Alignment?

Leadfoot · Post by **Leadfoot** » Tue May 04, 2004 9:27 pm

Who's good for alignments in the area? Is there anyone who's really autocross saavy and can help me eek out some rear camber on a car that doesn't have such an adjustment?

tscott · Post by **tscott** » Wed May 05, 2004 5:14 am

I have personally had good luck with NTB. I know several others have had good luck with Matlock on Kingston Pike. John Brown at Ted Russel Ford could probably work with you. You may also want to try Don Ramsey at Air Cooled Classics/Speed Sport Engineering.

MARKP · Post by **MARKP** » Wed May 05, 2004 6:10 am

Ted Russell and Air Cooled, agreed.

If you don't have factory rear camber adjustment, there isn't much you can do legally in AS. Basically all you can do is loosen all the suspension mounting points and try to load the car while tightening them. I doubt NTB or Matlock would be willing to do this.

Be sure you tell whoever is doing this that they can't slot any holes to gain camber. There are some shops that will do this but it isn't legal for you.

Williampreza · Post by **Williampreza** » Wed May 05, 2004 7:28 am

While we're on this subject:

If I want a performance alignment for my car. Are the camber/toe/castor settings a fairly standardized set of values? IOW, could I go see John and say "I'd like a performance alignment on my WRX.", and he'd know what to do. OR, do I need to have some settings in mind to give him before I go, like, "-x degrees camber front, x rear, x degrees toe-out rear, x front" ?

MARKP · Post by **MARKP** » Wed May 05, 2004 8:05 am

Performance settings will probably be different for every car. If I were you, I would find out what some of the other fas Subaru drivers are running. I know there is a fast WRX wagon running in STX nationally. He is probably a member of some Subaru board somewhere.

Post by **thrdeye** » Wed May 05, 2004 8:06 am

Well, John would know, and would probably be able to optimize it for you since he know a lot about autocross.

However.

I took mine to matlock and they made me confirm twice that the specs I had written down were the ones I wanted.

Post by **disneyd** » Wed May 05, 2004 8:25 am

Were you happy with the results from Matlock?

I like the people there, but last time I was there their machine was screwed up. It kept acting weird... we could roll the car off the plates and back on and it would give completely different readings. The tech thought the equipment was out of calibration, but the management was adament that nothing was wrong. Wound up taking the car elsewhere and had no problems. That's been a while back though.

Post by **thrdeye** » Wed May 05, 2004 9:23 am

disneyd wrote:Were you happy with the results from Matlock?

Yeah, except for the rear camber. It is very different from left to right in the rear, and there isn't much you can do about it.

The guy actually let me hlp him perform the alignment. The machine they had was awesome and seemed pretty simple to use (I figured it out)

whenry · Post by **whenry** » Wed May 05, 2004 9:53 am

It just depends on who the tech is at Matlocks(and probably any other place you can name). Eddie has been doing my racecar alignments for yrs and is quite willing to work with me including allowing me to sit in the car.
The modern machines are sometimes hard to deal with when you are doing a performance alignment since they already have a range programmed into the machine for your particular model of car and you may be asking for a setting outside of that range. Tip accordingly.

tnturbo · Post by **tnturbo** » Wed May 05, 2004 12:48 pm

I use Robert's Alignment in Blaine (Knoxville in phone book). They will set your car up however you want it. Tell him the settings you want and he will set it there

exhacker · Post by **exhacker** » Fri May 07, 2004 10:10 am

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... eName=WDVW

There's a link to one of the several rear adjustable camber kits for a WRX. I assume they would also work on the 04 WRX STi. Of course, that would put you right out of Stock class, probably into Street Touring or Street Mod. There are others out there, just hit google. In your search, I would recommend leaving out the "sti" keyword... you may end up paying less if the part is compatible.

I've also seen a thread on NASIOC.com about alignment specifications for different types of suspension and driving habits. Reading this entire thread gave me some ammunition when I started to mess with my alignment settings. I'm currently at full negative camber front (most 03 WRX's get about -1.2 degrees front), -1.5 rear, and 2.6 / 2.8 degrees caster (front-left / front-right). My toe is set to zero all around, erring on the side of toe-in in the rear. Handling is a little tricky with these all-season Sumitomo HTR+ 205/50/16's, but they wear a lot better than the Azenis for daily driving

I may bring back the negative camber in front, as every alignment tech said that "it'll handle like crap". I think it grips awesome, and as long as I'm smooth, it's fine.

I like the idea about sitting in the car, loosening everything, settling the car, and then tightening it down. I know that NTB off of Millertown Pk won't let me sit in the car on the rack, but I can get underneath the car while it's on the rack.... go figure. *sigh*