wheel alignment

[JDMs13]

Can anybody suggest some good aligment settings for the s13 chassis? My car will be street driven on the weekends, and see track use whenever drift events are held nearby. The car rides on 15's, and is lowered with Tein HE's.

[citizen]

im assuming you have stock linkages since you didnt mention anything else. so basically all you can adjust is camber and toe. just tell em to max out the camber (negative) and zero toe. or maybe a little toe out in front if you feel adventurous.

[JDMs13]

Sorry, forgot to mention that I have every link possible. Front.... tension rod/control arm/camber plates. Rear....rear upper controls/toe/traction rods.

[Flybert]

Alignment settings are all preference with drift but I'd recomend starting with this. See how you like it and start experimenting after you get a few events under your belt.

Front
-2.5 camber
0 toe
8 caster

Rear
-2 camber
0 toe

This is a good start to develop what you like when drifting. 0 toe in general is what I have always stuck to. I plan on experimenting with a little toe out in the front for some quick turn in response. As for the rear. I'm going to stick with 0 toe. Some like to have a little toe out in the rear to get the backend swinging out but I like the way it is right now. Toe out is a love it or hate it setting and since I have no trouble getting the rear to come out, I'll stick with 0 toe out back. In the front, it's always nice to run a lot of camber because the outsides of the tires take a beating from countersteering. This will make them last more events and save you some money. As for camber in the rear, everybody has their own preference with it so mess around with it.

[JDMs13]

If I decided to play with my camber and toe on the fly with no alignment machine, how would I go about doing so? Count the number of turns on the linkage, or use a ruler or tape to measure to calculate a measurment from a solid point to wheel (subframe, fender)......

[JDMs13]

what about the traction rods ? I have heard one person say that the traction rods are not to tweaked. They told me "If you get traction rods, set it to the length of the stock rod, and forget about it." Questions, comments, issues, concerns, feelings, emotions......

[Flybert]

Those rods help adjust bumpsteer. They should really only be adjusted by a dude who knows what he's doing. Suspension geometry measurements should be taken when adjusting those.

As for messing with your own alignment, it can be done. Look it up on google. There are plenty ways of doing your own alignment. Maybe mark all your rods before you do anything, that way you can get back to your starting point if you are unhappy with it.

[ultraDorksGarage]

camber is really body roll sensitive. depending on bar, tire and spring rates, camber imho should be set up.

im running layed out caster, i forget the actual figure its sitting somewhere in my filedrawer, but think its somewhere between 9-10...

i find this to give the car more stability in tight corners, not because of the caster, but when laying out the caster using tension rods, u effectively lengthen wheelbase by like an inch or so.

secondly im running total toe out in the front as .50-60 degrees i believe, this makes for a more responsive turn in at the slight expense of a dull turn out/exit vs no toe out.

one thing to mention, if u set up for 0 degree toe on the rear, i was told by some friends that during rear susp travel with stock length arms, u get some rear toe in(like .20-.30 degrees). basically rear toe in during rear squat = more stability during corner exit or something, this of course being not excessive amounts of toe. i dont know if thats true just passing on some info...

generally toe in on the rear is a grip drive thing to be able to get on the gas earlier= more exit speed.