Track Alignment Recommendation
 

Tried search, but no definite answer. Most results are for autox alignments and/or stock suspension (I have tein flex)

Going to west end tomorrow to do corner balance and alignment. Want a bit more agressive alignment mainly for track days.

Current Setup:
F: -2.1
R: -2.4

Near 0 Toe FR
Forgot caster, but it should be maxed at the front.

Thanx!

What do you mean by "more aggressive"?

What do you want the car to do and what compromises will you make to have it happen?

Taking the caster out of the front will give you more -camber. The only thing different from autox to road race would be the toe. Most of us run some front toe out and zero or out on the rear for autox. For high speed I would try zero front and just a little in at the rear.

geez, that is pretty aggressive already. Was this how you set it after installing the Teins? Mine settled to that after they were first put on, but I backed the front back to -1.6, and -2.0 in the rear. you must eat through tires with those settings. But as ULLLOSE said, a little toe in at the rear will help with high speed stability, but I don't think you need any more camber. Is your car a dedicated track car, or a street/daily driver too?

Back from west end,

After discussion w/ Darrin, heres my new setup:

F
-2.3 (maxed)
6.3 caster
1/16 total toe out

R
-2.1
1/16 total toe in

corner weighted
865 815
776 725

Not sure exactly what was before, but darrin told me I have about 100lbs too much on the front driver side. :hahano:

3181lbs w/ driver and 3/4 tanks of gas.
I weigh 200lbs.

Cant really give much feedback yet until I take it to track again. :)

Your camber is not maxed.... If you were to take out your caster, minimum is like 4.5, you would have more like -2.5 camber. For about every degree of caster you take out you will gain -.1 camber. There is no reason for that much caster, you will never turn the wheel far enough to have the caster make up for the lack of camber.

What's a good compromise between camber on a stock ride height suspension? I heard with factory adjustments at original ride height you can only get about 1.3 or so camber in the front and about 1.6-1.7 in the rear. I assume at the maximum stock adjustments you should still be able to max out caster to 6+?

BS guys are getting -1.3 to -2 front with stock springs IF you take your caster to the minimum. There is no reason to run more than the minimum caster.

Gotcha so set the camber to max then see what caster you can still get out of it. Is there a caster number that you generally don't want to stray below especially if the car is a daily driver etc. (not sure if that matters)

4.5. like he posted. I had never thought about it that way, but you are right, you won't be able to use the caster setting when it is that high. I don't need anymore than the -1.6 in the front, so I am not worried about it, but had not thought of reducing the caster to get more negative camber.

No set caster to minimum then camber to max. ANY caster you add back will take camber away.

words of wisdom ... :p:

Thanks for the advice, now I have a solid set of instructions when I take it in for an alignment. Does this sound about right to everyone?

Front:

1. Take out all the caster to 4.5
2. Max out front camber to whatever I can get on stock ride height
3. Set toe to 0

Rear.

1. Add .5 to front camber number both sides
2. Slight toe in (1/16th inch per side, 1/8 total toe in)?

I ran with whatever alignment the car was set to when I drove it off the lot for half a season bone stock on the Potenzas and it felt pretty neutral except under trail braking where the tail like to dance a little too much.

What are you running for tires....If you are on R-comps..you will need that kind of -ve camber. If you are running DOT tires...you won't want that much. Driving on the street with -2ish camber will really eat the tires...esp on the rear.

I will be running the factory bridgestone/wheels for the street and hopefully some 275/40/17 RT615 Azenis on some dedicated 17X9.5 Enkei track wheels.

The car is 90% street driven 10% autocrossed on the weekend. Tire wear is a slight issue.

Does 1.3 and 1.8 front and rear camber seem more reasonable?

I'm afraid I'm not qualified to comment on the autocross stuff :) There are many on here much more qualified than me. I ran Azenis the same size at the track last summer....and despite rotating them lots...the insides wore on the rear with -2.0 camber. The alignment was good on the track. When I checked tire temps on a skidpad they were good....but they wear bad on the street.

I guess you have to do what I did....decide what was important ......track performance....or wearing them out on the street a bit earlier.

I'd personally recommend no less than -2.0 front camber with zero toe and -1.5 rear camber or as close as you can get to it with some minor toe-in

A min of -2.0 front camber is way too much for a 90% daily driver. Also isn't the rear supposed to have more camber than the front? I autocross quite a bit March-November but I am still only going to do about -1.3 front -1.8 rear with 0 front tie and slight toe in since I drive the car to work every day.

a) not with zero toe

b) a lot of people think so, but I'm not a lot of people

c) who says the drive to and from work every day has to be dull and boring?


;)


also, you should be having your car aligned twice a year minimum anyways, so run the aggressive alignment in the season and an OE alignment off-season
.