ok, sorry for the length of this post but ill give you a little background...
so i have had my car for just over 6 months now, and when I got it the PO told me that it had been slid into a curb and impacted the RR tire and it messed up the alignment back there.

When you would look at the car from the back you could see that the rh tire has a positive camber and the lh tire has a negative camber... but it seemed to ride ok and i picked it up pretty cheap, so i didnt really sweat it..
then a few weeks ago a guy i work with tells me my car "drives down the road sideways"

so i get curious and look under there, the lh tire is REALLY worn out on the inside corner so i became concerned. I try to adjust using the eccentric washers, but I have them both adjusted as far as i will go to the lh side of the car. The camber is still messed up... so then i check the toe and the RH tire is way toed out and i cant get it to come in at all even if i adjust it all the way. the LH one will toe in and out like it should but that rh one i think is making the LH tire scrub itself to pieces by dragging it sideways..

OK, so im really pissed off I think maybe the subframe is cocked in the car, so i start loosening it up, the rear two bolts were pretty bent, so i went to the dealer and got some new ones. I tried prying it to get it lined up thinking that this has got to fix it... BUT its still out of whack. FYI while looking under there the wishbone and the tierod on that RH side look like they were replaced by the PO after the curb incident, so Im out of ideas as far as what could be messed up back there

Is it possible the "frame" could be bent? It doesnt appear to be but im out of ideas! throw out your ideas please, im at my wits end and ready to burn this mother down!

 

Well there isn't a "subframe" back there, just an axle with all the appropriate control arms and strut assembly. I would imagine if you hit the curb hard enough you bent the strut on that side and probably stretched the control arms. If that ever happens you will get a condition called "dog tracking" which makes the car look like the *** end is sideways. You would need to replace all the suspension componets on that side to cure it, unless you actually bent the axle itself, in which you are in for some really expensive repairs. Generally when people hit curbs hard enough it causes more damage than you think. A friend of mine hit her right front tire on the curb at 30 mph on her S4 and it caused $22,000 worth of damage to the car, and absolutely no body damage was done!

 

^^ goddamn 30mph!?!? i would never think that would cause THAT much damage holy crap 22k!?!

 

Pushed the drive axle through the trans. Transmission was $12k by itself.

 

broncoman- all i gotta say is your screwed. you have more than just a frame problem is only the right side was hit and it affected the left side. how did you even pass inspection?

 

Thats insane.

 

well, if you dont want to call it a subframe, then lets call it a suspension cradle or whatever, but it does unbolt from the body, because i have it off right now.
they call it a subframe in the front, so i will call the rear one the same...

now.. I do believe you that crap can get boogered up in a hurry, but taking measurements underneath and comparing them with a friends identical car, there isnt any obvious differences.. Im thinking maybe just a few bushings got smushed out of whack and there is a stack up of pieces that are out a tiny bit of tolerance so that when you add them up it makes a difference.. I guess I will take some more measurements and some pictures and then put it back together and take it to a frame and alignment shop to see what they have to say........

 

For christs sake its the axle assembly that unbolts from the car. The whole diff and everything comes with it. You can try to measure it but unless you're an engineer you won't know what you are doing. The easiest way to tell if something is bent is by putting it on an alignment rack, since yours is off, you need to replace everything, that or scrap it if the camber is beyond 3 degrees and buy an entire rear end. Its your car though, do what you want.

 

well since you mention it.. I AM an engineer. so i DO have an idea what im doing. I already know its Effed up under there, so I didnt want to take it and pay someone to tell me they cant align it because something is beyond spec.

looking at this figure I found
what I am thinking is that my bushings got pushed beyond that 10 degree limit.
I will replace any suspicious components and get it into a shop.. I just didnt want to go throwing parts at the thing without trying to track down the problem first.....

 

WOW! I never thought i would have that fired back at me! I think i have used that engineer joke 1,000 times but never actually got my foot planted back in my mouth before. What are you driving a 98 B5 A4 then? You should be rocking an S5 or something....