Alignment FWD STS car

[Nathan]

I put some new springs on my car, and haven’t gotten it aligned since. I know, that’s really stupid, but it wasn’t pulling showing any signs of being out. But now I’ve got an appointment to get the car aligned tomorrow at 10:30am. My question is, what is the best set-up for me? I think I’m going with ‘0’ Toe front and rear and “-1.8” camber up front and “-1.0” in the rear. My car is a FWD, 135hp, 2400lbs STS class car. I’m using 205/50 r15s Falken Azienes, hopefully from next event on. Help me out to set my car up so I’m not sliding around the track so much.

[ShortysTRM]

You may not be able to get any camber out of the rear, and you may need some camber bolts (or "crash" bolts) to get any out of the front. I have about 3 degrees in the front, but none in the back. You may want to stop and pick up a pair of camber bolts at Autozone or Advance before you go, just in case you need them. It took two pairs for the front of my car to get as much camber as I have, but I have too much for daily driving.

[Jason V]

0 toe up front or a just a touch toe out is fine... more toe out will help the car turn in faster but wears the tires on the street... front camber get as much as you can!! even up near and over 2.5 negative should not wear tires too much on the street so 1.8 to 2.0 will be good....

out back it depends on the driver and the car... you are FWD.. so just set up the front for as much grip as you can find.. then change the back to get the balance you want.. what you stated for the back sounds like an ok starting point.. many people leave alot of time on the table from alignment and tire pressures... neither cost alot to play with and can be nearly free with a few basic tools, flat level ground, and patience...

.... your settings should get you in the right ball park and make the car easier to drive!!

[Nathan]

I've got -2 up front on both sides and -1 in the back. I can not believe how much better the car drives now. I left the shop and took off on an old curvy backroad to test it out. It just sticks to the ground. $59.95 for 4 wheel alignment, $19.95 for 1/2 camber kit and $18.00 to install the camber kit. I figured the camber bolts would only be a couple bucks like they are everywere else and I didn't think they would charge $18 to install them because they were already working in that area. Also, sign said "$45.95" for alignment. They told me that was only for a 2 wheel, and the 4 wheel was $59.95. I was pretty mad at paying twice what I thought I was going to have to pay. At least the car drives better. I'm going to try and do the alignment myself next time.

[ShortysTRM]

That's awesome. Every time I take my car to have it aligned, it seems like I end up paying more than I should. That's pretty much exactly what I paid for each pair of my camber bolts.

Did they print out your final settings or anything?

[Hillbilly]

Your alignment specs sound pretty good, if you want to make it rotate more take the camber out of the back to decrease the rear grip. I'd talk to Miro for alignment specs (if he'll give them up), his celica seems to be pretty good. As far as doing your own alignment all you need are some toe plates and a caster/camber gauge, I haven't ever had someone else align my cars.

[Nathan]

Your alignment specs sound pretty good, if you want to make it rotate more take the camber out of the back to decrease the rear grip. I'd talk to Miro for alignment specs (if he'll give them up), his celica seems to be pretty good. As far as doing your own alignment all you need are some toe plates and a caster/camber gauge, I haven't ever had someone else align my cars.
Miro gave me all my info on it. Both the Valents have been really helpful getting me started in Solo racing and helping me set up my car. I joke with Miro and tell him I'm going to take his title away. My car is a little heavier than Miro's, so I went a little different than him. But I've got a bit more hp that he does. I have basicly the same motor but his is a 1.8lt and mine is a 2.2lt. If you seen my Celica at the March event, you'll notice that I don't want my back end coming out any more than it is (the video is not too accurate). I actually got it to come loose a few times testing it today. I've always had a bad habbit of that in FWD cars. If I could learn to control it, I could really improve my times.

btw: I think they did print off the actual values of it, but I was kind of mad when I left so the reciept is cumpled up somewere in my car right now. I'm too lazy to go outside and try to find it.