Alignment after installing new springs?

[chadmclark]

Quick question, does toe in makes your steering tighter? If so, what would be a good aggressive toe in? Don't care about tire wear. I just want the steering to be tight and have 0 bump steer.

my car is 100% stock suspension wise but still getting bump steer. The car is unstable when Going over bumps over 50mph. Moves right and left and just goes out of control. Tire pressure is perfect. Car only has 5000 miles on it. I have no idea why this is happening. Started doing this for last 2000 miles. Could it be that everything has settled and alignment is off?

Is kinda scary when going over bumps over 70mph.

Please read my thread, page 8 ... I had that scary left right happen! It was after a few alignments. The shop did not tighten the lower control arm outboard or toe bolts enough. The result was basically change in toe as I drove.

Have a good shop put it on a rack, and while you check them check every suspension bolt for spec! Watch them, explain it ... Some of those bolts take a big wrench with up to 129lb.

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[SidewaysMike]

DickR, could you post a screenshot of how front toe and front camber are adjusted?

TIA

 

[rjuice]

Are you able to adjust the rear camber on these cars without messing up the other adjustments?

 

[rjuice]

Are you able to adjust the rear camber on these cars without messing up the other adjustments?

Answer is no..

 

[RoadDog]

I've yet to lower my GT but I'm in the process with many of the goodies we talk about here...

Having said that, I have a modded DD turbo Miata and these were some of the *drivers* I used for that suspension.
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Start with the rear toe first then complete the rear camber before moving to the front
~ Driver in the car during alignment (this is w/a Miata, this one only weighs 2K#)
~ Half a tank of fuel if you're really anal (I was)..

~ Overall, left and right sides must match as best as possible. If a spec is unattainable on both sides, do the best you can then match the worse side
~ Sacrifice rear camber if need be to get the correct rear toe.


Toe-in at the front will make the car more "stable" in a straight line, it makes highway driving a tad easier and keeps you from drifting into other lanes as easily.
However, turn-in response isn't as great.

0 toe or toe-out in the front will improve your turn-in response, which means that it will be a tad harder to hold the car in a straight line at freeway speeds.
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A note on caster: my alignment guy showed me how caster affects front camber changes as the front wheels turn: As the steering moves, the inside wheel goes to positive camber and the outside wheel gets more negative camber. This is good as it puts the tires square to the road under cornering. As you add caster, the changes in camber get bigger.
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It didn't dart around, still had a good turn-in, and could be driven straight down the road - at the end of the day, it worked for me.

The best alignment was with a Miata race shop (Long Road Racing) with a laser and a steel ruler and the guy was in no rush.
Go out and seek the best NON in-and-out alignment shop, pay $200 + a tip for the person who did the actual work. Plan on spending a goodly amount of time. Walk in with your preferred specs detailed on a sheet of paper. Ask questions and don't be shy about coming back for a tweak if you're not happy (that's what the tip is for)..

Now..............how do we make this car lose weight?

 

[Norm Peterson]

Good info and approach. (I've actually seen fairly serious autocrossers set a little toe out for an event and dial it back to zero/slightly in for the drive home.)

Side note on caster, the further + you move it up from stock, the more likely you'll need to add a bumpsteer kit and tweak that (and revisit the toe).


Norm

 

[selbyvince]

free pic

Lowered my car on eibach pro springs. Installed camber bolts up front and UPR camber arms on rear.

How's these specs look? Looks like the rear wheels have a lot of negative camber. But I know they are supposed to have some.

 

[Mustang_Eh]

Word of warning to everyone from personal experience - if you had your springs installed by someone, at least do an alignment inspection right after the springs were installed. Here is why...

A very reputable, local tire shop recommended I get my springs done at a performance shop for a good price. I went there yesterday and spent 4 hours waiting for them to complete the job. When I left they warned me that all specs are off and I should let the springs settle for a week before doing an alignment. However, the steering wheel was so off center that I decided to go to an alignment shop anyways. To my surprise the alignment shop tells me that when the performance shop put the subframe back in they didn't align it properly...matter of fact it was so fucked the rear wheels are like this /--/ with left being ahead of the right one. Then they showed me that the subframe bolts were off like 1/4 inch from the original factory markings.

If I rode like that for a week my tires would have been fucked.

Now I have to pay extra money for the subframe to be realigned before wheel alignment can be done. I realize I can go back to the performance shop and talk to them but I don't have time to waste with work and everything so I'll just get it done right in one place.

 

[Lsstefan]

I had eibach pro kit installed. Went to a shop here that does allignment and I couldn't get it on the stand, it's too low *sigh*
Then I went to the local dealership and they told they couldn't because they don't have the values...only the main dealership has it. That's some f-ed bull... Anyway drove sideways 300 kms to the main dealership and they got it up the stand. The mechanic told me the rear(i think) camber is at maximum accepted value. In my head I was asking myself "what if I bought sportlines!!". Again some bull imho.
Anyway drove off from there happy. Everything seemed ok. Drove some 600 kms on the highway, left the car at home for some days and after I used it again, it was pulling to the right side... The steering has a little offset and if I straighten it, the car goes right... I have no idea what happened, I didn't take potholes nor bumps at high speed. Maybe I was too excited and it was missalligned from start. Now idk where to go, since dealerships are out of the question due to their moronic service...
Are the factory values standard for all cars?

I'll try to find the allignment specs from the dealership and post them here.

 

[Bigbad5.0]

Will -1.8 camber cause tire wear if toe is 0?

 

[Norm Peterson]

From post #157 above, -1.8° appears to be within range (if only barely), so

I wouldn't expect wear to be particularly uneven as long as your cornering tends to be, ummm . . . somewhat enthusiastic. 10,000 miles per hundred treadwear should be entirely do-able if you can keep from spinning the rear tires.


Norm

 

[robwlf]

installed my cjpp spring last sat ran a week on them light driving to work and back .
had my buddy just do a alignment as i didnt want it to be to far out and cause problems.

think he used performance setting i dunno if this will fly on the street for spirited driving or not ..

any input would be appreciated

 

[Tcstang]

installed my cjpp spring last sat ran a week on them light driving to work and back .
had my buddy just do a alignment as i didnt want it to be to far out and cause problems.

think he used performance setting i dunno if this will fly on the street for spirited driving or not ..

any input would be appreciated

Everything looks good. The rear camper is a little more agressive than the stock setting but nothing wrong with it.

 

[Bigbad5.0]

Ur toe needs to be Near O more man especially in rear too. U see my alignment sheet right?

 

[robwlf]

front tow is 0.01 thought that was pretty close to 0 rear can use a bit ..ill have him go over it again if need be

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