Quote:
Originally Posted by rainmonkey
Hello,
So on friday, I finally had an alignment done, as well as new wheels and tires mounted.
I went from:
stock wheels
stock rubber
haphazard non-aligned coilovers that seemed ok on the highways (didn't pull or anything)
slightly mismatched ride height, ~14 in the front, 13 3/8 in the back
Now the car sits with:
17x9 57dr +35
Mich Pilot Sport A/S 3 245/40/17
Alignment:
-1.49/-1.52 front left/front right
-1.63/-2.0 rear left/rear right (I couldn't adjust this since I don't have any other parts for the rear suspension aside from coils)
front total toe 0.08
rear total toe 0.18
from center of the hub to top of the fender, front is roughly 13.5, rear is still 13 3/8 but measuring from the chassis, the front sits roughly 1/8 lower than the rear (I was told this was pretty good for the car handling wise)
I used to feel like I was sliding/drifting (not in the motorsport sense of the word) through the turns when I would go as fast as I could, and it felt comfortable - not out of control or on the verge of spinning out, nice feeling. But when I'd go through sharper turns, I would understeer, the car would vibrate as the front tires skipped along on the asphalt (not fun). This was all done on my old mismatched setup.
Fast forward to yesterday when i went to AutoX, one thing I definitely noticed was that the understeer was pretty much gone unless I went way too fast. On the other hand, going through the same turns that I used to kind of "float" through, I felt like I was on the verge on losing control (I did actually spin out 2 or so times). I know this probably doesnt make sense, but to me, it feels as if my high speed maneuvers have become more prone to slipping compared to my old setup. Whereas my more moderate speed maneuvers are more stable and planted.
I know I'm using an all season tire but according to the reviews it's a pretty good one!
One of the guys at the course said that sometimes new tires have a break-in period because the oils used in the compounds are still being sucked out a bit (I guess you could describe it as feeling a bit greasy...?) But another guy said that I should be good after one lap after the outside layer has been scrubbed off. Tires have about 400miles on em so far.
Did I screw something up on the alignment? Thanks for any and all input!
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Think of it this way.
Your car gets "looser" as it goes faster. Lets make a scale of 1-100, with 1 being super understeery, and 100 being super oversteery. Now, on this scale, as you go faster, your car goes "up" the scale. For example, if your car is a 25 at low speed, it may be a 35 at high speed.
It sounds like before, you were at around a 40. The car would understeer slightly, but nothing terrible. As you get to higher speeds, the car would go up the scale, and become a 50, being neutral (loose, but manageable).
Now, you're at a 50. The understeer is gone at low speed, but at higher speeds, it goes up to a 60, and becomes loose, and actually swings the rear around.
You can fix where your car sits at static (the 40 that became a 50), or you can fix how the car changes based on speed (the 10 increase that happens, no matter where you start).
Just a different perspective that hopefully makes sense.
You need a better alignment guy. This is what I'd do if it were my car:
- Get the subframe centered by hand
- Install crash bolts in the front
- Play with tolerances to get more camber
- cornerbalance the dampers
- re-align
Steps 1, and 3 will not be available to you unless you have a VERY experienced alignment shop that does a lot (or exclusively) performance oriented setups
Step 2 can be done at home.
Step 4 will need a decent alignment shop or regular shop with the proper equipment
Step 5 will only be toe for you unless you buy more parts.