Alignment settings & tires for racing

[lbszr]

Originally Posted by jrtoffroad

Alright, got the car aligned yesterday:

FRONT
Camber: -1.5 -1.6
Caster: 5.5 5.6
Toe in: 0 0


REAR
Camber: -1.2 -1.2
Toe in: 1/8 total (1/16 per wheel)

We noticed a fair difference with me in or out of the car, so these settings were achieved with me in the car. Not as much front camber as I was hoping for, but I may try grinding down the spacers, should get me pretty close to 2 deg.

Another Autocross this weekend, can't wait to see how it feels!

QUESTION:
I played around with the rear bolts to level the rear. My car does NOT have a noticeable lean, but I was trying to get it perfect and now have 1 bolt set maybe 1 inch shorter than the other (really didn't make much of a difference in the suspension height). Is there any issue with this? Is this the proper way to dial in the rear suspension, or should I just set both bolts the same?

Thanks!
Jordan

Looks like a good alignment for the track, if you mark the tierods, you could give it a little toe out at the track for comparison. Your doing better than mine. About 1.7 I think was max camber with the spacers ground down on mine.

I've been thinking about a way to corner balance without the scales.....The sway bars need to be disconnected to adjust the springs or the sway bar will hold it level even if the springs are out of wack. After the springs are set, the sway bar either needs shimmed or adjustable links so the bolts slide in with no binding.

Without scales.....My theory was to jack up the front in the middle so it can "balance", to get the front suspension out of the picture, and adjust the rear with sway bar disconnected, then jack up the rear in the middle and do the front, but the front spring is not easy to adjust, so eventually I want to get the adjustable springs from VBP.

With that test, mine is level on the rear spring and has a little lean on the front spring, but the sway bar is trying to hold it level with binding on the bolt. I need to get that fixed........

[jrtoffroad]

Thanks for the advice, maybe I'll toe out the alignment a little for my afternoon runs and see how I like it.

Really wish I had access to some scales.

I'm wondering if I'd be better off disconnecting my swaybars and measuring the ride height (on a level surface) at all corners then adding the diagonals and comparing (LF + RR compared to RF + LR)...as you would when corner balancing with the corner weights. It would be far from perfect, but seems more valuable than worrying about left to right levelness of the rear of the car. From what I've read, it sounds like balancing the RR & LR is only valuable in drag racing and does not help keep the car consistent in left and right hand corners.

How do you adjust the front? I wonder if there is enough adjustment in just the rear to achieve a 'well balanced' car.

-Jordan

[lbszr]

Originally Posted by jrtoffroad

Thanks for the advice, maybe I'll toe out the alignment a little for my afternoon runs and see how I like it.

Really wish I had access to some scales.

I'm wondering if I'd be better off disconnecting my swaybars and measuring the ride height (on a level surface) at all corners then adding the diagonals and comparing (LF + RR compared to RF + LR)...as you would when corner balancing with the corner weights. It would be far from perfect, but seems more valuable than worrying about left to right levelness of the rear of the car. From what I've read, it sounds like balancing the RR & LR is only valuable in drag racing and does not help keep the car consistent in left and right hand corners.

How do you adjust the front? I wonder if there is enough adjustment in just the rear to achieve a 'well balanced' car.

-Jordan

1/4 turn is about 1/16"

The front spring can be shimmed but I have never done it.

I believe the rear spring could be adjusted to match the front, but if it doesn't match, the corner balance would be worse.

[jrtoffroad]

Thought I might as well post an update to this thread.

I'm now running a set of NT-01's in stock sizes on my original 91' rims. They're simply amazing compared to my old GY's (which I'm now running as street tires only on 5 spokes). It's a completely different car, I'm having to re-learn how to drive it. I've run them in 3 events now and get faster every run. For pressures I've worked my way down to 33 front and 29 rear (hot).

I realize these are NOT drag slicks, but I'll have to take them to the track. They've made a word of difference in the way the car launches.

I also further tweaked my alignment. I was getting some outside wear on my passenger tires. When I originally setup my alignment, I did it with no weight in the passenger seat. I think this was a mistake, since I have a passenger 95% of the time. So, with weight in the driver & passenger seats I now have the following alignment specs:

FRONT
Camber: -1.9 -2.0
Caster: 5.5 5.5 (need to re-check my print out, but this is close)
Toe in: 0 0

REAR
Camber: -1.3 -1.3
Toe in: 1/8 total (1/16 per wheel)

Car feels very neutral and predictable here. Can't wait until the next event!

[lbszr]

Sounds like your having fun. I've been running 01's and thought they handled a lot better than street tires also. I've been wanting to try Hoosiers, but they're not cheap and don't seem to last as long.