innovator

What do you guys recommend for street/hiway alignment specs that will make the car more stabile and less floaty at 60-80 ? Right now I have it aligned to USA spec which is 0 camber in the front. I don't care about tire wear. Would euro spec be better. It's only -.5 camber in the front. Toe ? I can change it in minutes so I don't mind playing a little.

What say you?

Rick

avader906

0 camber is fine for straight line, you need to check toe in front and rear. spec toe-in in rear and if you want more stability small toe-in in front. ultimately you would want max caster as well.

Kevinmacd

I don't seem to have the floaty effect at 60 to 80! So not sure what you are refering to!

Macster

Your experience differs from mine: I've been driving my Turbo with the USA alignment numbers and the car feels quite stable at 60-80mph and ahem higher speeds. I run N rated tires (currently Bridgestones) with over 23K miles and adhere to the factory recommended tire pressures, front and rear.

If you can change the alignnment in minutes try varying the alignment to find a particular set of settings you like. Change one thing at a time: front camber, front toe in, rear toe end, and caster.

However, caster is not adjustable unless you have aftermarket caster plates.

Actually, in some cases caster is adjustable to some extent by loosening the fasteners that hold the strut top secure and moving the strut top back (increases caster IIRC) or moving it forward. There's not much adjustment and if you are not careful you can mar the paint around the fasteners at the top of the struts. Be sure you keep the caster the same from side to side. Differences in caster can result in the car having a tendency to pull one direction or the other.

After doing the above you'll have to check the alignment because this 'adjustment' can affect not only caster but camber and possibly toe as well.

Sincerely,

Macster.

PorscheDoc

Camber is adjustable side to side at the top of the strut, not caster. There are no forward/aft slots at the top of the strut mount, but rather side to side slots for camber adjustment. If you drive the car spirited at all, I would put in a little camber, and possibly a very little toe for stability since you aren't too concerned about tire life. Toe eats tires up more than camber, but if you dial in too much camber, the car will be darty in a straight line. Just remember, if you adjust camber, it is going to affect your toe settings as well, so it is kind of hard to just make a "single" adjustment (IE, if you adjust your camber, you should tweak your toe as well).

Dock

I'd suggest X73 with the European alignment (or slightly more aggressive settings).

innovator

. My Hunter gives me euro specs too. I'll give it shot.

Macster

The caster adjustment comes from taking advantage of the fact the holes the studs from the strut fit through are larger in diameter than the strut studs and there's some forward/aft movement to be had.

One's not going to bump caster from 7.5 to 8.0 but if there's a small difference between the two sides the difference can be reduced possibly even eliminated by moving the strut tops forward or backwards to take advantage of the small amount of unintentional adjustment to bring the caster for both sides into agreement. The closer the better I've been told to avoid a tendency for differences in caster to cause the car to want to drift or pull to one side or the other.

I don't recall seeing any slots for camber adjustment at the top of the struts and I have no pics of this area exposed -- the strut nuts removed -- only pics of the strut in place and fastened down securely, held in place by in my car's case flanged nuts.

Sincerely,

Macster.

nick49

The floaty feeling you describe is more than likely the result of too little toe. Add a bit of toe in so that at speed it may gravitate to near zero. Dialing in more neg camber will improve cornering traction when driven aggressively. More caster will give high speed stability and slow turn in. Too little caster will make for quick steering and willingness to change directions at speed but may make the car feel darty and nervous as the speeds increase. I've aligned several cars in the driveway and don't pay a lot of attention to the factory specs other than for somewhat of a baseline. The factory specs will make the car handle reasonably well for all drivers under all conditions. Then after several miles I decide what I like and don't and make adjustments based on my knowledge of suspension. I have several years experience of fine tuning suspensions on roadracing motorcycles.

If you're at USA specs don't change more than one thing at a time, the drive and make an assesment.

PorscheDoc

I'm sorry, but there is ZERO caster only adjustment at the top of the strut. The 3 bolts barely fit through the sideways slotted holes in the body. There is no adjustment forward and aft, not even a little.