After finishing replacing the rear pillow bearings, dropping my front subframe, and replacing both tie rods, my car is heading to the alignment rack sometime this week. Still being new to the FDs I was wondering if everyone runs stock alignment specs or if there's a common setting the people like. I plan to keep it on the street and don't have any plans to track the car. Do people like a little more camber in the front for the corners?

Thanks

 

Try the Pettit Long Track specs:
http://www.jimagu.com/tinou/pettit_alignment.jpg

 

If it is street driven stick with close to stock specs if not completely stock.

I've run anywhere from -1.1 to -2.2 camber since I auto-x a lot. It makes the car dartier on the street and isn't worth the improved grip for street only use.

 

Running more negative camber than stock settings will wear your tires faster too.

 

Thanks guys. It will give me a good starting point to pay with.

 

Those are'nt stock are they?

 

Nope.

 

How aggresive are the petit stats? Im sorry I cant read alignment specs. Are they to aggresive for a daily driver or a weekend driver?

 

IMO, the long track settings aren't too aggressive for the street. They seem to be a very good compromise for street/track.

 

all those hours playing gran turismo 3 finally pay off!

 

I saw a huge difference in the front and rear camber between the 16" vs. 17" wheel... what if you drive 17" wheels on the street, but use the stock 16" wheels when you Autox or HPDE?

Would you go for some camber that is somewhere "between" the two or just opt for the 17" or 16"?

Do those numbers hold true even if you have lowered your car 1" or so?

 

I use the pettit long track settings. They are nice for the track. The only complaint that I have on the street is that the car is super dartly. You really have to pay attention on the freeway and the car wants to follow any little rut.

 

I do that right now. I'm set for the 16" setting for the track (using stock rims + Victoracers) but run 17" on the street (and my car is lowered):



You'll probably get a little odd wear on your street tires, but I'm sure others could provide more information on it. For me right now, it's more important to have a correct track alignment than the street (as currently that's about all my car is used for).

 

What's the use in having great looking street wheels if you don't get to wear them much?

 

Wow -- and THAT is really lowered!!

Thanks for the input!

 

What is the stock street setting for the alignment? My car must be set for the track or something my car is really darty. On a nice smooth road no problems straight as an arrow. On a road with any tire ruts in it if you let go of the steering wheel even slightly it is gone.

 

Not much. But they look great in the garage!

My plan is to have a "driveable" car this year so it will spend more time on the road than the jackstands. At least that's the plan.

Heck, what else could break this coming year?

 

Here's a table that you might find helpful. It shows a comparison of the factory alignment settings for the different model years of the FD along with Pettit's recommendations, and finally the settings I used for my own daily driver.

I did not to use the high negative camber settings due to tire wear considerations. But since I wanted less understeer I settled on a little more camber for the front and a little less on the rear; compared to OEM values.

My car is a '95 PEP that has been lowered about 1" in the front and 1-1/2" in the rear for a level stance, is still using stock wheels and roll bars, and has Bridgestone’s 225/50-16 RE730 tires all around @ 32PSI. I have added a shock-tower brace, adjustable shocks, Pettit’s toe-links, and I rotate the tires every 5K mikes. I've logged the last 24K miles (out of a total 94K) in this configuration.

With the indicated settings turn in became vary quick, cornering is more neutral than factory with greater adhesion, there is some minor darting behavior on heavily grooved roads, and I experience much better tire wear patterns.

 

You know, I tell myself that all the time and there really is always something else ready to break

 

The last time I checked my alignment specs for caster on my front wheels I had like -4.0 to -5.0. Is there a camber kit or anything to make caster positive enough to match those specs?

 

What pettit is trying to say by those caster specs is just make caster as positive as possible. On my stock ride height FD I could get around 4.5

 

On my lowered FD, I can easily get over 7.5 deg caster and the shop had to dial it back to approximately 6 deg caster.

Also, the Pettit Long Track settings are great for all around use (in the 16" size anyway). I have been running the 16" Long Track and modified 18" specs (more camber than Pettit suggests) for 1.5 years with zero abnormal wear on the tires. In fact, the tires wear very even at the track as well.

 

[QUOTE=Mahjik]I do that right now. I'm set for the 16" setting for the track (using stock rims + Victoracers) but run 17" on the street (and my car is lowered):



I have those same rims, my compliments to the chef.

 

I tried the 18" street setting that Pettit had on their site. My car was very loose feeling on the street. When I got on the gas it felt like I was driving on my M/T streets set at 8psi. I quickly took it back to my shop and had them set it to stock specs. Do not use the 18" street specs.