Alignment settings and preferences

[Sibbers]

Hey,

Just thought I'd see if my experience was something others agreed with or had opinions on.

When I got my car I did some reactive and some pre-emptive work to wear and tear parts, stuff like suspension and ball joints etc, and then following this I tried out the alignment settings they recommended, which were essentially the 'safe settings' they offer which meant toe in on the front wheels. Following this and some other pre-emptive updates (more ball joints) I decided to try the cup extreme settings, and then finally I decided on zero toe after doing the track rods and ends.

1. Toe in
   • Felt good, nice and stable, handled pretty well but felt like it wasn't optimal for handling
2. Toe out (extreme cup)
   • Felt a bit nervous, although in a good way - followed the contours on the road and meant I needed both hands on the wheel a lot of the time. Not my favourite.
3. Zero toe
   • This is my current setting and my favourite, just seems to go wherever you point it and felt like an excellent compromise. Handles brilliantly and although it can follow the road a little bit, it just seems like this is how a car should be.

Nothing done to the rear (not adjustable with my OEM gear).

Given the differences are so small, I wondered if anyone else had tried a few different settings and noticed a difference, or if others though it was more placebo than real. I don't think this, but wanted to hear what you all thought.

 

[RSRowe]

I've tried a couple of different settings on mine and settled with 20 minutes toe out on my current setup.
I set it to 40 minutes toe out before I went to Nürburgring, but it felt a little uneasy on the road

If I ever end up getting coilovers, I'll be setting the geo as per the cup car guide.
I guess, the geo very much depends on what the cars being used for really.

 

[lewishunter98]

I had adjustable top mounts on for a little while,

with 0.8 toe out and 2.0 negative camber it handled amazingly. The turn in was so sharp but it also felt so controlled and not twitchy at all. Didn't really follow the road too much either surprisingly. I'd love to go back to this setup but had to ditch the top mounts as it just didn't work out for me and they broke very quickly

 

[Sibbers]

Yeah I do loads of m'way miles and so tram-lining was a thing and tyre wear was always in my head so toe out bugged me, but I may have under-sold it as on the twisties and navigating through the roundabouts of Berkshire it really was good. It's just that I really don't feel like I've lost anything with zero toe except the wandering side effect. Always hard to tell when other things have changed a bit, because even if they're aren't obviously worn, new is... well, new.

Have been really happy with the setup since and the car is ace on the brakes in corners.

 

[Bryanclio200]

Yeah I do loads of m'way miles and so tram-lining was a thing and tyre wear was always in my head so toe out bugged me, but I may have under-sold it as on the twisties and navigating through the roundabouts of Berkshire it really was good. It's just that I really don't feel like I've lost anything with zero toe except the wandering side effect. Always hard to tell when other things have changed a bit, because even if they're aren't obviously worn, new is... well, new.

Have been really happy with the setup since and the car is ace on the brakes in corners.

Is this on a stock car? I have stock cup dampers with eibach lowering spring, stock top mounts, and I'm wondering what are the alignment adjustments that I can do at the moment?

Thanks!!

 

[Sibbers]

Yep, mine was all stock. Cup shocks and early 200 top mounts. Everything suspension wise totally new. Since then I changed the front arm front bush to a black powerflex type and I'd say the results are pretty much the same. Would go for extreme if I did a shorter commute, but it's still exceptional and handles like it has no right to.

The only thing you can adjust with stock gear is the front toe.

 

[bedoef]

Anyone have a good reference for converting from minutes to fractions when setting toe?

I've got coilovers, and am about to refresh the front end, so I have to do alignment once that is all done. Car has about -1.5 degrees of camber up front, and based on this thread I am thinking to go with 0 toe, or a little toe out for responsiveness.

 

[Bryanclio200]

How do you adjust the front toe?

 

[kipperfeet]

How do you adjust the front toe?

its just your tracking.

 

[kipperfeet]

Yep, mine was all stock. Cup shocks and early 200 top mounts. Everything suspension wise totally new. Since then I changed the front arm front bush to a black powerflex type and I'd say the results are pretty much the same. Would go for extreme if I did a shorter commute, but it's still exceptional and handles like it has no right to.

The only thing you can adjust with stock gear is the front toe.

hi Sibbers. Bit of an update i have replaced the pass side inner tie rod and the bush that sits at the end of the steering rack. i then took it to qwikfit to get tracked. i told them what ive done to it and asked them to check if there was any play in steering rack before doing it. he said it was ok. anyway here are the results. what does everybody think about the readings.
cant work out why left front camber is -1.26 and is this anything to worry about. any feedback greatly appreciated.

 

[kipperfeet]

Yep, mine was all stock. Cup shocks and early 200 top mounts. Everything suspension wise totally new. Since then I changed the front arm front bush to a black powerflex type and I'd say the results are pretty much the same. Would go for extreme if I did a shorter commute, but it's still exceptional and handles like it has no right to.

The only thing you can adjust with stock gear is the front toe.

the powerflex front arm bushes are exactly the same i ordered both sets road and track and they are exactly the same.

 

[Sibbers]

Personally, I'm not too worried about the non-adjustables. The differences are fairly minor and come from the sitting position, bush wear etc. Even with new bits (standard top mounts, bushes and ball joints etc) these are tolerable values that you probably wouldn't notice very easily when driving in all honesty. Even the differences in toe are pretty subtle.

The things that could contribute to your negative camber on the passenger side are likely to be wear to top mount on that side from going round roundabouts etc - I don't think there's much lower down the suspension that you haven't renewed.