suspension alignment ? w/ coilovers

[blacknblue2002]

tomorrow I'm goin into the shop to have my front end aligned and I was wondering about a few things....what should I look for as far as price goes....The guy quoted me 60$ over the phone and he came highly recommended from the two local performance shops that I go to. I know normal alignments are generally cheaper than that, but I guess you have to pay when you have modified stuff...even though it seems that the adjustable c/c plates would make the job so much easier.

I was also wondering what caster/camber settings I should be asking for. I use my car as a daily driver, so I don't want it to be too agressive. I want performance, but I don't want to buy new tires every couple months. My last set of tires made it about 5000 miles, and then I started noticing uneven tire wear...tried fixing the alignment myself with no luck....that's why I'm takin it to a professional this time

 

[hognutz]

If you daily driving I would just go with stock proably. the instructions for the MM CC plates have alinment recomendations.

If you dial in to much negative camber to help you handling it will wear you tires fast. you usually run a different toe at the track as well that will wear you tires worse.

you will get most of the preformance you need for the street right from the kit. If you go agressive on the alinemnt as well you will eat you tires. I went conservative to save my tires as they are not cheap.

most alinements are $50-60 so it is not like you are getting screwed. as long as you have set you ride height and things like that it is no more work to aline the car. the CC plates make it easy as pie. I would go back and read the instructions and then just talk it over with the alinement guy as to what he thinks if you are concerned about tire wear. I can't remeber what I set my stuf at as it has been too long.

 

[BennyBlown2v]

Aligning coilover car is no different than coil in arm - inless of course your having them set the ride height and balance the car... and $60 is an average price for 4-wheel alignment

Also, .5 degrees negative (-) camber, 4.5 degrees positive (+) caster & .25-.5 degrees Toe-In.

 

[blacknblue2002]

most alinements are $50-60 so it is not like you are getting screwed. as long as you have set you ride height and things like that it is no more work to aline the car. the CC plates make it easy as pie.

I was just wondering if you ever had all four corners of your car sitting the same height...my two rears are right at 27" to the top/center of the fender...but there is about a 1/4" variance in my front two...one sits at 26 1/2" and the other is at about 26 3/4"....I spent hours trying to work through this and eventually gave up...it is not noticeable but I was also wondering if this will affect the alignment's accuracy

 

[BennyBlown2v]

I was just wondering if you ever had all four corners of your car sitting the same height...my two rears are right at 27" to the top/center of the fender...but there is about a 1/4" variance in my front two...one sits at 26 1/2" and the other is at about 26 3/4"....I spent hours trying to work through this and eventually gave up...it is not noticeable but I was also wondering if this will affect the alignment's accuracy

Don't bother measuring from ground to fender, measure from ground to the pinch weld seam at the rockers, this will give you a better idea of how your car is really sitting, and not the factory intolerance of the body panels.

 

[blacknblue2002]

Don't bother measuring from ground to fender, measure from ground to the pinch weld seam at the rockers, this will give you a better idea of how your car is really sitting, and not the factory intolerance of the body panels.

...just curious...I plan on trying this tomorrow, but how likely is it that if I adjust the suspension to make the welds the same height that it will cause the car to look like it is sitting funny....i mean...how out of whack are the factory body panels generally. I don't want it to look like a 4X4 on one end and a low rider on the other....plus...is it normal for the coilovers to be sitting at completely different sections on the threaded sleeve. My rears are nowhere near each other, but the ride height looks dead on....then again I've always measured fender height...I'm hoping to work through this tomorrow before taking it to get aligned...I will keep everyone updated on progress...thanks for the input

 

[bdcardinal]

i reinstalled my coilovers on 666. when i realigned it(i work at a shop with alignment racks sitting unused), i set caster to 5.5degrees both sides, camber at -.5degrees and toe to stock. the car changes lanes a lot easier and wheel return to center is a lot better.

 

[tomustang]

how out of whack are the factory body panels generally.

low factory tolerance
fast produced product
and wet noodle chassis

 

[hognutz]

I was just wondering if you ever had all four corners of your car sitting the same height...my two rears are right at 27" to the top/center of the fender...but there is about a 1/4" variance in my front two...one sits at 26 1/2" and the other is at about 26 3/4"....I spent hours trying to work through this and eventually gave up...it is not noticeable but I was also wondering if this will affect the alignment's accuracy

well when setting the ride height there are two things to consider.

1. looks
2. performace

the way I under stand it is lowering the care much more than .75-1 lowers you roll center and will negetivly affect handling.

1" is not really enough to remove the 4x4 look. So I would most likely set the car to the stance I want and then have it alined and live with the handlign that produced. ride height does affect alinement so you will want to do it or have them do it. if you make a small ajustment it may to change it much but it will change things.

I know with my h&r's I am the same hight on all 4 corners. with the stock springs it was a different height at ever corner.

 

[BennyBlown2v]

...just curious...I plan on trying this tomorrow, but how likely is it that if I adjust the suspension to make the welds the same height that it will cause the car to look like it is sitting funny....

Shouldn't be off much, and if it is you can always adjust it a bit for looks

 

[blacknblue2002]

so I just got back from getting the alignment....not too happy cuz the guy had said he had to slot my struts in order to set everything right...cost me another 50$.

Overall I'm glad I finally got this done cuz tires are expensive...but I'm not happy with the $105 it cost...The guy also said that my tie rod ends are almost maxed out, and he recommended me getting a set for lowered cars (Probably Steeda)...of course he also mentioned it would require me to have it aligned again...dunno bout all that...I'm broke 4 now

 

[hognutz]

so is he saying the tie rods are turend almost all the way out?

I don't understand why he had to slot the struts? did he elaborate on that.

 

[blacknblue2002]

he said he didn't have enough playing room to get the right settings....either in caster or camber (i can't remember)....I didn't question him on this because he came highly recommended from the local mustang shop...he said he could get proper alignment by over compensating from the toe-in...but my tires would wear a lot faster...just evenly...so I told him to slot the struts if it would help with tire wear

And yes...he said that the ends were very close to being all the way out on the tie rods...said I had about 3/4" on each side

Overall these were the settings he recommended:
5 degrees (-) camber, 6 degrees (+) caster, & 1/16 degrees Toe-In

 

[tomustang]

so is he saying the tie rods are turend almost all the way out?

I don't understand why he had to slot the struts? did he elaborate on that.

should be for camber




blacknblue2002: who installed your C/C Plates?

 

[hognutz]

he said he didn't have enough playing room to get the right settings....either in caster or camber (i can't remember)....I didn't question him on this because he came highly recommended from the local mustang shop...he said he could get proper alignment by over compensating from the toe-in...but my tires would wear a lot faster...just evenly...so I told him to slot the struts if it would help with tire wear

And yes...he said that the ends were very close to being all the way out on the tie rods...said I had about 3/4" on each side

Overall these were the settings he recommended:
5 degrees (-) camber, 6 degrees (+) caster, & 1/16 degrees Toe-In

you istall you CC plates backwards did you? you can take the top pieces and spap them side to side to give you the abilty to dial in different alinemnt settings. It talks about it in the instructions.

it may have needed to be done I had just not heard of notching the struts befrore with CC plates. they are suposed to give you all the ajustment you need.