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What alignment settings are you using?

18K views 33 replies 14 participants last post by  TRev 
#1 ·
I'm getting my car aligned today and I was just wondering what settings have people changed and what the result was? I'm only interested in settings that can be archived legally without machining or bending anything.
 
#4 ·
FYI on the machine I had about 1 degree of negative camber front, about 1/2 degree rear with zero toe front and slight tow-in rear. This is about where I wanted it anyway so we ended up making no changes. Frankly given how good the car has been up to this point I am not surprised.
 
#8 ·
Anybody here running -2.5 or more front camber with the stock rear camber and having over steering issues?

I have always had the best luck with around -1 more front than rear and on high speed road courses have seen some posting of pretty serious oversteer.

There is a company what will make us rear camber shims the right way for $80 a pair but we need ten buyers to get them.

If that does not happen soon I am having my local shop machine the rear knuckles to add .1 more negative, the best they can do as .64 and getting a total of -1.64 might be fine, -1.5 might be best but no way to be sure without serious testing and they are not setup for less than -1 degree machining.
 
#11 ·
Doing small angles is not hard. Your machinist either isn't very good, isn't very creative or can't be bothered.

The easy way is to shim your vise to the opposite angle, indicate your part flat and then remove the shims and clamp down the vise flat.

If your machine ways are screwed up, that can cause problems but creativity can make that work.

If its lathe work, shimming with a four jaw independent chuck is really easy too.
 
#12 ·
I did mean 1 degree, not .1, sorry, it sucks not having something I can dial in as testing proves out but it is what it is.

I wish I really knew exactly what I want but that is hard to figure out.

BUT, it certainly needs more rear negative camber.

Once we have some we can tweak from there but any decent amount more than stock has to be better from my experience.

My local shop is not into cars, they do all sorts of things but barely comprehend my requests. I have other shops 25 miles away but they are in the same boat, just not aware of why I want things done the way I do.

You seem to be pretty knowledgeable so I ask, what to you feel is a good rear camber angle on a street/autocross/track setup when dialing in decent front camber?

If we can at least find a happy medium then we can get something done we all can benefit from and less drastic measures needed in other aspects of alignment.

Thanks:)
Rick
 
#14 ·
I think the first step is to increase front grip to the point that more is needed at the rear.

I don't think we are there yet.

Some people want toe out to destabilize the rear and encourage rotation.

My car seems to rotate pretty well and understeer a little if I push it too hard. Front grip is the first thing I need. After I get a rear bar and camber bolts at the front, I might want to change the rear alignment but not yet.
 
#15 ·
I will be running on coilovers, 15x9 wheels with 8.8" wide sticky rubber, more caster and much more front camber so I will have a lot of front grip and am pretty sure I will want more in the rear on a road course or in the mountains even on the 205/45/17 Michelin A/S 3 W rated tires.

Speculation so far with the exception of 2jr saying he has a lot of oversteer on track.

Autocross can have some funky settings needed for some cars to work well that are not at all compatible to the track or mountain roads.

Probably mentioned but if not, my goal is great rotation at slower speeds, neutral at middle speeds and a bit of push on high speed corners, if I can dial all that in things will be perfect:)
 
#16 ·
Probably mentioned but if not, my goal is great rotation at slower speeds, neutral at middle speeds and a bit of push on high speed corners, if I can dial all that in things will be perfect:)
This is exactly opposite the way the car handles now. What's wrong with a little high-speed oversteer? That's where all the fun is :).
 
#17 ·
McRib an DJ1L both have tweaked their suspensions with race rubber and road course testing. I don't think either has experienced too much oversteer.

I've been on track once but my car is mostly stock. I did not feel too much oversteer either.

At the ST Octane Academy I got to try the White FOST with the FRPP springs, that one the rear end would break away in a less than predictable manner so I know what oversteer feels like in a FWD car.

When I autocrossed my car, I was waiting to find the lift throttle oversteer, I didn't find it. I think it takes a pretty abrupt input to do that.

That's why I wasn't very good a J turns and reverse 180s at STOA, you really have to be rough to induce a skid.
 
#18 ·
What I found on the track was TV was kicking in while the back end was trying to get a lil tail happy( the Instructor suggested when you feel that in the corner give more gas and stay on it..) learning to drive FWD all over again then the nannies step in LOL
 
#19 ·
What are they running for front camber, stock? That might be OK or a bit more but dialing in what is normally considered optimal, especially on a tall car more can be needed....then the front to rear balance can really get jacked up.

High speed, really high speed, oversteer has wrecked a huge number of race cars and injured or killed far to many drivers, it is not the fast way to setup a car either;)

Give me low and even medium oversteer, that is FUN:)

My Matrix had to be really tossed around to be fast on the higher speed turns when autocrossing it, a mini scandia flick, slide it in, spinning both fronts on the way out, it was very quick for a FWD and a blast to drive. This was on exceptionally fast autocross courses.

Back in my 510 days I used the parking brake to bring the rear end around on 180's, got a few standing ovations for basically sliding the whole car in a quick 180 pivot and off to the next session, super fun stuff:)
 
#25 ·
Toe out 0.2 degrees total is always my preference.

And my race shop could get -1.3 degrees right side camber but only -1.0 left side camber with my body weight in the seat.
BTW -1.3 was what Ford designed for front camber.
 
#27 ·
I know this is slightly off topic but, when do you guys normally go in for an alignment? I'm thinking I need one...

I have just under 5,000 miles. I swear my steering wheel is slightly off center, and doesn't seem to have the same feel.

I live in Michigan and this winter was brutal with potholes also. Should I take it in for an alignment?
 
#29 ·
My car was pulling to the left significantly from day one and the steering wheel was definitely off center going straight. I didn't bother taking it to the dealer as I had planned to get it aligned for autocross. I forgot to tell the guy at Goodyear and he came out and asked me if I knew that my wheel was way off straight. I laughed and said yeah please fix it. Turns out the car was toed out .08in left and toed in .24in on the right.

If anyone does alignments often like me, Goodyear has a 3 year plan that allows for up to six alignments during that time. Even better, you can transfer it once. I was 1.5 years in on the BRZ and had a few alignments left. They transferred it to my FiST and aligned it for free and still have a few left. I am sure costs vary but here it was $150 which comes out to $25 an alignment.
 
#31 ·
I was able to get 1.3 negative left and 1.2 negative right up front. Rear (non adjustable) is .5 negative left and .9 right IIRC. Rear (non adjustable) is toed in .06 left and .09 in right. I'm going to keep the front toe settings under my hat at this time.
 
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