Alignment specs you like
 

After my first AX with my R3, it is apparent I need to get rid of this factory alignment.

It took me some time to get my RX7 dialed in where I like it, something that is good for the street and more aggressive for AX. I am looking for the same with the RX8.

I noticed it had a propensity to understeer, my eyes re telling me the front end is relatively flat and could use some negative camber.

I am not sure what to do about the toe in the front or the rear and I am hoping you guys with a little more experience with these cars can give me some advice.


Thanks for your help.

Jim

I searched the word alignment and came up with 1000 results. The first 3 pages did not have what I was looking for.

Front Camber: -1.8
Rear Camber: -1.6
Caster: 8.0"
Front Toe: 0.0 / 0.0
Rear Toe: +0.04 / +0.04

This is on a car that is street driven too? Not questioning the camber just curious how tire wear is with almost 2° of camber in the front.

Also, with flat toe, does the car wander on the road a lot or is it pretty stable?

Thanks for the input so fast, I am trying to get it on a rack on Thursday.

very stable, no significant tire wear at all. Street driven.

Excellent!

I have over 3 on the front and about 2 on the rear, but I change it a lot depending on tires and tire wear.

My tires wear a little on the inside but if you have 0 toe or a tiny bit of toe-in they wear well, autocross takes care of the outside of the tires.

Note. By adding about a 16th inch of toe in you counteract the natural drag the tires have against the road giving you 0 toe when you are driving.

Hey Jim,

First off.....nice FC and R3. You are one lucky man.

As for alignment specs. Here is what I found I like:

Front:
Caster: +6-6.5 degrees, zero cross caster
Camber: -1.5 degrees, zero cross camber
Toe: -0.188 degrees per wheel (-2.1 mm toe per wheel, -4.2 mm toe total)

Rear
Camber: -1.5 degrees, zero cross camber
Toe: +0.125 degrees per wheel (+1.4 mm toe per wheel, +2.8 mm toe total)

I have a 2004 6MT with Progress springs, 18x9 wheels with 265/35R18 Kumho XS, Agency Power front and rear adjustable anti-sways.

It is my daily driver and it can be a chore to drive on beat up roads with so much front toe out. It is brilliant on the track and autocross though.

This thread might give you an idea on what others are running:
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-racing-...ack-use-43308/

Funny I have been searching for what others are running as far as alignment setups

My R3 is basically the same, but track/street driven not autocross, so more rear camber.
I could only get -1.5 front stock so we did -1.9 rear, caster is about the same and no toe front/back.

Stock alignment killed the tires on the track, even with no toe it's very stable. You'll follow the ruts a bit and small adjustments on the wheel move you around. Good turn in, and much improved rotation. Might put a little toe out up front next time around.

Look at the Alignment thread at the top of the Competition page...No need to start a new one. There is plenty of useful information in there.

I know it sounds nuts, I searched, advanced searched too and 1000 results came up, THAT thread is not in the first 3-4 pages.

I honestly did not notice it when I came to this section to post this thread. I just started reading it and to be honest, I got what I needed in 5 posts in this thread over 500+ posts in that thread.

I apologize for rustling your jimmies with a repeat "did not use the search button" thread.

I will do my best not to start any new threads unless I exhaust my options in the future.

To those that took the time to provide me with some specs, Thank you!! I have a plan to go to the shop with now.

May not be for AutoX but this is my alignment with focus on road course. I still drive it on the street a lot but I don't care about tire wear on the street. It also may seem a little backwards because of aero modifications but I suppose any data is useful.

Front Camber: -2.8
Rear Camber: -3.0
Caster: Can't remember... within stock specs.
Toe: 0 front and rear.

Progress Sways are set to medium hole in front and soft hole in back, have a 5" front splitter and underbody panel until front axle, spring rates are 11k front, 8k rear and run 12 out of 15 clicks to stiff on front and 11 out of 15 clicks to stiff on rear.

I change it all the time though. Find an alignment shop you trust and see if they have a lifetime alignment deal. One of my friends works at a Firestone and he'll set my car up to whatever I want so I go in pretty often to try stuff.

Care to share what specs you plan on running? Just making sure you don't have anymore questions as to factory adjustment range or what specs you are trying to shoot for.

Side note: I don't believe I saw anywhere that you have aftermarket suspension, so you will probably only achieve between -1.4 and -1.6 max degrees camber in the front.

Jesse

i got a 2010 r3 and tried a few diff set ups.

i am running 255 re-11's atm

and also is my daily driver.

ive tried 1.8-2 in front with max in rear, low in front high in rear etc, think i have tried 6 diff settigns.

my current and fav is 1.5-6 front and 1.1-2 in rear, 0 toe and no caster changes

This is my plan and I am basing some of this off of my experience with my RX7. From what I am reading here they are very similar when it comes to settings. Since this car will spend 90-95% of its miles on the street I am not going to go extreme on the settings just yet.

Front
Camber: -1.3° to -1.5° (if we can set this)
Toe: 0.0
Caster: what we can dial in 5° if we can

Rear:
Camber: -1.0°
Toe: +0.04

I am taking a 2000+ mile road trip to the Tail of the Dragon in a couple of weeks so I want it to be someone civil on the road.

I am also considering a front sway bar in the next week or two. Considering a Progress Anti-roll bar unless I discover something better.

Track Setup
 

I have a lot of track time with a 2008 RX8 40th Anniversary. Granted with Toyo R888 tires, not street tires. Essentially you need -.5 more camber on the front than the rear. I can get about -1.8 or -1.9 camber up front without modifications. With that set the camber in the back .5 less or -1.3 or -1.4. Caster is not ciritical 6 to 8 degrees works. I recall 8 being about max on mine and I would shoot for 6.5. At 8 caster I find "track out" a bit delayed.

The .5 less camber in the rear neutralizes the factory settings where they put more negative camber in the rear than the front to make it slightly understeer for safety and liability reasons. Follow above and you will see the handling neutralize.

I don't agree with the 0 tow on the front. The RX8 doesn't like that. A slight toe in or tow out works better. A slight tow out increases steering response. I use slight toe in because I am not smooth so I compensate that way for it.

The rear gets light on our cars at high speed with a lift off of throttle to get into threshold braking. A slight tow in helps to stabilize the rear from getting loose.

The theory behind a flat toe on an alignment rack is that in the real world it will open up to a positive toe when the stress of braking or even the drag of the tire on the road at speed hits the suspension.

I just changed the alignment on my RX7 radically about 5 months ago, took a lot of caster out (manual steering) and flattened out the toe. I was pleasantly surprised how well behaved the car was as a result.

I was recently playing on a "closed road" at high speeds with a Porsche 930 and was amazed how planted my RX7 was.

I am really hoping the RX8 feels the same way, the swaybar should be here next week and I am hoping it really makes the car really sharp at the front, the way I like it.