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I just had a 4 wheel alignment done at my local mazda dealer. Great people. The tech said he had trouble doing a true alignment since the vehicle was lowered. My steering wheel has always been about 10 degrees cocked to the left since 2016 and the steering itself was always very "twitchy". Having never driven the car normally aligned it feels less twitchy but it feels like the tail end lags the front somehow now. The steering feels more gradual and smooth and less twitchy but I'm not sure if that's proper or not at this point. I've seen a lot of people complaining about slop in the steering post-alignment and wanted to gauge what people here thought of the 8's handling with a true alignment. My numbers were all messed up for the toe it seems in the front:
You had a quarter inch of toe on one side. I'll bet it was twitchy
You have more rear camber than front, that might be one source of the lag. At the same time, lag isn't really a function of alignment as much as suspension compliance. Hard to comment without driving the car, but you're definitely in a better place now.
Is there a reason they left the rear suspension with different settings left and right?
Yeah it makes sense to me. I am running Tein Street Basis Zs on this car at the moment so not sure what that means as far as compliance.
I think, if I'm reading right, they only measured the front left and the rear left ride height. I don't think they're different values left and right but I could be reading wrong.
the issue is you had a stealer do it, why would you even consider them for an alignment, and on a modified suspension at that? That’s an instant excuse to do a halfway job for full price at the minimum amount of time required and then blame it on the modifications.
frankly, I question that it was adjusted at all except maybe the front toe setting. What little change there is on the other settings can be accomplished just getting in/out of the car or pushing down and bouncing it some. There was no way he or she couldn’t have at least made the camber the same side-side, but again that’s how the typical stealer tech thinks. It’s between the specs so no problem even if one side is at min and the other is at max.
Great people; I bet they’re still laughing about it. Don’t ever go back there again. You need to find a place like this instead. I have no experience in OH but there have to be more there, ask around to people who do autocross, HPDE, SCCA club, etc. I just found this doing a quick search.
Well they've serviced my car for all of the recall work. Alignments and engine rebuilding are about the only things I can't do myself.
That said I'm open to considering they may not have done a good job. I haven't ever used a performance shop here and didn't want to take this car up to Mr. Tire for example.
The wheel is dead straight so at least that is remedied. Still feel like the rear lags the front so-to-speak. I won't go back to them and will check out your link.
What looks off in your mind? I have never scrutinized an alignment before... so maybe I can learn from how you're interpreting the numbers. Maybe I can turn this fail into a learning moment.
the camber front and rear is not equal or that close L vs R. It’s not terrible, but a good fresh alignment would be within 0.1- 0.2 deg side-side
again, that little difference on the before/after numbers suggests camber was’t adjusted. It and caster should be adjusted first, then toe. What little difference there is suggests front toe adjustment only.
Gotcha. Understood. So the main thing to look for is evenness between left and right as well *** front and rear, not simply being within spec range. That makes a good bit of sense to me.
Left to right should be the same or close, but front to rear don't need to match. The feel of the car comes from how front and rear compare and you can play with that to tweak the behaviour. More rear camber = more understeer but also better cornering grip in the rear, more rear toe = lower straight line stability but twitchier turn-in, etc. Choices
Yeah Loki that is also logical. I have to be away from the car for work out of state for a while so once I again my summer driving plans are squashed. I'll plan to get a proper performance alignment done when it comes out of storage this coming May.
Looking for some guidance after getting an alignment done at a reputable tyre shop with what i know to be a newish system. I know it can only be as good as the mech though.
Anyway I asked him if he had done anyother 8s, he said only a couple. Seemed like a pretty no nonsense sort of a tech head.
He said he had the "Sport" alignment on his system and he asked if i wanted any specific tweaks after base line settings were done!. This got me all excited and i asked for a 'fast road setup' as this is exactly what i have been building the car for.
He said he got it a lot better than where it was (from prior owner as this us my first alignment on the car in my ownership and build) , BUT the right rear has an issue that i was unaware of in that the guy was not able to bring back the camber from max. adjustment. This concerns me as i dont know if something is bent or possibly bushes worn out.
The car is currently on OEM shocks that look very tired and are basically at the top of my list to replace. Except i need to sort whatever is going on back there first.
All i have really been able to do currently is visually inspect for differences between left/ right and hunt for any obvious slop or sag. Can't say i can see or feel anything while the car is loaded on its suspension.
Any suggestions appreciated about troubleshooting this, such as key things to check first. Or do i just take it straight to a suspension shop and take the lube and VISA card?
I am open to suggestions on setup from those with experience as i will obviously have to realign after repairs and coilovers.
Thanks Docwalt. When i get a chance i will get the car on stands and see if i can get any movement out of the other arms also so i know what i am up for.
Appreciate the part number also. 😀
To wrap up this alignment journey, or what i thought was going to be a pretty simple task after having this car for a couple of years.
In short i had to replace the rear right multilinks as per alignment sheet above, something must have been bent. This was not obvious.
While i was in there i replaced all the coilovers with low km OEM items as mine were very tired.
After getting the above alignment and driving it for about 2000km while considering my options and sourcing parts etc, i decided i hated the basic 'beige' alignment given to me that basically checked the green boxes on the high tech machine. After much research i asked for the alignment given here. All i can say is that this car is now on rails. It is simply amazing to drive and throw around on weekends. Most might prefer a little more rear Toe but i do not need it at this point in time!
As posted in another thread, thanks to those that pointed me in the right direction. I am glad i went down this rabbit hole as i have definitely learned a lot! Beers.🍺
Last edited by XDragon8; 09-29-2021 at 11:03 PM.
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06-25-2020, 06:18 AM
