Alignment opinions

[marco_mc22]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I need to learn this skill!

It’s not as hard as you may think but you need at least a lift or you’ll get crazy, even with it the procedure is very time consuming but the results aren’t far from a laser bench.

[Jajanken86]

Found a potential contributing factor to why the rear camber difference. The driver rear spring has a 3 finger gap between the end of the spring and the spring seat stopper, and the passenger side isn't installed the way the manual says the orientation should be. Although I don't understand why the orientation matters.

[marco_mc22]

That difference is a bit more than normal in my opinion, have you measured your rear ride height left and right? Ride height must be measured with tank filled, spare and all the tools in and if you’ll find out major differences it could be a sign of wrong installation.
Of course since those are fixed perch shocks you have to expect a few mm’s difference left and right but no more than that.

On mine I fixed the uneven camber shifting the subframe as the oem rear driver side bushing hole is lobed and plus the clearance of the other bolts this allows you to Center everything; that said I was starting with a small difference and I ended up with something like -2.1 right and -2 left. Previously I had tried loosing and retighten rear LCA’s once the car was on the ground without major differences.

Also, that difference in caster is normal, nothing to worry about and you can only fix that using offset bushings or camber plates turned.
-2.5 on the front is hard to achieve with bolts, you probably need to slot your strut even with 2 sets of camber bolts.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by Jajanken86

Found a potential contributing factor to why the rear camber difference. The driver rear spring has a 3 finger gap between the end of the spring and the spring seat stopper, and the passenger side isn't installed the way the manual says the orientation should be. Although I don't understand why the orientation matters.

The spring seat isn't flat, the spring that isn't too into the pocket is going to sit higher then the other, that is likely the side with less camber.

[Jajanken86]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Call Trackside Motorsports. Garth and crew are worth every penny for the special touch. I am notoriously distrustful of "professionals." He's willing to put up with my annoying questions, and I am thrilled to pay him generously for his time.


He's absolutely one of the rare good guys out there.

Went to them to redo the alignment and reinstall the driver rear spring. Things look much better now. What ended up happening after they aligned it was that the steering wheel needed to stay to the left to keep straight on the freeway. So I took it back to them within about 20 mins and they said the suspension settled again and the alignment shifted. So they just adjusted the toe once again.

[Jajanken86]

Here is their second alignment. The steering is ever so slightly to the left still, but a lot better than before. Does driver weight affect alignment? Camber gain at all, or something else? I'm about 200 lbs

[Ultramaroon]

I have no idea! Are your tire pressures even? It's pretty damn close to spot on. I've never had to ask him to drive it but if you can still feel it pulling, he should too.

[Jajanken86]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I have no idea! Are your tire pressures even? It's pretty damn close to spot on.

Yeah just double checked. Tires are good all at 35.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Jajanken86

Yeah just double checked. Tires are good all at 35.

I edited like three times. I'm all embarrassed.


I've had him do four of my family's cars! All perfect.

[strat61caster]

Weight isn't a big deal, less then a tenth of a degree difference in camber and not noticable in toe at all unless you're at extreme heights.

Roads aren't flat, they're crowned to allow water to run off, if the car is perfectly straight on an alignment rack holding the wheel a degree or two to the left to counteract the crown of the road makes sense.

Glad your car got sorted

[Jajanken86]

He did say they tried to max out front camber and it'll tramline more which I'm ok with. I'll try and find a smooth straight highway to make sure it's not just me and it's not the tramlining. But I guess, hopefully it is lol then things would be all good.

[Decep]

If they can't get the steering wheel straight i'd go to a different shop. I had a shop that i had to go back 3 times before i gave up with them.

[x808drifter]

Caster is off by half a degree L/R.
Not sure if that matters.

[Jajanken86]

Originally Posted by x808drifter

Caster is off by half a degree L/R.
Not sure if that matters.

They mentioned not to mind the final caster values. They check it in the beginning of the alignment and as they adjust other things and move the steering wheel, the machine thinks caster is being adjusted but it isn't. So the only relevant caster values is the initial.