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DIY Alignment - what basic equipment do I need?


07SGT5687

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Glad to hear that you're not afraid of the pedal on the right. I suggest that you get a pyrometer and have a dedicated tire pressure gauge with you. As far as alignment settings go from what you're telling me I would say that all you need to be adjusting for the track is Camber and whether it's for the street or for the track you will want to have the camber equal on both sides( not -1 on the right and -3 on left ) . Toe will need to be checked each time you make a change because it is affected . As far as Caster goes just go with max positive (back on the c/c plate) on the RIGHT FRONT and then start at the midway point on the LEFT FRONT side c/c plate . The difference in Caster side to side will be determined by the STREET driving that you do to determine the spread between right and left that is needed to have ( if it drifts off to the right - move the R/F c/c plate forward to take out some of the positive caster - aka increase the spread ) (if it drifts off to the left - move the R/F c/c plate more to the rear of the car in order to decrease the spread) once that you have it to where the car will go straight when you take your hands off of the steering wheel mark the plates so you have a reference line for the front to back movement . (race tracks are not crowned and you don't drive on just the right side of the track and the amount of camber gain from caster will not be an issue due to having a spread in it side to side). Camber will be one for you to play with since that effects tire wear and grip along with you using a different tire/wheel set up for the track than the street . Changing Camber will be easy if you remember to only move the plate in / out NOT forward /back (that's Caster) and you probably will want to make a witness mark to make sure that you don't go forward/back as you move the plate in/out for your settings. Toe is the last setting in doing an alignment . The toe setting is going to effect the corner entry to mid corner only and it IS the NUMBER 1 tire wearing angle/measurement . Just to throw in a note here if the car handles better on left turns then right turns or vis-a-versa then you should be changing your corner weight settings . Also , the stiffer end slides out first ( aka mid corner to exit back end comes out(loose) you should set the rear sway bar to a softer setting or put in softer rear springs or even remove the rear sway bar ) You always want to have some throttle controlled oversteer as to be able to rotate the car in the direction that you want it to go but not too much where as your late to the dance coming off of a corner . Corner exit speed is much more important than corner entry speed . :backtotopic: So ...

 

1) string ( with a fishing hook on 1 end )

2) tape measure

3) camber gauge

4) level surface

5) toe plates ( for ease )

 

oh and of course.... JMO

Just remember that you take the readings in order of;

1) Camber

2) Caster

3) TOE

 

But you make the adjustments in the order of;

1) Caster

2) Camber

3) TOE

 

All good stuff. Thanks a lot for all the valuable advice. Well, unfortunately, my garage is anything by level - Thank you CO benontine - so making exact alignment adjustments is going to be tricky for me any way I slice it. But I did just do the best I could to "eyeball" the camber last night and got it relatively even and in a ballpark area I was visual comfortable with. Toe at that point appears to be slightly toe out. And per Maximum Motorsports direction, I still have caster set full forward. All that said, I decided to take it for a drive and was VERY surprised that is handling like a dream. Other than getting used to the coilover stiffness, it was VERY true, no twitchiness whatsoever, no drift at coast, throttle or braking... no vibration. I guess I was just amazed that I screwed with nearly all aspects of the suspension on that thing for the past month and it just "kind of" all came together - no considering replacing all the MM stud plates because one stud snapped off at 17 ft./lbs. and about 3 more were turning WAY TOO MANY times for supposedly under 20 ft. lbs. - different topic.

 

So I'm going to try and to a toe check this weekend and see if I need to adjust the toe in much. Got a long drive up to Steamboat for the Rocky Mountain Mustang Roundup next week and don't want to chew the inside of the tires off on the way up.

 

Quick last question for now... does toe out somewhat offset negative camber? Is that the Ackerman affect everyone's been mentioning? if so, maybe the reason the car feels so good right now is that my toe out is working well with the negative camber... maybe not. Just a thought.

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Having negative camber (top of the tire tilted inward towards the center of the car) and having too much toe out will give you inside tire wear . Stand up - feet apart (about shoulder width) and point the front of your feet outward to simulate toe out - now move your knees together (without moving your feet) and feel what is happening with the bottom of your feet. Feel the weight on the inside edges -now if you were sliding forward do you see how the insides will wear/scuff ? This is what is going on with your tires when you have that combo.

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Try running on the track with and without the rear sway bar connected to see what change occurs (oversteer verses understeer) If your rear bar is stock then it's not adjustable so just take it off and/or put it back on and make notes of the differences from when you have it on verses not having it.

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