Had an alignment done - MUCH better now!
06-24-2009, 02:37 PM
#1
Nordschleife Master
Thread Starter
Had an alignment done - MUCH better now!
A little background: just bought the car. PO had it set up for track use with a pretty aggressive alignment on a Bilstein Cup kit. Car felt tight, but nervous unless I really pushed it. As I plan to drive it more as a weekend fun street car (with 1-2 autocrosses a month) I figured I should get it realigned.
Had the alignment done this morning. Car is MUCH MUCH better. I ran it over to Fischer Motors in Barrington, IL to have it done. First time dealing with them, they were great. Friendly, knowledgeable, kinda pricey, but also has a nice waiting area with tons of cool cars about to look at.
I probably could've had the same thing done at Goodyear for half the price, but they would've just put it "in spec" and that would be that. I don't mind supporting a local P-car specialist shop.
Took 'em about 2 hours, but the car feels a ton better now. Much more stable feeling. Unfortunately I didn't really get the chance to hustle it around on the way back - luck had it that I was stuck behind an SUV or Minivan with each corner.
The alignment I got the car with was apparently way off. Rick @ Fischer told me, "This thing probably handled like dog ****, eh?" There was over a degree of difference between the L and R rear camber (-1.3 left, -2.4 right), the rear toe was screwy (L was -.41, R was +.15). Funny, I thought it handled nervously, but I never would have used "dog ****" until after driving it with the new alignment. Scan of the alignment sheet is below. I told them to give me something that'll work for street use with occasional autocross. Below is the scan of the before/after (and I believe the "specified range" column is the factory alignment spec, which I was looking for yesterday and couldn't find...)
Had the alignment done this morning. Car is MUCH MUCH better. I ran it over to Fischer Motors in Barrington, IL to have it done. First time dealing with them, they were great. Friendly, knowledgeable, kinda pricey, but also has a nice waiting area with tons of cool cars about to look at.
I probably could've had the same thing done at Goodyear for half the price, but they would've just put it "in spec" and that would be that. I don't mind supporting a local P-car specialist shop.Took 'em about 2 hours, but the car feels a ton better now. Much more stable feeling. Unfortunately I didn't really get the chance to hustle it around on the way back - luck had it that I was stuck behind an SUV or Minivan with each corner.
The alignment I got the car with was apparently way off. Rick @ Fischer told me, "This thing probably handled like dog ****, eh?" There was over a degree of difference between the L and R rear camber (-1.3 left, -2.4 right), the rear toe was screwy (L was -.41, R was +.15). Funny, I thought it handled nervously, but I never would have used "dog ****" until after driving it with the new alignment. Scan of the alignment sheet is below. I told them to give me something that'll work for street use with occasional autocross. Below is the scan of the before/after (and I believe the "specified range" column is the factory alignment spec, which I was looking for yesterday and couldn't find...)
06-24-2009, 11:30 PM
#4
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06-25-2009, 07:19 PM
#7
Burning Brakes
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Yup, that's a Hunter print out. Getting the rears dead nuts takes either good luck or many tries, but there they are...sweeet.
I'm more familiar early offset non-Turbo set ups, so excuse my lack of info here, but it's really hard to get much more than ~ -1.75 in the front with stock struts on early offset cars. My early offset NA racer twitches, wanders and bump steers at - 1.75 (and an extra 1/2 inch of front track) at low speeds but steadies up and turns in sweetly at full chat. There's - 3 on Omni's sled! Upper camber kit or Bilsteins needed to allow this? In any case, this sorta explains Omni's nervous feel...that's certainly one way to explain it
Again, chime in if I'm full of it, but I think the "can't get enough camber" for track cars is certainly true, but more because of the rubber than the chassis. R compounds love camber as the mantra goes but that may be more true of DOT radials than other tires. I know some 914-6 guys who started going faster with cantilevered bias slicks by taking camber out.
I'm more familiar early offset non-Turbo set ups, so excuse my lack of info here, but it's really hard to get much more than ~ -1.75 in the front with stock struts on early offset cars. My early offset NA racer twitches, wanders and bump steers at - 1.75 (and an extra 1/2 inch of front track) at low speeds but steadies up and turns in sweetly at full chat. There's - 3 on Omni's sled! Upper camber kit or Bilsteins needed to allow this? In any case, this sorta explains Omni's nervous feel...that's certainly one way to explain it
Again, chime in if I'm full of it, but I think the "can't get enough camber" for track cars is certainly true, but more because of the rubber than the chassis. R compounds love camber as the mantra goes but that may be more true of DOT radials than other tires. I know some 914-6 guys who started going faster with cantilevered bias slicks by taking camber out.
