Alignment settings

[CDADEUCE06]

All,

Ok now that the new suspension parts are installed here is what the alignment was set to prior to the work. I was wearing tires on the outside on the front and inside on the back: and very bad on the driver rear. I now have C/C plates and the bump steer kit. Can I assume a good alignment shop will be able to take and adjust the missing data on the rear? Is there a middle point when the car will not wear tires and feel like it’s on rails? Any suggesstions would help since the car will get an alignment in the next few days.

Previous setting:
Left front: Right front
Camber -1.0 -1.0
Caster 3.5 3.6
Toe 0.15 0.16

Front
Cross camber 0.0
Cross caster -0.1
Total toe 0.31

Left rear right rear
Camber -0.6 0.7
Toe no reading no reading

Rear
Total toe no reading
Thrust angle -0.1

Here is what I found after searching this site for a DD setting:

Left front: Right front
Camber -0.9 -1.2
Caster 3.9 3.6
Toe 0.10 0.10

Front
Cross camber 0.3 ??
Cross caster 0.3 ??
Total toe 0.20

Left rear right rear
Camber -0.7 -0.7
Toe 0.1 0.1

Rear
Total toe 0.2 ??
Thrust angle ???

 

[slick4_6]

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=298765&highlight=alignment

I asked the same question a couple years ago.

 

[CDADEUCE06]

Thanks this were I found the settings above, what are you running since this was a while ago?

 

[slick4_6]

Front
15/16 Camber (All the adjustment it has)
+4.5 Caster
1/16 Toe

Rear
3/4 Camber
1/16 Toe

My tires are wearing on the inside just a little bit, but nothing major. You just have to keep them rotated every time you change the oil. It's worth it for the way it drives. My tires are started to get wore down just a little bit and it is following the grooves in the road just a little more, but I think that may be a different issue. I've heard that is steering rack bushings, but I am not sure.

 

[Snake Eyes]

First off read this.
http://www.miracerros.com/mustang/t_suspension3.htm#Alignment

Secondly here are my alignment settings. Now realize that they are very aggressive but I did that for a reason.

Alignment Settings
_______________Left______Right
Front Camber___-2.33°____-2.33°
Front Caster____+6.50°___+7.00°
Front Toe______+0.01"____+0.01"

Rear Camber____-0.75°____-0.75°
Rear Toe_______+0.05"____+0.05"

First off you want to get as much front caster as possible so have the tech set that at the limit of the adjustment range (if you have a bumpsteer kit). You may want to keep them equal if you drive on very flat roads. Here in Nebraska most roads have a very pronounced crown to aid in drainage of rain and snow so I have half a degree of cross caster to keep the car from pulling toward the passenger side. If you live in a place like Arizona where there is no precipitation and the roads are virtually flat you probably want to keep them even. Now my front camber setting is also quite aggressive. Unless you have an aftermarket suspension (K member, A arms, bumpsteer kit, etc.) you will probably want to keep yours around 0.1° negative. Now front toe depends on how much caster you run because the more caster you are able to get the less toe you will need to keep the car going straight with out having to constantly correct the wheel when ever you encounter an irregularity on the road. So if you are able to set a high positive caster like I am you will be able to reduce your toe and consequently reduce your tire wear. If not then I would stick with the factory setting of .5° toe-in. (Notice the measurements for my toe settings are in inches not degrees.) As for the rear 0.75 degrees negative camber will put a little more weight on the inside edge of the tire but not a lot and based on what I have seen on a few IRS camber curves at stock ride height the camber goes further negative through droop and bump but when the car is lowered the camber goes positive as you droop just about until you would have been as stock ride height then begins going negative again. So that is the reasoning for me adding in a little negative camber to combat the positive camber gain through initial droop. So depending on your ride height and tire wear you may want to adjust this setting for your cars' characteristics. Basically if you are wearing the inside edge of the rears less negative rear camber is in order and conversely if the opposite is true more negative camber in the rear. Rear toe in is also largely dependent on what modifications you have done. Hopefully you have done a bumpsteer kit in the rear and if so your toe stays constant through the range of motion. I added a little rear toe in. This is because on a rear drive vehicle (with a positive offset wheel) the thrust of the rear wheels tends to pull them toward toe out and ideally you want zero toe in the rear so if you have just a little rear toe in the power of the car will pull the wheels in to a zero toe alignment and plus you would not want a toe out situation in the rear or the car would be all over the place under power.

I hope this helps, if you have any questions ask.