no toys 
graydon@apollo.gmi.edu 	'86 Audi 5000 CS Turbo Quattro, has toys
Flint, Michigan USA	'89 Thunderbird SC, lotsa toys