Alignment tuning

[darkducati]

I thought I would post a bit of information for those who are new to suspension tuning. This is nothing new to alot of you, but may be new information for others. When trying to modify suspension it is really easy to get yourself going on coilover this and swaybars that and completly over look the most basic starting point, alingment. This is the quickest, cheapest, and easiest way to change the handling of your car. My RX-8 is setup from the factory with somewhat neutral handling leaning a bit towards push to help save us from ourselves. How much did it cost to change this? Nothing. Simply changing the alignment completly changed the handling. Not only will the car change direction as ordered mid-corner when corecting, it has more importantly totally changed the cars drifting ability. Before, trying connect one corner to another would typically end up with the back end violently getting grip. Now it is like butter. This is more of a grip setup but you get the point, this should be the FOERST thing you change on your car.

The previous settings we're as follows.
Fr camber -.9
Fr toe -.35
Castor 5.0
Rr camber -1.3
Rr toe -.5

The current settings are as follows
Fr camber -1.7 Cross camber 0
Fr toe 0.00 Cross toe 0
Castor 5.5
Rr camber -1.7 Cross camber 0
Rr toe 0.00 Cross toe 0

Sorry for the long post but this is hugely important when tuning your car and it's CHEAP! So if you haven't done so already get your car aligned and get sideways!

[turbofb]

Sure do have alot of caster.

[andysapp]

I think I'm running -2.0 and -1.5 camber in the front and rear respectively... I can't remember any of the other settings off hand. I'll have to check. It's crazy, though... how you car can be driving horrible & then drive so wonderfully after an alignment is done proper stylee.

As far as caster goes... I'm not sure what's optimal for what. I've heard miced things from different people. I've heard that for drifting... it's good to have a lot of caster, one benefit being the steering wheel whipping itself back versus having to throw it. I've also heard that having a lot of caster affects you camber dramatically once you turn the wheel. So I dunno what's what.

I think my caster is set low (ie... close to zero - I could be wrong, though... I'll check), and I like the way my car responds when the weight kicks back.

[EVOsaiyanPrince]

It's also important to take into account your drivetrain. AWD cars have a tendency to understeer more so a setting for a RWD will not necessarily be correct for the far superior driving of AWD.

As for me, my Alfa 156 has 8.0 of camber in front and 10.0 in the rear. She corners like a mah fakkah. GT4 biyaaches.