I just took my FD to the alignment shop and, while the guys were very nice and helpful, they said they could not attain the camber/caster combination recommended on the Pettit website. Here's what Pettit recommends for autox:

Front:
Caster +6
Camber -1.8
Toe 1/16" out

Rear:
Camber -1.5
Toe 0

Now, the rear was no problem. But in the front they said they could not achieve that camber and caster at the same time. In fact I ended up with an average of -1.3 camber and about 3.3 caster, which is below minimum spec. My suspension and wheels are both stock.

They also strongly disagreed with Pettit's recommended toe and convinced me to leave front AND rear at 0.

Are these guys smoking crack?

From what I'm reading online and here in the forums, others aren't having problems achieving these settings.

FYI, the car is used for nothing but autox (not street driven) so tire wear is not a concern.

Any help would be appreciated.

Derric Tubbs
Red 1993 RX-7, Touring Edition

 

They're smoking crack.

When i originally did my suspension, i WAY over lowered it by using Eibach pro kits on the lowest koni perch. It was only about 2" off the ground... because i didn't want to redo it (lazy) right away i went ahead and had it aligned to the auto-x settings, and there was plenty of adjustment there.

I've since raised and re-aligned.

 

Are you having any suspension clunking or noise from up front? Possibly the lower control arm bushings are shot. My alignment shop wasn't able to get caster to 6 until I replaced the bushings on a control arm to fix suspension noise.

Never hurts to get a second opinion, also. Take it to another shop and see if they do any better.

I used the Pettit settings as well, although I decided to settle for around -1.2 camber to keep the tire wear down. Just a touch of toe, and my car performed well at auto-x.

 

Well that's real dissapointing because I was hoping I'd found a good shop to deal with. I guess the quest continues... on to another shop I will go.

Thanks for the replies.

Anyone in the Pensacola / Fort Walton Beach area know of a good shop for such adjustments?

 

BTW, I'm not having any clunking noises that I've noticed and I explicitly asked the tech if all was well with the suspension. He said it all looked great. The car has been pampered its entire life till I started autoxing it about a year ago. It has 62k on it right now. I'm afraid he just didn't know how to do it or something, which is a shame because he seemed real helpful.

Tubbs