New Alignment

[ldstang50]

I took my car to Bishop Motorsports http://www.bishopmotorsports.com/ on Saturday to get the car aligned. Pulled the car on and first checked the tire pressures. They were 37 front and 34 rear, exactly where I left them after my last auto-x.

Now before I get into numbers, I should explain what the car was doing before the alignment and what I hoped to change. The car itself handles very well, it tracked pretty straight on the highway. The major issue I had was I couldn't get the car to rotate while braking. In short speak, while trail braking or left foot braking, the rear wouldn't rotate on corner entry. This made me take a wider than I wanted line and thus added unnecessary time. The goal of this alignment is try and loosen up the rear end to get it to rotate under braking.

I also had a full tank of gas when it got aligned (I race with a full tank). The extra weight helps keep the rear down under power, but also probably contributes to the non rotation on trailbraking. The first read out was camber LF, -0.03 deg : RF -1.1deg Toe LF .14 deg : RF .04 total toe up front .18 of toe in

Rear camber LR -1.9 deg : RR -2.3 deg toe LR .05 deg : RR .05 deg The toe in would explain hesitation on turn in especially in transitions such as slaloms, the excessive rear camber and toe in in the rear explains why the rear won't rotate under trail braking.

I can't adjust front camber with out changing the control arms (do any of you know a trick to get a few more degrees of negative camber up front?). So I set the toe at -.05 on both sides meaning I had toe out. This allows for quicker turns but is not recommended for street driving as it will make the car feel twitchy. For the rear I couldnt' get any lower the -1.6 degrees of rear camber. The left side I got to -1.3, but the right wouldnt' go lower than -1.6, so we brought the left up to match the left. We then adjusted the toe to read .01 on both sides. Under load the rear squates and zeroes out the toe making the rear more stable. But the zero toe should allow the rear to rotate under braking. After alignment specs front camber LF -.3 RF -1.1 toe

LF -.05 RF -.05 rear camber LR -1.6 RR -1.6 toe LR .01 RR .01 I have my first auto-x with the new alignment this weekend in Virginia. Jerry (awdjdmtalon) and I will be heading the BRR-SCCA final auto-x of the season in Salem, VA. I'll post later next week what I felt the car doing. The only thing I'm worried about is the long drive down there and how it will effect the alignment settings.

[RED_DET]

The only issue you will have is tire feathering. Toe out is the issue for tire feathering. That is why the TSB for the Z's was align the front with maxium toe in of 2mm or .08*. I just had an alignment done after getting new wheels and tires. My front was toed out, which explains why my tires always feather. After I put a couple thousand miles on the new tires, I will see if the toe in fixed the problem.

[ldstang50]

I'm not really worried about the feathering as the car is primarily used for auto-x. I need help with turn in and getting grip to the front. So by adding toe up front, taking it out of the rear and pulling rear camber, I'm hoping to loosen the rear which in turn will 'add' grip to the front.

[awdjdmtalon]

Liam. If you want to help save some on tire wear on the trip down, see if they can set the toe to factory specs. Then sat morn, we can run your car over to my shop and put on the alignment rack and set it to the toe spec you want. But you will have to drive home w/ it like that. Atleast this way it will save half the wear they will get.

[ldstang50]

Thanks JerryI'll crawl under the car tonight if I have time, mark the toe settings, and adjust for the way down.The rear should be fine @ 0, the front is what I'll change.Rain rain go away, get the **** off the whole coast!!!!!!!

[fbpem1]

there is one thing you can do to try to get a little bit more negative camber out of the front

Take the wheel off, loosen the two upper control arm bolts have someone push it in as hard as they can as you tighten them down do that to both sides then see what it gets you. it might bring you in maybe .1 or .2 more if your lucky worth a shot i know it works to bring it back positive .1 or .2 degrees by pulling on it.

or you could just go extreme and cut half of a coil off the spring

[ldstang50]

I'll try that next time I have her jacked up, thanks