[flash]

over the last year, many people have asked me about alignment settings - a good alignment is the single best thing you can do to improve your handling - after working with a lot of different setups, i have put together this list of settings - choosing the right setup for you is dependent on the kind of driving you do, what tires you have, and what you are willing to deal with in wander - wander is a very subjective thing - the type of tire, and its condition, are things that will dramatically affect wander - tires with big longitudinal grooves, like the S0-3, will tend to wander more than tires with V patterns like the AVS ES 100 - tire wear is a big player here too - worn tires will do odd things until they wear the new pattern from your new alignment - badly worn tires may never work right



i make no warranties with these recommendations, since i don't know the condition of your car, but they are working nicely in every car we've put them in





a few things you should know:

all below assumes this is a left hand drive car and you drive on the right side of the road



all below are for street cars



alignments should be done with your normal travelling load, you in the driver seat (or an equivalent weight), and about a half tank of gas - this gives you the best shot at a "nominal" condition - don't take no for an answer when talking to the tech



make sure the machine has been recently calibrated (they go out easily)



make sure the machine measures in degrees and not inches



make sure the machine is fairly new (a hunter dsp 600 or something like that is very good)



make sure the tech is qualified - talk to him about what you want your car to drive like and what you will be doing with it - if you get the "deer in the headlights" look, run away



don't assume that the dealership knows what they are doing - you may get lucky, but liability reasons often prevent them from doing custom alignments - also, they usually don't have techs there that really know what they are doing when it comes to custom alignments, and tend to think of alignments as a pain in the butt that most people don't notice anyway



the difference you will see below in castor settings left to right is to adjust for road crown so the car drives straight



RIDE HEIGHT IS CRITICAL - your ride height should be equal left to right and front to rear, loaded as described above - the easiest measurements are taken from the highest point in the fender arch to the ground



make sure your tech has the eccentric adjusting tool, a thin 36mm wrench, and a thin 27mm wrench before you put it on the rack - he won't be able to do the job without them, and many shops don't have them







a word about strut tower braces:

none of these non-stock setups should be done without a strut tower brace - this is essential in order to limit the camber change that the car goes through in corners



you can read about it at: http://www.e30m3performance.com/myths/Stru..._bar_theory.htm







the first set is stock, and for reference



the second set is for a car that is not driven on the track at all, is generally just looking for a bit of improvement, but without any compromise in ride quality - it is also intended for cars with essentially stock suspensions



the third set is for cars who are looking for improved handling, and are willing to accept a small amount of wander (though many get none at all, and this is highly dependent on your tires) - it is also intended for cars with somewhat improved suspensions (konis, M030 bars, etc)



the last set is what i have been using for the last year - i am very happy with it, but realize that my suspension is nowhere near stock, and i am willing to accept a lot more wander than most



i hope these help - have fun, and keep the shiny side up





stock:

FRONT CASTOR L 2.50 to 4.00 deg

FRONT CASTOR R 2.50 to 4.00 deg

FRONT CAMBER L&R -0.16 to 0.16 deg

FRONT TOTAL TOE 0.00 to 0.31 deg



REAR CAMBER L&R -1.11 to -0.41 deg

REAR TOTAL TOE 0.00 to 0.68 deg





modest improvement in cornering and tire wear:

FRONT CASTOR L 3.30 deg

FRONT CASTOR R 3.60 deg

FRONT CAMBER L&R -0.75 deg

FRONT TOTAL TOE 0.10 deg



REAR CAMBER L&R -1.00 deg

REAR TOTAL TOE 0.28 deg





more improvement in cornering and tire wear, but a slight increase in tendency to wander

FRONT CASTOR L 3.30 deg

FRONT CASTOR R 3.60 deg

FRONT CAMBER L&R -1.00 deg

FRONT TOTAL TOE 0.08 deg



REAR CAMBER L&R -1.50 deg

REAR TOTAL TOE 0.20 deg





best cornering and tire wear, but a definite increase in tendency to wander

FRONT CASTOR L 3.30 deg

FRONT CASTOR R 3.60 deg

FRONT CAMBER L&R -1.25 deg

FRONT TOTAL TOE 0.00 deg



REAR CAMBER L&R -2.00 deg

REAR TOTAL TOE 0.20 deg

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[WYLDCTZ]

When you say 'Improvement in tire wear' is that good or bad? I was always under the impression that adjusting the alignment for better handling would decrease (shorten) the life of my tires.



Thanks!

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[GDS968]

Flash



For a right hand drive car is it a simple case of reversing the L & R values for CASTOR or am I being simple?



Gary.

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[flash]

wyldctz - improved wear means less wear - the factory spec on a car with no brace wears the front tires on the corners - with a brace AND the specs i have listed, you can reduce front tire wear (this presumes you have a correct pressure in the tire)



gds968 - i haven't tried that, but if the weighting of the car is the same, AND the crowning of the roads is reversed (i.e., you're driving on the left) , then yes, reversing the spec would work - the castor setting is to correct for road crown - if you are driving on the right in a right hand drive car, then you would need to stay closer to the LHD spec, but correct for the weight location change (this particular setup could turn out to be a bit of trial and error)

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[GDS968]

Flash



Thanks, going to get my car set up tomorrow morning, will let you know how it goes.

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[flash]

which brace did you end up with? (disclaimer - the specs won't help you without one, and in fact could mess you up)

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[rxter]

Only need the strut tower brace to use the non-stock setting? No other braces?

Are the stock camber settings specific for Left/Right or is this a range?

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[flash]

you don't actually NEED the braces for the non-stock settings, only that there is so much camber change due to the flex of the chassis that you won't realize the advantages of them

the stock spec is a range - again, this is due to the flex of the chassis and bushings, and the inability to achieve a static spec

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[rxter]

Rephrased - do you only need the strut brace to realize the advantages or do you need the other braces as well?

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[flash]

the largest advantages will be realized with the lower brace - the upper does help, as the sheet metal towers to move, but we have seen the most improvement from the lower brace, due to the poor design of the lower control arm rear mounting points - the lower brace dramatically reduces the camber change that occurs under load - this allows a more stable alignment geometry, and lessens the needs for aggressive angle settings

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[94nine68]

Wow,
Those specs aren't even close to what I'm running. You should try being a little more aggressive and see what its like. That and toe out is what you need for better cornering on a track type set up.

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[flash]

i've tried more aggressive - while it adds contact patch on the outside tire, it decreases more than that on the inside tire, which actually makes the car slower in the corners - with the tires as small as they are up front, that is really not desirable - take some high speed pictures of the car in corners - you'll see what i mean

toe out might be fine for helping turn in for autocross, but it makes the car skiddish at high speeds

the biggest thing that helps though is to get rid of all the flex in the lower suspension and chassis

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[Lear35A]

Rather than do the smart thing and relax while waiting for the return of my Canton oil filter, I decided to get into corner weights and ride heights. Because the cross member was loose for the engine in and out, I will need an alignment anyway.
I found the car pretty much at factory specs for a US car for ride height. In other words, too high. I suspect that is because of US bumper requirements.

Using the factory measuring points on pg. 44-3 of the 968 workshop manual, you can see the US specs for the M 030 is 20 mm higher than RoW. I lowered the front to the factory 127 mm, which is very easy with the adjustable spring plates on the M030. I thought I had the eccentric tool to do the rears, but don't. Have to order one tomorrow. Even though I don't have the rear height right (20 mm too high) yet, I still checked corner balance just to see where I was. With driver in the car and 1/2 tank of gas I get: LF 806, RF 775, LR 814, RR 818 for a total of 3214#. When I lower the rear, I guess I'll move some weight back there, but I have no way to go to get more weight on the RF. Is a 31# difference too much? Opinions? Both sway bars were disconnected at both ends for this.

While under there, I spent some time cleaning up a little. Those aluminum suspension castings are so beautiful. I curse Porsche for spraying all that orangy, brown goo over everything on the bottom.

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[flash]

moving the battery to the right rear will lift the left front, and might even things out (after adding in the driver)

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[Lear35A]

Those weights are with driver, so moving the battery would make things worse. Since the rears are about even, I don't have anywhere to go (unless I add ballast). If I make the RF heavier, the LR gets lighter. Sigh.
Until I get the rear lowered, nothing is real, but I would guess I'll still have a light RF.

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[flash]

the left front is heavy - moving the battery to the right rear would help that - then you could drop the left rear about 1/4" less than the right rear, and balance that out - then, you will just need to fiddle with the front a bit

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[Lear35A]

"the left front is heavy - moving the battery to the right rear would help that - then you could drop the left rear about 1/4" less than the right rear, and balance that out - then, you will just need to fiddle with the front"
I guess I'm missing something here. The battery now is in the RF of the car which is already too light. Why would I want to move the heaviest moveable thing in the car away from the point it's most needed?

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[flash]

i know it sounds odd - but you have to think in opposing corners, not same side corners

we know that ride height changes corner weight, and a lot more than you might think

with the limiting factor of the eccentrics in the rear, you need to move weight to make a larger change than the eccentrics will allow

so, by moving the weight to the right rear, and then setting the rear ride heights, you balance out the rear of the car

then you move to the front, and adjust the front ride height until you hit balance at all four corners

you may find that you need to swap front springs though, as your left front may have sagged, preventing you from achieving balance with ride height alone - this would be very common

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[Lear35A]

I was able to get the rear lowered today. Some Neanderthal had tightened the two screws on each side that allow this adjustment. Had to have been over 200 ft lbs on all of em. A 1/2" impact wrench at 120 psi wouldn't break them. Patience, a long breaker bar pushed by both feet finally did the trick.
The max. low setting gave me EXACTLY the factory spec for the RoW M030 (-37 mm) on both sides. I really happy about that. The fronts are now just 2 and 3 mm above the factory RoW M030 spec, so I can tweek a bit once I weigh the corners again.
So all in all the car will be right at the RoW M030 spec for ride height, a full 20 mm lower than the car had been. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

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[flash]

cool

i played with mine a bit today - i raised it about 1/4" - now i am looking at the rear camber angles, to try to reduce more negative camber - i'd like to get to about -1 degree, but i don't think i'll get it below -1.5

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