Alignment Specs Good Enough for DD?
 

Goal for now is sticking to DD mostly and hoping to get out and try some autocross soon within the next year. Can make suspension or alignment adjustments later if I need it. In the mean time, just got a call from the shop telling me what they dialed my alignment to.

Current suspension mods:
RCE Yellow Springs (with stock PP Sachs dampers)
Camber bolts up front
KCA326 camber bushings in rear

They peaked the front at -1.5 and got the rear down to -1.7 from -2.7.
0 toe up front and the usual 1/16th toe-in in the rear.

Was hoping to get more out of the front, but looks to be all I've got. Seems pretty good to me, especially for DD. Looking forward to getting a feel for this when I get around to autocross as well. Just wondering what some opinions are on the alignment? I'm used to knowing a little more camber up front than the rear on this car is the way to go to avoid understeer. Was trying to avoid camber plates up front as I thought I have read here that it can increase the roughness of the ride a decent bit or noise? Can't seem to find that information at the moment.

Single set of camberbolts won't net much more. Rear camber .. i guess you gained from lowering springs. They don't gain that much in front. Simplest/cheapest way for extra front camber, install camberbolt also in other front strut hole. For lower one - SPC 81305, for upper - whiteline KCA416. Together and with shorter springs .. i guess -2.5 total front camber. If you want even more then that, consider Pedders eccentric top mounts PED-580096 or Powerflex PFF69-801G eccentric front LCA rear bushings, for upto -3 together with two camberbolt set, or -3 if both topmounts,bushings with one set of camberbolts. Or consider camberplates.

That's a solid alignment for a DD. :)

A little bit more camber front and rear wouldn't hurt (I ran -2.2 front and -1.8 rear) but you'd need additional parts. Could consider the Pedders front top mounts and gain a little bit of caster too.

- Andrew

Yes I am aware of the other camber bolt set I can get. I believe I have the SPC on currently if I remember correctly (bought them a while ago and had the shop do it along with the alignment so I forget). Though I am unsure if that can create a more loose connection with both top and bottom bolts being camber bolts? In other words, is there more chance of "slippage" that I have rarely heard about?

As for the rest of the stuff, like top mounts or camber plates, this is where I worry about ride harshness changing. Need to learn a little more about it, but from what I've read in the past, the ride bumps definitely become harsher. And over in southeast PA, we definitely have a good mix of flat and crap roads.

How will the Pedders mounts affect ride quality? Definitely would benefit me to have a little caster.

Pedder mounts are rubber mounts, just eccentric of fixed offset, though possible of more rigid group-n rubber. Certainly less NVH issues expected then solid camberplates with pillowball bearings. Similar to what whiteline com-c were (until whiteline delisted twins from compatible list, after few times trying and failing to rectify bearing binding issues in few revisions. Pedders ones should do better (they have bearing at angle to reduce side loads), work for me just fine).

Legit for DD :thumbsup:

Would be nice to get more front camber for autoX.

Could take rear toe down to zero to improve turn-in but 1/16 inch *total* rear toe is IMO fine. Per side would be excessive.

I run camber plates up front, but Pedder's offset strut mounts look like a really good option particularly with stock struts, which have limited bump travel. Some (all?) camber plates significantly cut into available bump travel...

Depends how they deal with the upper spring perch. If they reuse stock you're likely good (but will likely raise ride height).

I can let you know in the next few weeks...I'll be testing them on my car on all sorts of crap roads.

- Andrew

Thanks for the quick input guys. Looks like I have a good start. I will certainly look into the Pedder's mounts for a possible next upgrade.

Look forward to hearing from you @Racecomp Engineering for an extra opinion on them. :)

I have Raceseng plates with their spring perches for stock-diameter springs. The radial bearing sits below the spring perch level and takes away about 15mm of bump travel. With the car lowered 30mm , ~45mm bump travel lost, which did not work well with the stock PP Sachs dampers! Not *nearly* enough bump travel... All is well with Bilsteins tho :D

Is it true Pedders top mounts only work with Pedders coilovers ?

:iono:

No, I've had the Pedders top hats paired with STi springs/Bilstein B6 for more miles than I can remember.

Thanx, thought I saw sumfin on the web site sayin only their shox.
:cheers:

They work with whichever coilover that can work with stock rubber topmounts. Only "difference", extra fixed amount of negative camber.