2019 VW Jetta SE review...

[Trav]

I put shims in a MK IV to correct toe and camber, that was 4 years and 35K ago and no issues whatsoever, it aligns spot on. The trick is selecting the correct shims, get that right and you have it knocked. Use the special wrench (buy or fab) to remove the 16mm head bolts and you don't even loose the hub bearing.

 

[Cdn17Sport6MT]

Originally Posted by Trav
I put shims in a MK IV to correct toe and camber, that was 4 years and 35K ago and no issues whatsoever, it aligns spot on. The trick is selecting the correct shims, get that right and you have it knocked. Use the special wrench (buy or fab) to remove the 16mm head bolts and you don't even loose the hub bearing.


???? Kindly explain.

I have seen adjustable angular shims... where you nip-out the bolt-positions on the 360 degree shim so you can mount it behind the axle stub... i.e. between axle stub/spindle flange and bolting surface of the twist beam axle. You rotate the shim's two pieces to get the desired combination of toe-change and camber change you want. Seems to me that these can be used for a moderate amount of collision damage... or to "tune" a car, setting the alignment to a preferred set-up (from stock). Usually FWD cars are set up with a moderate amount of negative rear camber (to try to ensure that the car understeers at all cost). Now I am not suggesting that folks willy-nilly pick their own preferred rear twist axle alignments... but it could be done. Particularly if the rear twist axle is either a 'wee bit inaccurate from new, or for minor handling tweaking.

 

[Trav]

That is the not the best shim for VW rear axles, a tapered fixed thickness shim works best they are available in various thicknesses for camber and toe. VW uses minutes which you need to convert into degrees from the alignment machine for the minute shims, not a big deal. They do make degree shims also.
Removing the hub from the stub axle usually ends up in pieces with the inner race stuck on the stub axle so they use a special wrench to get the bolts holding the stub to the axle, clean it up with a roloc then use a little never seize on the axle beam and stub to prevent corrosion and fit the shim in the correct orientation.

Slightly tweaked axle beams on the MKIV is very common and there is no need to replace, it will hold a long time once it has been properly corrected, once initially tweaked they don't seem to get worse over time. Here is a + 0.38 degree toe and - 0.50 camber shim, you can get them in + or - . It is about a 20 min job per side.

 

[supton]

Jeepers. Well, wife never did like my car... Now that I have a garage I guess I could go back to a MkIV.

 

[Cdn17Sport6MT]

Originally Posted by Trav
That is the not the best shim for VW rear axles, a tapered fixed thickness shim works best they are available in various thicknesses for camber and toe. VW uses minutes which you need to convert into degrees from the alignment machine for the minute shims, not a big deal. They do make degree shims also.
Removing the hub from the stub axle usually ends up in pieces with the inner race stuck on the stub axle so they use a special wrench to get the bolts holding the stub to the axle, clean it up with a roloc then use a little never seize on the axle beam and stub to prevent corrosion and fit the shim in the correct orientation.

Slightly tweaked axle beams on the MKIV is very common and there is no need to replace, it will hold a long time once it has been properly corrected, once initially tweaked they don't seem to get worse over time. Here is a + 0.38 degree toe and - 0.50 camber shim, you can get them in + or - . It is about a 20 min job per side.

That is neat! You know your business!

Thx