CGaud

I'm lost when it comes to this alignment stuff so maybe you guys have just a quick suggestion or two about the subject. I'm looking to to semi spirited driving in the canyons with my DD and want to have a little better handling without sacrificing too much tire life. A happy medium will do for me.

My setup is as follows.

Buddy Club N+ adjustable coilovers (maxed in front) roughly a finger all around
05-06 RSX Base wheels (16x6.5) would have to check offset
stock sized rubber? Maybe 205/55...
Front and Rear Ingalls Camber kit
Neuspeed Rear Lower Anti Sway Bar & Brace
Neuspeed Front Tower Brace
Buddy Club P1 Extended Ball Joints

Getting mine realigned tomorrow and hope to try a more aggressive setup for some summer time fun and want to know what u had luck with

I got the following from the performance alignment thread:

"you can improve the cars handling substantually with a camber kit front and rear + a the proper alignment.Sart out with around -1 to -1.5 on the nose and run about .5 to -.75 on the rear,*then start to mess with toe... if you dont mind eating a bit in to tire life."

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

-1.5 front/-0.5 rear, maybe slightly toe-in front

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

or -2.0 front

CGaud

I'll give it a shot at -1.5F/-0.5R just to test the waters. I appreciate your input!
Unfortunately my alignment will have to wait until later in the due to some unexpected problems with my right front caliper.

Any others care to weigh in?

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

Do you want it to oversteer or be more neutral?

More camber in the front and less in the rear will make it oversteer more. Also since you have adjustable dampers if you run full hard setting in the rear and softer in the front it will cause it to oversteer more when coming into a corner. The front will dive a little and the rear will break loose. You can play with the settings until you get it balanced how you like.

Also another thing is tire pressure. I run a higher tire pressure in my rear tires (6-8lbs more) to help them brake loose a little when cornering. Play around with those untill it feels how you want it.

CGaud

good advice. I've kept it stiffer in the rear but I don't think I've never run much neg camber in the front. Previously I just told the guy at Firestone to give me a more sporty set up and I went off what he did. I'll have to did up the print out he gave me at that time.

My coils are pretty stiff as it is since they came off of an RSX and have a higher spring rate on them... they leave a lot to be desired in the way of comfort. Going from stock ride height to lowered made a huge difference in my handling and I've just been looking for a good starting point to make the most of my set up. I think you've given me good advice and I probably just need to try something out and see how I like it for my particular style of driving.

CGaud

Tried twice to get my alignment done at Firestone...

First time the tech said he was unable to adjust my front right wheel although I informed him that I had adjustable front camber bolts.

Second time they had me make an appointment with a more experienced tech. I requested what you suggested but the manager on duty said their "machine" was highly advanced and can only bring it into factory specs.

This is the result of the second attempt


Rear tire definitely rubs if I take too much of an angle in dips or take a really sudden drop. I def could use some more negative camber!

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

I thought the machine just measured and the tech adjusted it?

Well more negative rear camber would still be in spec so they should be able to do that.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

?!?
did they know they need to move the tab to one direction and then rotate the bolt?

CGaud

The first time they claimed I had bolts but not adjustable ones (wrong!).

The second time the manager said they "couldn't" adjust the alignment to my specs because the machine automatically brings it to factory. They did have a tech that was able to adjust the camber bolts and bring it within range though.

I wanted to try -1.5 camber in the front. They did give me about -1.0 camber in the rear and I was only looking for -0.5. Sick of going to get my car aligned I may just stick with this for now. Firestone's lifetime alignment is almost too much of a hastle to be a benefit. Sometimes they want to try and charge me extra because I have aftermarket camber arms! Every time it's a different story with them.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

i have lifetime with firestone and i go in every 5k to check my alignment.


the thing with firestone is that they will ONLY align to oem spec 99%. they will tell you they'll try to align it to "your" spec but only if's within oem spec. is it written in their policy because they do not want to be liable on the way your car drives (if it start driving funky) and they especially dont want to be liable with you have uneven wear and tear on your tires.

also, they WILL NOT adjust your aftermarket front camber bolts. that will require them to take off your wheel, do increments of adjustment, reinstall your wheel, drive it around to settle the suspension, then re-setup the alignment gauge on your tire, check the alignment and then do it all over until the desired camber is acquired. they simply wont do it. especially when they are only required to do alignment to oem spec, and all the oem alignment adjustments are easily accessible.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

now, there are tons of ways around this.

first, you can be a make friends with the alignment tech. ive made a few friends with them (thru various sweet talking and buying them starbucks). when you have a tech and your friend, they will pretty much set your alignment to whatever you want because now you are their friend and they know you will not sue them or dine them out if something goes haywire (like wearing your tires out too fast/unevenly from neg camber).

remember that there are people out there who sue for everything and **** it up for the rest of us.


now, if you dont possess the communication/persuasion abilities that some have, here is what you do.

1.low your car and zero out the camber as best as possible. make sure they are even on all sides.

your front camber bolts have a range of adjustments. most from -3 to +3 degrees. it is about a 180degree turn of the bolt. set both bolts at the same position. mark them on the strut.

2. do the same for your rear.

3. once your car settles, look at your wheels. you should be able to tell if they are evenly cambered.

4. get an alignment and tell them to zero everything in. this means they will give you 0 camber all around. most techs will do this easily because its within spec. be nice when you ask them.

5. go home and take off your wheels and adjust your camber yourself. if i remember correctly, every 1/4 turn of the front camber bolt is about a 1.5degree angle.

and as for the rear, every half turn (at least for my ingalls) is about 1degree.

6. drive around and let your suspension settle. next week go in there and just ask them to do an alignment spec check. tell them do NOT adjust your camber/alignment.

and there you go. i use to run a -2F and -.5R when i was a super ricer and wanted to take every corner like i was driving a real sports car.

now, i just run -1F and 0R just to balance my car a bit more. you wont really feel the difference unless youre really pushing your car hard. but at that point, i hope you have some good *** tires because an aggressive alignment is worthless without good tires.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

btw, just a fun fact, you can run up to -3 degree camber without affecting youre tire wear dramatically.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

^ that's one way - zero and then go from there.
I was lucky, the tech on the one i go to already knew me from years and he also knew i do run autoX (from the SCCA stickers) so he simply did the -1.5 F/-0.5R for me.
unfortunately depends a lot on the techs at that store... I had mine done on a firestone master care.

CGaud

UPDATE: Just thought I'd update you guys on everything. I decided to run with the specs I posted in the pic above. Took it up the canyon yesterday and it handled extremely well I'm pleased with the current settings except that I found out that I may be too low in the rear (it's aligned well but I can't keep the tire from rubbing on the rear bumper screw tap on larger dips and road drops)

I have adjustable coils so raising it won't be a problem but I would need to get it realigned after it settles and I kind like the way it sits (roughly a finger gap...maybe less). I adjusted the dampening to ride a little stiffer but it still rubs on the tab (I also trimmed some of the bumper with a razor to prevent rubbing on that bc I noticed some had already been worn off)

Do any of you have suggestions on what I can do to prevent my tires from being eaten? I can post pics if u like.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

A lower profile tire may help, or slightly more negative camber in the rear. I don't think you would notice a .1-.2 degree change in camber as far as handling.

I'm running -.75 in rear with a snug finger gap and don't rub but I have a 205/50r16 tire. My spring rate is about 515.

CGaud

Ok. I may be a tad lower than one finger gap now that I checked it again. I'm not sure on my spring rate for RSX Buddy Club N+ and my tires are 205/55. My rear camber is around .9 and .8 so perhaps if I moved it up a bit I will see significantly less rubbing on the screws.

I took my buddies around yesterday and the rubbing was awful and it would rub on high speed cornering and larger driveway entrances ... The tires I have on should be my winter tires once I get my new set of wheels in. I may try a 50 series once my current ones are toast but they have 75% of tread still remaining. I'm going to raise it up later this week and see how it goes.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

Remember lowering Any more than 1 to 2 inches is too much. You actually degrade your handling Due to the fact that you change your suspension geometry too much.

CGaud

I don't have a clue as to how much of a drop my car has but I do remember how it had a monster truck sized gap between the tires and fenders.