Rep Power: 295

Hey all you racers,

I am looking for information such as how much camber, toe in, and etc. I should set when I take my car in for alignment and corner balancing.

I'll be installing my JIC FLT-A2 this weekend and hopefully get it aligned sometime next week.

I am a big time canyon runner and I also do Road Racing(Streets of Willow, Buttonwillow speedway). So i'm sure the settings will be different from AutoX, since I would be taking turns at a much faster speed but at as dramatic of a turn as in AutoX.

I know ZZyzx and BoilerMaker1 are autoX racers but I would still appreciate solid information from you guys and everyone else.

For you guys with coilovers, did you do a corner balance(weighing). My fast(20 days of track) friend said if I don't do corner balancing, i won't be using the full potential of my coilovers.

If not, I can just take it into a race shop and have they do all the settings after I tell them what I'm looking for.


Thanks

 
Rep Power: 380

We can give you some Idea, but ultimatly testing and tuning will be your best bet.

Camber: for autocross, i konw of some people runing -2 deg camber on the nose. For street/road course use thats a bit excessive. I'd start around -1 and adjust from there. a tire Pyrometer would help greatly there, you would be able to adjust the camber so that the tire temp is close to being even across the contact patch of the tire. Note that the front will have more -camber then the rear.

Toe: this is kind of a personal prefrence. some people run 0 toe all the way around, some run a little toe out on the nose some a little toe out on the rear. some have a bit of toe out all the way around. Toe out on the nose will help initiate a turn, to out on the rear will help bring the rear end around in a turn. adjust accordingly.

Caster: keep it close to stock.


as far as corner weighting, I dont think there are many people on this board that even know what that is.......... when you do that, remember to have the car set up as you would have it when you're racing. with YOU in the car, or weighted in the driver seat symulating you. also, corner weighting with ride hight can only do so much for balance. you might think of moving heavy things like the battery to the trunk.



oh Ya, excessive toe (In or out) will wear out a tire MUCH quicker then excessive camber. Just ask the NSX people about how fast those things eat rear tires...... (has a bit of Toe in on the back to help stabilize it in the corners).

 
Rep Power: 419

You don't even need to mention caster 'cause it's not possible to adjust with our Civics. You'de need some serious suspension modifications to be able to adjust that.

As for corner weighting... I know what that is! I wish I had a scale to measure each corner of the car though. This issue is more complex though... Imagine the same weight on every corner, but distributed differently (according to height). You'de get a car that corners funny. Like... Say... On the driver's side the weight was centered around the lower 30% of the car. Then on the passenger's side the weight was centered around the upper 30% of the car. That would make the car more tipsy when turning right than left. Sucks huh? How the hell do you measure something like that!? You'de need a computer model. Too complex.

 
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i thought all you needed was an adjustable front upper mount to be able to adjust both caster and camber? i don't know if any company makes one though...