I've been reading an interresting series from sports compact car magazine as well. They have a handling guy who does a great job with the technical stuff.
I just purchased a Longacre digital camber/caster gauge and an A.R.T. "dream stick" for toe adjustment.I plan on doing my first alignment this weekend.Seems for the most part fairly straight foreward plus 90% of your chain shops do a half-a$$ed alignment anyway (just meeting the spec parameters).Its almost imposible to get a custom alignment with out paying big bucks everytime you change up your suspension.GrassrootsMotorsports magazine usually has soom good info too.What issuses of SCC have those articles?
oh my lord. when people are allowed to post this crap, it makes me cry. (not you DumDum, but this Jeff Butcher guy).
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I. Corner Entry
The corner entry is the area where the driver lifts and begins braking. Maximum braking pressures usually occur at the end of this area. Steering input is just beginning.
ye- no.. absolutely not.
and things like
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camber settings set to extremes can reduce the braking ability of the car.
try any camber adjustment effects the braking ability of the car.
this made me laugh
i dont know about you guys, but that looks like 2 turns... not 4. not to mention, in most cases, your hard on the go peddle AT the apex. if you can be full throttle AT the apex, your carrying good speed. ideal is get the car pointed before the apex so you can start squeezing on power before the apex.
in other words, i disagree with mr Jeff Butcher.
THIS is a corner brake down
note where acceleration starts.
If you want to know a lot of good info on suspension and vehicle dynamics
The chassis dynamics section has a lot of information that is rather subjective, like the driver crew chief communication shit. The brake down of the corner is mostly bogus. The adjustment tips are also subjective, and have a lot to do with the specific car your using. Then there is the little contradictions section. From my experience, a car pushes (under steers) when there is a loss of traction on the front tires. In other words, less to do with the setup, more to do with how your entering the corner.
Regardless of this info. If your not competing in a race, on a track, what use are any of the setup tips? The last thing you want to do on a street car is adjust camber/caster/toe. A race track is a very specific set of circumstances. You have this many left and turns and this many right hand turns. There is this much elevation change. The ambient air is X degrees and the track temp is Y degrees. On the street you can experience a wild verity of conditions in a very short amount of time. Most cars suspension is setup from the factory to provide the most balance and grip in all conditions.
I don't really compete but it doesn't mean i should suffer with the crappy factory alignment specs or the lousy job most alignment shops do.I understand what your saying where the information from Longacre is more track car oriented.The Whiteline stuff is more general "sport" oriented and some what WRX specific.I would like alittle more performance out of my suspension for some twisty road fun and the stock spec just plain suck.I think this info is relevent to any person that modifies their suspension.What the use of upgrading wheels,tires,swaybars,coilovers...if you just are going to run stock specs.1 degree camber all around and zero toe would be a much better all around setting and if people new more when going into getting a good alignment for their daily driver they would be much happier with those results than some of the suspension pieces that they are putting on thier car.Why even buy a WRX then?
I disagree. Rear sway and tires is the only “suspension” mods i will do until my car has at least 300WHP. You make it sound like the WRX suspension is junk. My car is 100% stock and i go whip the wheel around twisties all the time. Most alignment shops don't do crappy work, or they wouldn't be in business. You wouldn't get very far in life screwing up peoples suspension for a living would you?
What leads you to believe the factory alignment specs are crap?
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1 degree camber all around and zero toe would be a much better all around setting
why would you want any positive camber? The factory specs probably have more then 1 degree of negative camber anyway. Toe makes a car more stable at high speeds. So ill keep mine. Camber reduces straight line braking and acceleration and promoted uneven tire wear.
Quote:
I understand what your saying where the information from Longacre is more track car oriented.
no, what im saying is there are lots of holes in this shit and i wouldn't believe a damn word of it. Any yahoo can post what ever he damn well pleases on the internet and say its whatever he wants.
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Why even buy a WRX then?
because it has a 5 star safety rating. Its AWD, it handles well, it looks ####in bad ass, it makes 227HP and only cost me $19K. Thats why.
I disagree. Rear sway and tires is the only “suspension” mods i will do until my car has at least 300WHP. You make it sound like the WRX suspension is junk. My car is 100% stock and i go whip the wheel around twisties all the time. Most alignment shops don't do crappy work, or they wouldn't be in business. You wouldn't get very far in life screwing up peoples suspension for a living would you?
What leads you to believe the factory alignment specs are crap?
why would you want any positive camber? The factory specs probably have more then 1 degree of negative camber anyway. Toe makes a car more stable at high speeds. So ill keep mine. Camber reduces straight line braking and acceleration and promoted uneven tire wear.
no, what im saying is there are lots of holes in this shit and i wouldn't believe a damn word of it. Any yahoo can post what ever he damn well pleases on the internet and say its whatever he wants.
because it has a 5 star safety rating. Its AWD, it handles well, it looks ####in bad ass, it makes 227HP and only cost me $19K. Thats why.
I meant -1 degree camber all around.Toe is what causes most premature wear on tires,not camber.I'm not saying the factory suspension is junk,just the alignment specifications.0-0.5 camber up front and between -1.2 to -1.6 (factory non adjustable) in the rear.Have you looked at the factory specs?And your right its not that the shop is giving you a crappy alignment,they are just following factory specs even if that means you get totally different #'s for camber and toe on the RF and LF tires because they fall inside of the factory specs.
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