Alignments

Pulled from SC, originally posted by rocwandrer

Here are the Toyota specs(all numbers in degrees):
· Caster: 3.13 +/-.75, Left to Right difference .75 max
· Front camber: -.78 +/-.75 L-R diff .75 max
· Front toe in total: .15 +/-.2
· Rear camber: -1.08 +/-.75 L-R diff .75 max
· Rear toe in (total): .3 +/-.2

Everyone’s set up is different. There was a Spyderchatter by the name of Randy Chase that raced his Spyder, moved on to the Elise and then Nobel line of cars.  He wrote a good article about alignment set ups that I based mine on with great success for a street car.  Because my car is lowered it has a natural rear camber of -2 on both sides which does well.  For the fronts I have -1.5 camber which works great.  I did dial more than that at one point and felt my straight line braking and acceleration suffered for my tire sizes. The camber I chose for the street was a good compromise for a street car. 
I use 0 toe up front and a hair of positive toe in the rear.  This helps with high speed stability and the car tracks mostly straight.  I tried 0 toe in the rear but felt that was a little more tail happy for my liking although more lively.  Every car is different as it’s a combination of things with other suspension  parts and driving style that can very wildly so not all alignments work in all situations and all Spyders. One thing for sure is I don’t get any four wheel thrust alignments. I give my alignment specs to the operator. I have felt the key that ties all of this together is the rear sway bar. Having the most amount of adjustment is the icing on the cake because you can make a gross correction for the behavior of setting up the car to be more oversteer or neutral. 

What is most important to me when doing a suspension set up is to have it confidence inspiring. If I can dig in and load up on the suspension without fearing the car when it’s near the limits that is when I’m satisfied.  I should be able to if I have to kick out the rear but almost never do for the street. My car is faster then I’m willing to take it because it would be reckless especially traveling so fast that you don’t know what is around a blind corner and that is what ultimately holds be back.  

@dev It's funny you mention the rear swaybar. I was just on SC reading up and you mention the Whiteline rear swaybar there. similarly, in the TechnoProSpirit vid he mentions an oversized swaybar in the rear as well. When I was last really active on Spyderchat, around 2013 timeframe, the sentiment was no rear sway with stiffer rear springs, created a better dynamic. With my current MRS, after pulling the parts off from my old and putting them on this one a few years ago, I removed the rear swaybar based off of the knowledge I had at the time. Now I'm regretting this since I no longer have the mounting hardware since my move from MD to SC.

After the years of downtime taking care of my kids and generally being an adult, all of the knowledge I once had and slipped away is slowly coming back all at once now that I am actively working on the car.

It depends on the car as a whole. But in general I never agreed with radical set ups for the street. Using hard spring rates makes the car un streetable and takes the give out of the suspension. The track is not the street and it’s far more unforgiving. Who wants a harsh ride on top of bounce. This is why these guys can’t run a rear sway bar because their suspension is so tight it will oversteer like crazy.  Now you have now means of using adjustable sway bars to dial in the right amount for your other suspension settings and mods.

One other thing that I will mention that I found out the hard way. Granted I don’t race but the last person I’m going to take advise from is a person who has nothing to show for it except confusing terminology and throwing parts at a problem with no wins. I had the opportunity to read Randy Chase’s articles, one other person who actually wins in national events that  are written up in GRM. They seem to follow a similar theme.  

Let me hunt down a Randy Chase article and post it here. I found his explanations are very simple and easy to understand. 

I'm currently in the middle of finishing up a now 3 part alignment. The rear is done. Car is lowered on RSR springs and Koni inserts.

Part 1: Rear camber is -1.5° both sides, and toe is -0.1° both sides.

Part 2: Install crash bolts in front, and use my nifty new Klein digital angle gauge to get my camber close to what I want.

Part 3: Back to alignment shop to check camber or set to -1.8ish° and have toe set to 0° from the current -0.2° per side. 

The car mostly goesI where I want it to right now but with the front tires being less sticky than the rear on top of inconsistent alignment figures in front I am hoping these alignment specs will help with understeer as well as migitate the occasional fender liner scrape.

   Im also planing to get an alignment after my tires break in. Many of these tire places will not let you give them your specs and only an expensive speed shop will so you need to be tactful.  What I do is go to the shop and inquire about the alignment ahead of time and feel them out.  You don't need a good alignment man just a tech that can dial in the numbers for you. I just let them know I want the same alignment numbers I had before and let them know the car is sensitive to toe and they usually will oblige but I need to be there while its being done usually with one foot inside the bay. The biggest mistake Spyder owners make is dropping their car off and letting the tech do the four wheel alignment or having the tech determine the best alignment. This is good for a passenger car but terrible for our Spyders.  I use to get lifetime  alignments done every 6 months at Firestone when I was starting out trying different things until I settled on some good numbers that work for me. I can no longer go there because my car is too low and it almost fell off the ramps trying to make it up.