Alignment questions

[Bladecutter]

Originally Posted by Adam

What do you guys think about some slight toe out up front? Bad idea?

Not needed from the fact that as the car is under heavy acceleration, the front tires will toe-out normally a smidge, so keeping the toe at 0 is going to be the best for a rear drive car.

BC.

[Topless]

Some high level (National SCCA champion) AX drivers will add a little front toe out to make quick transitions. They will tell you that it is only for tight quick 30 sec. AX courses and it does make the car twitchy. My typical courses are longer, faster, and I don't drive at their level. Zero toe is a better choice for me. I don't like "twitchy" at 120+.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Bladecutter

Not needed from the fact that as the car is under heavy acceleration, the front tires will toe-out normally a smidge, so keeping the toe at 0 is going to be the best for a rear drive car.

BC.

Ok, good to know. You guys have been great. I didn't want to go to a shop without some specs to shoot for. One more thing, I just had the tires changed and now the car seems to pull to the left slightly all the time. Before it seemed to track straight. What the heck could that be?

[Adam]

Hey do you guys know what the stock alignment specs are for a Boxster S? I searched all over the net and found nadda. I don't know if the Bentley book has that info, but I'll check it when I get home.

[rbizet]

I am getting my tie-rod replaced so I will get a new alignment too on a stock Boxster S.

From what I gathered for a mix of daily driving and DE use, these are the specs I am thinking of using:

Front Camber: -1.5 deg
Front Toe: 0 deg

Rear Camber: -2.0 deg
Rear Toe: .01 deg toe in

Anybody care to comment?

Thanks.

[ekam]

From the Bentley manual:

[Adam]

Originally Posted by ekam

From the Bentley manual:

Thanks for posting this Ekam, but now I'm even more confused than before. It looks like to be it says front camber is +5 degrees and rear is -1? That can't be right. Sorry for being a PITA, but can someone decipher this chart for me and put it on laymans tems?

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Adam

Thanks for posting this Ekam, but now I'm even more confused than before. It looks like to be it says front camber is +5 degrees and rear is -1? That can't be right. Sorry for being a PITA, but can someone decipher this chart for me and put it in laymans tems?

Is everbody else as perplexed by this chart as I am? I can't tell what the range should be by this chart.

[Kirk]

I just corner balanced and aligned my Box this last weekend. I do the work myself. Now I've got JRZ coilovers and my car is dropped quite a bit, which will increase the negative camber, but I could swear you can get -1.5 degrees of camber in the front stock. Here's how I've currently got mine setup:

Front Camber = -1.2 (I could have gone more)
Front Toe = zero

Rear Camber = -3.0
Rear Toe = about 4 mm in on each side

With the JRZ coilovers, wide and sticky Falken tires, lower stress bars, strut braces, and a front GT3 sway bar this car is absolutely amazing. It just corners scary, scary fast without any kind of tire squeal. I have yet to get the back end to brake loose on dry pavement.

If you want more negative camber up front for autocross and track work, camber plates are the cheap way to go. They'll give you another -1.0 degrees of camber over stock. I've got some used Schnell camber plates that retail for $450 which I'll let go for $100. The bearings are a bit worn though and make noise, so you might want to replace those if it bothers you. PM me if interested.

Kirk

[demick]

Originally Posted by Adam

Thanks for posting this Ekam, but now I'm even more confused than before. It looks like to be it says front camber is +5 degrees and rear is -1? That can't be right. Sorry for being a PITA, but can someone decipher this chart for me and put it on laymans tems?

It looks like a slight typ-o. Not +5 degrees, it's +5 minutes (+-30 minutes)
1 minutes = 1/60 degrees

So in degrees, front is +.08 degrees plus or minus .5 degrees for USA cars.

To approximate, it's pretty much zero camber nominally in front.

[castors wheels]

Very informative discussion and never seen before. Thanks for sharing with us.