17 GT350 Recommended Road Course Alignment (Possible without CC Plates?)

Stuntman · Apr 24, 2018

Your best lap looked pretty good. A few times you accelerated through the apex only to lift near the exit of the corner. It's better to work up to carrying a little more entry speed, coast a little longer though the apex, and pick up throttle once, and roll to full throttle at or just after the apex. It does not matter if you pick up power on entry or mid-corner if you have to lift at the exit. Find the point for a given corner that's the earliest you can go to full throttle, then work on getting to that point faster.

ShiftPoint · Apr 25, 2018

Stuntman said:
Your best lap looked pretty good. A few times you accelerated through the apex only to lift near the exit of the corner. It's better to work up to carrying a little more entry speed, coast a little longer though the apex, and pick up throttle once, and roll to full throttle at or just after the apex. It does not matter if you pick up power on entry or mid-corner if you have to lift at the exit. Find the point for a given corner that's the earliest you can go to full throttle, then work on getting to that point faster.

Great points. I agree. I was sorta all over the place on some laps. Was trying to find to right speed to not over shoot the exit but not have to accelerate to get to exit. Good tips, thanks man!

Heres a question for everyone. In that video after the last two laps, probably happened on my fastest lap, but pulling into the hot pits I noticed the steering wheel wasn't straight and I was drive straight. It was off at probably 10 degrees to the right while driving straight. Alignment is the first thing that I know causes it. However, the car drives what seems to be perfectly straight and doesn't pull left or right. Almost feels like something in the power steering or steering wheel.

I should mention also on multiple session throughout the day the air bag warning light on the dash would come on. It would stay on until I turned the car off. Then when I started it back up it went away just to come back again.

What are your thoughts? Is it something I can take to a dealer and the codes will still show in the system? Or would it show / the codes show using an OBD2 reader?

ShiftPoint · Apr 25, 2018

Spoke to soon guys. Check front and rear toe using the quick trick aligment tool and the rear toe is over 1 inch toe in. I had them set the rear camber at max which was about -3.1 and -0.30 toe in.

In one of my other posts I mentioned I took it a local shop to have them align it before the event. I requested the max rear camber and -0.30 (in) rear toe. They did a great job getting it to match however they didn't do a great job tightening the rear toe ajusters. (click the image to open the video, then the play button).

Driver side is whats in the video. VERY loose and it moved easily. Passenager side was better but not by much.

Taking it back to the shop to have them alighn it and torque the crap out of the bolts. Maybe some lock tight?

Giving them a slight break, considering it was spot on until the slicks and drove it VERY hard but still.

Keep this in mind if you take yours to a shop. I would recommend when you get home jack it up and use some white out or some sort of paint to mark the toe adjustment. That way you could quickly determine if they have moved.

ABS warning light still concerns me but its not on now and hasn't come back on.

arsenalrocks · Apr 30, 2018

I am surprised at -3 rear camber stock, I thought the steeda camber adjusters do not increase stock camber, just making it easier to adjust. My local shop couldn't adjust the driver rear camber saying its too hard.

I just came back from the track too, with the much lighter P51 wheels and 305/315 sport cup 2 tires the difference is very very noticeable. I wouldn't recommend using the stock rim and super sport tires if anyone is doing any serious tracking.

ShiftPoint said:
Yesterday was my first track day at Putnam Park Road Course. So many great recommendations on this thread. Thank you!

Few points to catch you up on. I took the recommendations here, set the rear camber at max which I was surprised was -3.1 (with the steeda camber adjusters). Thought the max was -2, anyways, the front was very close -3. Around -2.8 / -2.9. I ended up taking the car to a local shop (Firestone) because I couldn't get the rear toe even on each side. They set the rear toe to -0.30. The front toe was set to +0.07 per the sheet from the Hunter alignment machine. Slight toe out / almost no toe.

Drove the car to the track with the rear at the specs I mentioned and just maxed out the front camber plates at the track.

On the stock MPSS tires, the best lap was 1:19 (low 1:19s) consistently. The car felt great. Turn in was great, never pushed or oversteered. Took me a little bit to get used to the IRS coming from a solid axle car but holy smokes it grips.

Tire wear was better than I expected. Seemed fairly even but consider I wasn't driving it 10/10ths. After lunch, I put the Pirelli pzero DH take off slicks on. I have never run a true slick before and words can't describe the grip!

Once I got a few laps with little to no traffic I managed a 1:15.7. I have the video with data overlayed coming soon. Should have it posted tonight or tomorrow.

Knocked off almost 4 seconds with the slicks. I don't think I left anything on the table. Might have managed a low 1:15 or high 1:14 but I was pretty much at my limit driver wise (not car).

Tire wear though on the slicks wasn't exactly the same. Wore down the outside on all tires. Needs more camber just like the guys here mentioned. When I wasn't driving 10/10ths or for the lack of a better term "the wheels off" wear was pretty good and even.

I will update this thread with photos later tonight but if you check out my Instagram I have a photo. No idea how im gonna get more camber or if its possible without some serious drilling/modifications I don't know if I'm ready for yet.

For now gonna flip the tires on the rim and wear out the other side :shrug:

Also, Putnam Park is a right hand turn heavy track. Most people wear the left sides faster but the wear on the slicks seemed the same on all fours.

Next event in 3 weeks at Mid Ohio. Thinking about some steeda IRS / subframe connectors for the rear but that's all I got so far. I did leave advanc track on for this event. It saved my ass in the beginning when I was learning the car. Usually would kick in on corner exit when sliding/spinning.

Next event I will probably disable it but left it on for this one. Ran great times, didn't break the car and drove home in one piece. Good enough for me!

Once I get the video posted and anything else you read here. Suggestions and feedback welcome. Learning!

ShiftPoint · Apr 30, 2018

arsenalrocks said:
I am surprised at -3 rear camber stock, I thought the steeda camber adjusters do not increase stock camber, just making it easier to adjust. My local shop couldn't adjust the driver rear camber saying its too hard.

I just came back from the track too, with the much lighter P51 wheels and 305/315 sport cup 2 tires the difference is very very noticeable. I wouldn't recommend using the stock rim and super sport tires if anyone is doing any serious tracking.

I was surprised at the -3 degrees too. The steeda adjusters are just to make it easier to adjust camber not give it anymore. I have the print out of the alignment I will upload. Before taking it to the shop I adjusted the rear camber with my quick trick extreme alignment too and it was showing about -2.8 degrees but the print out at the shop showed -3.1 on one side and -3.5 on the other. Don't know but the tires wore pretty even I think. Going to get more data in a few weeks at Mid Ohio and actually take tire temps. The only issue I had with the shop is the toe adjusters worked loose or weren't torqued properly.

ShiftPoint · Apr 30, 2018

For reference on the rear camber. Front, slight, very slight toe out. The vorshlag plates on each side were at the max positive camber setting (if that makes sense). You couldn't move them any farther positive etc. At the track, I shoved them all the way to the max camber, which should have made the toe out a bit more. Told the alignment shop I wanted slight toe-in because I was thinking maxing out the camber would push the toe closer to 0 or slight toe out.

However, they didn't listen and I didn't catch it when I reviewed the machine. They let me back in the shop to talk to the tech and review the hunter alignment machine output.

At this point though, I'm having them fix the rear toe to match that screenshot since the adjusters worked loose / weren't torqued down properly. Until I can take tire/tread temps with the pyrometer to confirm tread temps I'm gonna run with the same specs.

Zitrosounds · May 1, 2018

ShiftPoint said:
Spoke to soon guys. Check front and rear toe using the quick trick aligment tool and the rear toe is over 1 inch toe in. I had them set the rear camber at max which was about -3.1 and -0.30 toe in.

In one of my other posts I mentioned I took it a local shop to have them align it before the event. I requested the max rear camber and -0.30 (in) rear toe. They did a great job getting it to match however they didn't do a great job tightening the rear toe ajusters. (click the image to open the video, then the play button).

Driver side is whats in the video. VERY loose and it moved easily. Passenager side was better but not by much.

Taking it back to the shop to have them alighn it and torque the crap out of the bolts. Maybe some lock tight?

Giving them a slight break, considering it was spot on until the slicks and drove it VERY hard but still.

Keep this in mind if you take yours to a shop. I would recommend when you get home jack it up and use some white out or some sort of paint to mark the toe adjustment. That way you could quickly determine if they have moved.

ABS warning light still concerns me but its not on now and hasn't come back on.

don't "torque the crap out of the bolts." The bolts have a TQ spec of 129 ft lbs

petstang · May 1, 2018

arsenalrocks said:
I am surprised at -3 rear camber stock, I thought the steeda camber adjusters do not increase stock camber, just making it easier to adjust. My local shop couldn't adjust the driver rear camber saying its too hard.

I just came back from the track too, with the much lighter P51 wheels and 305/315 sport cup 2 tires the difference is very very noticeable. I wouldn't recommend using the stock rim and super sport tires if anyone is doing any serious tracking.

Would you mind sharing your alignment settings or maybe you have done that already somewhere in this thread ?
I am running -2.5 front and -2.0 rear with P51's and 305/315 SC2's also and somewhat disappointed with the wear of these Michelin tires after just one track day. Rears are ok but the outside of the fronts seem to go so fast, I will be very happy if they last another track day this Saturday. Thanks

Zitrosounds · May 1, 2018

petstang said:
Would you mind sharing your alignment settings or maybe you have done that already somewhere in this thread ?
I am running -2.5 front and -2.0 rear with P51's and 305/315 SC2's also and somewhat disappointed with the wear of these Michelin tires after just one track day. Rears are ok but the outside of the fronts seem to go so fast, I will be very happy if they last another track day this Saturday. Thanks

I really don't get what some are expecting out of a less than 200 tread wear tire. No camber setting is going to save the fronts unless you custom make a rig that gives you race spec -4 degrees or more.

petstang · May 1, 2018

Zitrosounds said:
I really don't get what some are expecting out of a less than 200 tread wear tire. No camber setting is going to save the fronts unless you custom make a rig that gives you race spec -4 degrees or more.

I am not "expecting" more...just checking whether I am maybe doing something wrong. After reading some threads where people use them much longer. I have tried it and now I know and I am definitely not willing to spend +1,600$ every two track events on new tires. Going back to less performant but less wearing tires won't ruin the fun I am having with this car on the track though !

Zitrosounds · May 1, 2018

petstang said:
I am not "expecting" more...just checking whether I am maybe doing something wrong. After reading some threads where people use them much longer. I have tried it and now I know and I am definitely not willing to spend +1,600$ every two track events on new tires. Going back to less performant but less wearing tires won't ruin the fun I am having with this car on the track though !

The guys with 8-10k miles on a set of SC@'s are on street alignment and probably do not even push the car. I am on my second set. My R when driven takes every on/off ramp like I'm on the track. I have about 2k miles on this set, no track time yet and already seeing measurable wear. The street alignment with the occasional spirited drive will yield the best results for tire wear. If you are pushing or tracking the car regularly, a track alignment is best for wear but the hotter the tire gets the faster it wears. It is always a compromise and really have to pay to play.

arsenalrocks · May 1, 2018

I have the same set up, P51 305/315 R spec on cup 2 tires and left front is taking an absolute beating with -1 camber

rear looks much better tho. I am going to have to swamp sides between left and right next time

next mod will be to increase camber with CC plate

petstang said:
Would you mind sharing your alignment settings or maybe you have done that already somewhere in this thread ?
I am running -2.5 front and -2.0 rear with P51's and 305/315 SC2's also and somewhat disappointed with the wear of these Michelin tires after just one track day. Rears are ok but the outside of the fronts seem to go so fast, I will be very happy if they last another track day this Saturday. Thanks

ShiftPoint · May 1, 2018

arsenalrocks said:
I have the same set up, P51 305/315 R spec on cup 2 tires and left front is taking an absolute beating with -1 camber

rear looks much better tho. I am going to have to swamp sides between left and right next time

next mod will be to increase camber with CC plate

Get the Vorshlag CC plates. You can have them set at stock for daily driving then just max them out at the track. Took me all of 10 minutes to max them out once I got to the track and then put them back to "stock" or as far as they go positive.

Have them set toe at the shop with the stock alignment for the front. You will compromise a bit on the toe setting at the track with them maxed out on camber, however, mine did fine at the first event. More info in a few weeks when I can take tire temps.

bellwilliam · May 1, 2018

petstang said:
Would you mind sharing your alignment settings or maybe you have done that already somewhere in this thread ?
I am running -2.5 front and -2.0 rear with P51's and 305/315 SC2's also and somewhat disappointed with the wear of these Michelin tires after just one track day. Rears are ok but the outside of the fronts seem to go so fast, I will be very happy if they last another track day this Saturday. Thanks

been saying it all along, with reading from a pyro. Front needs anywhere from -3 to -4.5 depending on tires and track. regular street tires (PSS) can get away with -3, but any of good 200tw tires (RS4, RE71R) or SC2/3R needs -3.5 or more. consider yourself lucky getting 2 track days out of SC2 with -2.5.

petstang · May 1, 2018

bellwilliam said:
been saying it all along, with reading from a pyro. Front needs anywhere from -3 to -4.5 depending on tires and track. regular street tires (PSS) can get away with -3, but any of good 200tw tires (RS4, RE71R) or SC2/3R needs -3.5 or more. consider yourself lucky getting 2 track days out of SC2 with -2.5.

Thanks..learning the hard way I guess ? I do have the Vorshlag camber plates so should be able to get more than -2.5. Car goes back into the shop tomorrow to get the Ford Performance sway bars. Will ask to look at the alignment again. Do you recommend to go as aggressive with camber for Super Sports or similar ?

17 GT350 Recommended Road Course Alignment (Possible without CC Plates?)

Stuntman

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ShiftPoint

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ShiftPoint

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arsenalrocks

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ShiftPoint

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ShiftPoint

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Zitrosounds

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petstang

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Zitrosounds

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petstang

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Zitrosounds

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arsenalrocks

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ShiftPoint

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bellwilliam

bellwilliam

petstang

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