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Factory/approximate settings for FD front and rear camber/alignment adjustment
Replaced the stock suspension with Ohlin DFV + SuperPro bushings + J-auto pillow *****.
During the uninstall, I neglected to take very good pictures of where the camber adjustment plates were set.
I plan on going to SakeBomb to get a proper alignment etc. but wanted to know if there are any suggestions for how these plates should be setup for a "safe" drive over. Just looking for an eye-ball here since it's just a 30 minute drive over.
FYI, these are the adjustment plates I am talking about.
Did something similar when I put mine back together after bushings :P can find a shop to just do an alignment on it that’s close by since the alignment will be off again after a corner balance, can opt to tow it there, or you can look up a string alignment. I chose to just take it and get it aligned first
Thanks Matt. I do have AAA so I was considering just using my free tow on getting her to the shop.
I more just wanted to drive the car a little after over a year in the garage but alas, maybe I should just be more patient and wait till everything's squared correctly.
Honestly I would rather scrub some tires for a short drive than trust a random tow truck driver with my 7. Every time a tow driver has touched my car something got effed up.
You can easily do what I call a caveman alignment with a straight edge, chalk, and a measuring tape if you know basic geometry. All you should really be concerned with is getting toe close to zero... let the pros take care of the rest. A few degrees of camber won't hurt your tires on a drive to the shop, but that's easy enough to eyeball with a level.
If you didn't remove the tie rod ends I wouldn't even worry about it as you haven't changed the toe much. Just eyeball the camber and drive it to the shop. Even better if you drive it over on a rainy day.
I redid the struts on my Forester and forgot/neglected to do the alignment for a whole summer. Tires weren't even that bad when I finally went in.
Unless the shop is hundreds of miles away, there's no problem driving there. Just drive normal, you don't have to hotdog it.
I think the shop manual may have the factory caster/camber/toe settings. I just have a local alignment shop check my car every year or so or after major suspension work, their computer does a good job. Not as hardcore as a dedicated shop with scales and string alignment but does fine for my purposes.
Thanks gents. Will need to browse through the FSM again for those stock settings. Seems like the conclusion is to just eyeball a very basic home alignment then have the shop do their thing.
There aren't any "stock settings" in the FSM that will be of any use to you. Alignment specs are the actual angles that the wheel makes in different reference planes. The specs will be of no use to you if you don't have an alignment machine to read what the angles are.
What we mean by eyeball is to just make the face of the tire as straight vertically as possible(camber) and adjust the tie rod ends to make the tires point in the same direction (toe). But honestly I would just save myself the time and drive it to the shop as is.
05-13-19, 05:19 PM
