I'm going in for an alignment (and new tires) on wednesday, and my buddy is doing it for me, so I can choose the angles. My car is lowered about 1/2" below stock, and has stock torsion bars and 200# coilovers on it, along with the yellow konis. For a mostly street driven car that will see a few autocrosses and hopefully a DE this year, what would you guys recommend for a set up front and rear? Thanks.

 

^bump^

 

Here's what I run and it works pretty well for a street/trackcar:
FRONT
camber = -2.75 degrees
toe-in = 1/16" total toe-in
caster = 3.5 degrees

REAR
camber = -2.50 degrees
toe-in = 1/32" total toe-in

This is for street driving. On the track, I use camber-plates to increase the camber setting in front to -3.75 degrees.

Ribs! Send me an email, I've got some more news on a question you asked me a while ago.

 

Thanks danno! I just shot you an e-mail. How long do your street tires last running that much camber?

 

3.5* caster? Wow, maybe that's why mine 'drifts' so much (wants to go downhill with the drainage slope of the road). I have 1.7* on the left and 2.5* on the right

also your figure for -2.75* camber seems really high, 'cuz the factory spec I was given was 0.5* camber. I also have -1.0* camber in the rear.

I'm not saying mine is perfect, but was wondering if I should get mine redone. Mine's 90% (uhh...'agressive') street and hopefully a few autox's.

 

It's actually the toe that determines inside/outside edge wear. That's why I have a little more toe-in in front to compensate for the extra camber. Just look at all the BMW 3/5-series running with -2 degrees camber in the rear; they don't have an issue with edge-wear because they have correct toe-in. Most manufacturers have minimal camber in front because it gives a better feel in the steering, but at the cost of maximum cornering traction.

 

I just got back from getting the alignment, getting new rear tires (kumho's), and getting my front tires reversed on the wheels and rotated. I can already tell that my car handles about 10 times better than it did before. I no longer have a caster adjustment because I put on the '83-'85 control arms, so it is fixed to whatever the factory thought was right for the early cars. The rear was aligned about 2 years ago and I never made any adjustments, and it seemed close enough to spec with -.8 deg. camber and .4 deg of tow-in on each side. The girl who was doing the alignment was willing to dial in whatever I told her to, but some guy came over and wouldn't let her dial in toe-in, but whatever...it was under the table and cost me $30.

Before:

LF RF
Camber -.9 -1.2
Tow 1.22 -.89

After:

LF RF
Camber -.1.3 -1.5
Tow .11 .11

Cross camber: .2
Total toe: .33

So that's that. I'm running an autocross on Saturday, and it will be the first autocross I have run with good shoes and a proper alignment.