Hello,

This question kinda follows my tire noise question below...

I installed some UMI RTAs and ever since then I have noticed significant more road noise coming from the rear of the vehicle. I did not think it would be necessary to get an alignment, but maybe?? I rotate my tires every 6K and I will in about 2K.

Any thoughts?

How long do struts usually last under typical driving conditions?

Thank you.

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2009 G8 GT - Roto-Fab CAI, Cortex 93 Octane Tune......next up....suspension.

Shot in the dark here, but maybe it's the Poly mounts in those trailing arms tranfering a little more road noise into the body of the car. I know that doesn't asnwer you question but it might shed some light on the problem.

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Dubs:00 VW GTI VR6, Low and Slow; 91 VW GTI 8v, Restoration Project; 91 VW Cabriolet 8v, bitch Basket
GP's:04 GP GT, Past now G-Ma's; Ex-Girlfriend's 97 GP GT, "Project Pink Power"

You may be right....
I took it to a local shop and had an alignment and it was slightly off, and was fixed, but that still did not fix the road noise issue. I think it could be the combo of the following:

my Yokohama tires .....they are loud, the poly mounts on the RTAs

and my camber on the left rear tire is off a bit and can only be fixed by replacing the strut.....I was told that it should not affect performance at all and I was also told that my struts are fine...no leaking nor cracks.

So I guess I live with the noise till I run the tires into the ground and then do a tire/strut replacement

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2009 G8 GT - Roto-Fab CAI, Cortex 93 Octane Tune......next up....suspension.

Anytime you do anything to the supsension it is a good idea to get an alignment

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They make camber bolts for a reason . Unless it's so far off the camber bolt won't help, but I doubt it's that bad.

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Its your tires, before you buy another set id get a cam bolt camber adjustment kit and get it all straightened out. My 06 has two leaky shocks, the rear, at 70k, its typical and ive seen them leakiing sooner than that.

The guy I took my car to is considered to be honest and very reputable. He said my struts are not leaking and I could definately could get some more mileage on them. He said he could only do so much to fix the left rear and to completely fix it, I would need to replace the strut. He said that he would hold of until the struts needed to be replaced since this would not greatly affect performance but will wear the tire a bit unevenly. Good riddance Here is the data on the left rear after the alignment.

Any thoughts??

here is the camber reading....
Min Max Actual
-1.37x -0.37x -0.29x

Toe reading.... Actual

-0.14x 0.04x 0.14x

So I will wait until I am closer to needing tires or get fed up and then do struts and tires.

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2009 G8 GT - Roto-Fab CAI, Cortex 93 Octane Tune......next up....suspension.

You can get 1 degree of camber with the bolts IIRC, and you CAN widen the bolt holes for more movement according the place I was last at buying tires.

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Hello,

Can someone explain what camber bolts do? Would they help, given the camber readings below? Thanks!

Left Rear Camber

Min Max Actual
-1.37x -0.37x -0.29x

Toe reading.... Actual

-0.14x 0.04x 0.14x

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2009 G8 GT - Roto-Fab CAI, Cortex 93 Octane Tune......next up....suspension.

Camber bolts are bolts that have an offset lobe on them (like a camshaft), instead of being straight. You can turn the bolt and it will move knuckle in and out at the bottom of the strut. Most bolts can do +/- 1 or 1.5 degree of camber change. You can use 2 bolts if you need to double that amount of adjustment.

You do not need camber bolts though. Factory range is -.37 to -1.37 and you are at -.29. That means your tire is too straight up and down by 8/100ths of a degree. If it was -2.5 degrees or + 1.5 degrees that would be one thing. That number will not cause bad tire wear, especially in the rear. Those tires run straight all the time. Hell, if that springs sags a quarter of an inch your camber will probably fall into spec...

As mentioned, your noise is either your tires, or those trailing arms. I have BMR arms with no noise. Wait til you need new struts, replace them, and if you lower, get some camber bolts to get everything in spec.

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Well that is good news! Thanks! So this is no big deal.

I am itching to get 18" rims and new tires and did not want to get new tires if they would wear unevenly. I am doing reaserch on tires now and there are so many options and all the reviews are somewhat mixed. What is good on one car may not be so good on another.

Then I would need to sell my rims and tires~!

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2009 G8 GT - Roto-Fab CAI, Cortex 93 Octane Tune......next up....suspension.