I have searched and read several posts regarding alignment (including Howard's). So many suggestions and slight variations. I feel like my head is going to explode!

My car is not a track car and in reality is a garage queen but I still want the best for my baby. Having said that when I take it in for an alignment I want to be very clear with the instructions. Would this be the ideal setup for a FD doing street duty?

Toe in front between a 1/16 and 1/8th inch
Toe in rear zero
Camber front and rear 1.2 degrees negative
Caster equal minimal
Zero rear thrust angle.

Is there anything else you would recommend I tell them?

Thanks guys

 

Subscribed. Great question. I have to do this very soon as well. I hear Firestone is good. Where are you goin?

 

=O -backs away slowly- this is so far above my head, I gotta see where this goes.

 

its not a n00b question, i think most people don't have a good idea of what the different alignment angles really do, AND it does vary with the chassis/suspension design too. for example an FC is different than the FD, and the honda we go racing with is again different.

so brief cliff notes.

in the rear, zero thrust angle, this one basically is just the direction the rear wheels point, you can have them parallel to each other, but they should be parallel to the car as well.

rear toe. in the FC zero toe is a tradeoff between stability and turn in response, i assume the FD is the same although the measurement numbers might be different. toe out in the rear will be unstable, so its very rarely done. toe in adds stability. if its a race car zero toe is great, on the street a little rear toe really helps when you can't be on the gas in a turn to plant the rear. i would do about 1/16" toe in in the rear, or about half mazda's spec.

camber. basically a tire has maximum traction in a turn when its a little more than perpendicular to the ground. how much depends on the tire, and how hard you are driving. when we race we set it with tire temperature, on the street it just depends on how you drive. if its a DD something like -.5 to -1 is fine, if its a weekend toy maybe -1 to -1.5 is better. so -1.2 is fine. all new cars run more camber in the rear than the front, because they want it to understeer, most racers run more in the front than the rear, because they want more total traction. so just be aware that going to an even setting is going to add traction in the front.

castor is like a shopping cart wheel, or a bicycle. in a car its pretty subtle. the more you have the more the wheel will self center, and the higher the steering effort, like a BMW, so its good for top speed runs. reducing it a little might make it turn in a little better, its pretty subtle though, and in the FD its related to camber, so you might have to just settle for making it even.

front toe: acts like the rear toe, only in the FC/FD/Rx8 its not a big effect. it seems to effect steering feel more than anything else, and that is best @zero. if you're doing top speed runs, a little toe in might be good, 1/16"

so enjoy, a good more performance oriented alignment transforms the car!

more reading is here http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets22.html

 

Thank you j9fd3s for the informative post.

It's bad enough I've gotta worry about bumpsteer with my lowered steering rack in my FD...but somehow I'd completely brainfarted on the significance of getting every re-aligned once my car is up and running again.

Thank you for that.

:]

 

ive been searching the forums for alignment info for my fd and this was the only one i found with the exact info i was looking for. thanks!

 

Glad i saw this. My fc is getting an alignment next week and i was just looking around for some info like this

 

Hey I do alignments. You want positive front toe. Negitive rear toe and slightly negitive camber due to indepent suspension and caster depends on power or non power steering. I can elaborate on this but just have them adjust to spec. If you go making your own your car will not be so swell

 

For FDs, I have always based mine on Pettits but with more negative camber on the rear -1.1 to -1.2,
go to middle of page; General Information | Pettit Racing.

With a lowered FD, it is hard to impossible to get low negative camber on the rear without special mods.

 

Do fds have to lower strut bolts?