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Alignment specs for 50/50 mountain/highway driving?

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Old Oct 6, 2011 | 02:21 PM
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From: Santa Cruz Mtns
Alignment specs for 50/50 mountain/highway driving?

I'm going to be getting new rubber on the R3 soon, and I'll have my shop do an alignment at the same time. They'll put the car at any specs that I ask for, so long as the adjustability allows it. They've been fantastic with my other cars, but I've not been in with the R3.

Seems like the camber range I've been seeing in other threads is:

F: 0.7-1.5
R: 1.5-3.5

??

My driving is split between mountain 2-lanes and highway driving. The mountain 2-lanes are driven hard (like they should be). For reference, I'm running maximum front camber that I can get on my WRX (stock springs, D-Specs, stock wheels, RE960AS tires), and get nice and even tire wear (and good cornering, considering the soft springs).
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Old Oct 7, 2011 | 12:01 AM
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I found the monstrous thead on street-performance alignments for the S1, and based on that (and seeing some S2 and R3 posts there, that the numbers mostly apply here as well.

So, max matched front camber (up to -1.5°), and a bit more camber in the rear (-1.8°?). no front toe, and a touch toe in for the rear. Basically, a setup for sweepers and mild understeer to keep it safe on the street.
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Old Oct 7, 2011 | 01:00 AM
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Stick to the stock alignment for best balance of performance and tire wear. The car will understeer when pushed but thats safer. If you want to reduce the understeer increase the negative camber in the front a little, maybe an extra -.5
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Old Oct 7, 2011 | 12:56 PM
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I'm actually getting more outer than inner tire wear (in the fronts). Which is why the WRX was set to max matched front camber as well (~1.5°). The Z I had previously I couldn't adjust (without bolts), and it always wore more on the outside than inside.

Hence, the desire for a bunch of front camber (but not track-level front camber).

This should give an idea of the roads I take to work every day:

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Old Oct 7, 2011 | 01:14 PM
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From: Nurburgring driver, Germany
-2.0 camber f/r
o toe
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Old Oct 8, 2011 | 05:36 PM
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Originally Posted by Woody77
I'm going to be getting new rubber on the R3 soon, and I'll have my shop do an alignment at the same time. They'll put the car at any specs that I ask for, so long as the adjustability allows it. They've been fantastic with my other cars, but I've not been in with the R3.

Seems like the camber range I've been seeing in other threads is:

F: 0.7-1.5
R: 1.5-3.5

??

My driving is split between mountain 2-lanes and highway driving. The mountain 2-lanes are driven hard (like they should be). For reference, I'm running maximum front camber that I can get on my WRX (stock springs, D-Specs, stock wheels, RE960AS tires), and get nice and even tire wear (and good cornering, considering the soft springs).
I track my 8, and it was pushing like a bitch new with -.9 front and -2.2 rear camber.

I helped the alignment tech get me -1.7 front camber ( the most it'd do anyway) and -1.65 rears ( the least it'd do).

Also, zero toe front and back with tolerance to toe out front and toe in rear.

My rears had been wearing twice as fast, but now they all wear evenly with slight more on the inside front as it should be.

I can drive the **** out of it now and its very neutral even on a canyon run.

It only will give slight oversteer if I turn and accelerate hard while wet, so I like this setup for curvy and wet.

I ran like this with Hankook v12 225/40r18 on a drizzly curvy HPDE, and I was one of the few that stayed on the track.
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Old Oct 10, 2011 | 06:20 PM
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I've been hearing good things on the Hankook V12s...

(but then the Michelin Pilot Super Sports are even better recommended on TireRack)

Last edited by Woody77; Oct 10, 2011 at 06:22 PM.
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Old Oct 10, 2011 | 06:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Woody77
I'm actually getting more outer than inner tire wear (in the fronts).
Then just increase the front negative camber a little over stock settings. Maybe .2-.3 each side and 0 the toe. It wont take much to losen the car up and reduce understeer but you dont want to losen it up to much and get oversteer on windy 2 lane roads.

Last edited by Highway8; Oct 10, 2011 at 06:45 PM.
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Old Nov 28, 2011 | 06:13 PM
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From: Santa Cruz Mtns
At my shop now, and we're going to repeat what it has, based on nearly perfect tire wear (especially considering the drive)... I could run more camber (and the rear might need a touch more camber, but not much, but given how well the tires wore over the last 15K miles, and that we got 24K miles total out of them (9 on them when we bought it), we'll not be messing with it.

And boy are the pilots sticky... I fear they're not going to last as long as these RE050A's did.
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