Setting Up Alignment for Daily Use
 

I have a few questions regarding alignment for DD use. My current setup are as follows:

265/35/18 Yokohoma Advan Neova AD08R
18x9.5 +40 VOLK TE37SL
RCE Tarmac 2 Coilovers
Raceseng CasCam
OEM rear mount
SPL LCA
Lowered 1"

-2 Front camber
-1.6 Rear camber
0 Toe front
.08" Total toe rear

Now to the question, I was planning on adding a SPC/Whiteline camber bolt to do my primary camber adjustment in the front. I read a few articles, one specifically on MotoIQ, which said that it's best to adjust camber near the hub. Can anyone confirm this or have any input?

Second question is regarding toe. I've seen a lot of people saying you need a little to in and others saying 0 toe all around. I will be driving "spirited" on the streets and will eventually hit the track. Will 0 toe all around be recommended? I want to minimize tire wear as much as possible.

All and any input is appreciated guys. Thanks

http://imgur.com/olMjXjK.jpg

Camber at the hub gives better overall geometry, but you'll possibly be limited by tire clearance at the spring. Your coilovers are already slotted up front though, so you don't need a camber bolt to adjust camber. I would max out at the hub, then top up to what you want with the camber plates.

Keep 1/16" rear total toe in, 0 toe in the rear will likely be too exciting for your first track experiences.

Thanks for the input. So the alignment settings so far you think are good? I shouldn't be eating tire with that amount of toe right?

Yes, adjusting camber at the hub means you are not changing the SAI. Simply put, steering axis inclination counters the effect of caster. So with a lot of SAI you get less camber gain with steering angle. Changing SAI will also change the scrub radius, but with a wider, lower offset wheel that could be moderately good. The range of adjustments we can actually make are fairly small so it is probably not super critical compared to just getting the aliignment in the right range.

Anyhow, if all the camber adjustment of a plate is not needed I like to instead rotate them to gain additional caster. So angling them so the top of the strut sits as far in and back as possible. Then set camber where you want it at the hubs. And then you should have the tops set evenly left to right.

Cool thanks guys. Is there an ideal way to set camber in the rear too?

Not really, since there is only the one way to adjust them unless for some reason you had both offset upper a-arm bushings and adjustable LCAs.

If someone wanted to be really anal about it they could loosen up the rear crossmember to chassis mounts and try to get it exactly centered so the camber adjustments were at the same spot and there was no cross camber. If all the links are stock/there's no adjustment this can be a good way to reduce a left to right difference.

After I put subframe lock bolts in my older subaru the rear camber conveniently wound up equal (previously it was almost 0.5 degrees off) and the toe adjusters were also in almost the same spot.

wparsons and jamal nailed it.

Your current alignment is great for the street, but you'll want more negative camber front and rear at the track. It's still OKAY as you have it for a track beginner.

- Andrew

Awesome. As for toe, you'd agree to keep a little to in the rear? I am not sure how much would be too much or too little. I saw a few posts from CSG Mike where he recommended 0 toe all around but this was way back in 2014. Apologize in advance for the dumb question but is there a way to easily switch between alignment settings for street and track?

I would keep a little bit of toe in for the rear.

Unfortunately no easy way to switch between alignment settings for street and track. With a good alignment guy you can have settings marked on your camber plates (if you have them) or some other similar solution but it won't be perfect.

- Andrew

Don't overthink it... I daily with more camber (~2.5 all around) than you have and don't eat tires at all.

That too...if you are seeing the track a couple times a year and don't have long highway commutes then I would add camber and just daily it like that.

- Andrew

I drive roughly 50 miles per day which are 90% highway miles. My previous set of Super Sports wore out by 15k miles which is why I'm a bit more concerned with my alignment this time around.

Was it camber wear, or just worn out? 15k miles if being driven hard doesn't seem unreasonable for a high performance tire. I got 30k km's out of my Dunlop ZII's, with highway commuting and track use, but they were really bald when I took them off.

I wasn't really sure if it was a mixture of toe + camber or just camber. The inside part of the tires were more worn that the outside. My previous alignment was more than -3 degrees and the toe in the rear was super wonky.. I'm sure having more than -3* of camber didn't help the tread life lol.