FYI... Here are my settings from my last alignment:

Front Left:
Camber -1.8
Toe .04

Front Right:
Camber -1.9
Toe .04

Rear Left:
Camber -2.4
Toe .12

Rear Right:
Camber -2.3
Toe 0.19

I got it aligned in January and have not had any issues. FYI I asked then to set the rear toe towards the positive end of the toe range, so when I lower the car more, the toe will still be within the specified range... as you lower the rear the tires will toe out and become less positive, so I wanted to make sure to still have some positive toe, even if I lower the car more (for shows, meets, etc...).

 

IMO zero toe is where it's at on a dropped car running a little camber, a little toe in the back is OK to help directional tracking.

Zero toe started years ago with the 350Z guys when they had all the issues with tire wear.
I've corrected tire wear on my '04 by running zero toe & loved the set up from a perf/handling aspect as well.

I've aligned all my cars to zero ever since.

 

The only problem with setting the toe at 0.00 when the car isn't weighted (no driver, passenger, etc..) or under load (no air flow pushing it down) is that as soon as you get in the car and start driving you are actually going to have less positive toe (i.e negative toe), because the tires will actually toe out just slightly because of bump steer caused by changing the ride height. When I learned to do alignments (years ago), we were taught to set the toe to the center of the specified range to allow for some bump steer.

Also, how were they able to even out your front camber? Do you have from camber arms on your car?

 

I had my rear tires set at 0.00 toe before, but one drive to Vegas and back with passengers in the back seat absolutely killed a brand new set of tires (tore up the insides of the tires). Now I run a little extra positive toe in the rear to compensate for toe changes when I have passengers... My rear tires are now wearing MUCH better.

Of course, if your runnign a stiff set-up with heavy spring rates, then your ride height won't change much even under load, so in that case 0.00 toe will probably stay at 0.00.

 

I wasn't completly clear...
I always had some toe in the rear (0.06"), fronts are the only ones I zeroed.
I agree completely on weighting theory, weighting for the driver is a really good idea. (only me in the car 99% of the time)

 

Gotchya.

Yeah, I don't think our cars have much bump steer up front, but the rear has quite a bit due to the mutilink set-up... Plus, the rear spring rates tend to be lower, so the ride height will change more in the rear than in the front.

Regarding weighting for the driver, etc... I know when I had my M3 and even with my Porsche, per the manufacturer's spcifications for alignments, they require that weights be added to the driver's side footwell and the trunk. I don't recall the exact weight for the M3, but I believe it was 3) 50 lb weights in the drivers side footwell and a single 50 lb weight in the trunk. When I worked at Sears they wouldn't actually align these cars because they didn't have the proper weights... we had to turn them away and refer them to s specialty alignment shop. That's why there are many shops that specialize in alignments for German cars and exotics.

 

^ same thing when I set up my M Roady (& now the M Coupe).
When I finally found a shop that knew what they were doing it completely transformed the roady.

 

That's right... forgot you have an M Coupe sitting at home.

Never realized you had an M Roadster, though. What year? I had a 2000 M Roady myself, and am thinking of selling the S2 to get a new Z4 sDrive35is. It's either that or wait a couple of years for the new Audi R4!

 

Oops... Sorry, Wes... not trying to hijack your thread. LOL

 

Welll since we jacked this thread on Wes....

it was an 06, sold it when the business had a little down turn.

I looked at the Z4 sDrive35is, IMO they lost the true sports car in the makeover.
It's more of an SLK competitor now.

Absolutely loving the M Coupe.
Pic from the weekend, out with a buddy at an autoX.



/jack

 

haha u guys are too funny. I really dont mind the thread jacking. I find it amusing. If anything, im used to it by now. haha

Nonetheless, thanks so much for the info on my alignment issues. This is VERY helpful. I guess I'll get another alignment done and get it done right.

U guys are awesome.

 

^ Don't pay for another alignment, Wes. I don't think the shop you went to necessarily did a bad job (they aligned to within the manufacturer's specs), but they could have been more particular. I would go back to the same shop and ask them to "fine tune" your alignment. Particularly ask them to even out the rear camber and try to get the front toe closer to Zero, if that's what you want. Most alignment shops offer a 30 day - 90 day guarantee on their work, so you shouldn't have to pay for it again... If you have to, tell them the car is pulling slightly and you think it's because of the rear camber differences. LOL

 

I highly doubt the shop I did this would fine tune my alignment... :S I wont get into detail but lets just say, he spent enough time on my car. I dont think he wants to see it anymore without paying him further. lol

Let me get this straight. Just to see if I understand this completely.

Right now, my toe #'s arent too bad at all. If I leave it as is, It'll probably be allright. The only main issue is, the difference on the rear cambers. ... which basically means, I will get increased tire wear on the right side? Is it significant though? compared to the left? or its negligible?

Right now, Im not feeling any pull on the right side.

 

I can see what you're saying Adrian, you do have a good point. I've been setting the toe as close to 0.00 for a while now and haven't had any abnormal tire wear. That may be since I'm running more camber though, the more camber you have means the toe should be closer to 0.00.

I don't have camber arms in the front or rear. I don't know if they adjusted it slightly to make it match or if it just happened to be like that but I saw the final alignment specs and it as exactly -2.24 for both fronts and -3.30 for the rears.

 

Love the stance!