Track alignment
 

Getting her all dialed-in.....
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Do you have GT3 LCAs on the front?

Yup.
Here's where we ended up (below).
They didn't feel there was enough adjustment available to get to -3d. Could be that the FVD LCA's are shorter? I dunno. They've got a BUNCH of shim in it.

Anyway.... I'm excited to try it out.

I also added raybestos st43 pads. They're NOISY! But man.... they WORK!

Looking forward to that too.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...59a09749cd.jpg

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That should transform your car and work really well. You don't mention what tires you are running but for an NT-01 or RR you should be in good shape. Enjoy!

your caster is out of spec. as you shim out the arms, you push the bushing that connects the thrust arm out (caster arm, tuning fork, etc.) and pull the wheel assembly forward as a result (thrust arms are not adjustable). if you look at your car you'll probably see the wheel sitting forward in the wheel well. depending on the width of wheel/rubber/spacer/offset you are running you might get some rubbing too.

here is a thread on how to fix; involves swapping the lcas and using the other opening in the thrust arm bushing:

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-forum/1143460-suspension-adjustment-to-correct-caster.html

or, if no rubbing, you may be happy with how the increased caster impacts your handling.

Thanks radium king. I was aware of the offset hole "swap", and have them oriented to the front already.
I "may" decide to do something different over the winter when I do coilovers, but for now, I'm going to see how much I hate 9d. Haha

And yes, nt01 tires are mounted on my spare wheels and ready to go. (Any recommendation for optimal hot pressure on the NT01?)

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I prefer a bit of toe out for sharper turn in and a bit less toe in out back.

2.9 is decent on nt01s but i still find i wear the outside edge. My next alignment i will be setting front camber at neg 3.25

I hope that is not toe out in the back, but rather toe *in*. I use 1.5mm toe in per side, measured across a 15" span (the length of my toe sticks) and it seems to work pretty good for me.

Because your sheet lists the "approved" ranges as -1.9mm to -.6mm I am figuring that it is toe in. If that is toe out you are in for a squirrely ride :) However if you have already picked up the car and driven it home, you would know ;)

Looks good. I think you will like it.

Specially on a wet surface.. :p

Thanks guys.
The way I read it, it's "toe-out", and a negative number, meaning it's toed-in.
Yes, I drove it home yesterday, on wet roads, no less, and it was VERY confidence- inspiring.

This is a race- shop that I know and trust. There's another that I feel the same about, based at the racetrack, so a little less convenient. Both have extensive experience with the boxster.

That said: I walked-in with a print of exactly what I thought I wanted, and then asked them to weigh-in. They concurred with my numbers, so away we went.
The numbers I had with me, were based on the experiences of y'all on this forum, and a couple of conversations in-person with MaxD. I borrowed heavily from topless, (and even used his recommendation in switching to the raybestos brakes) because he seems to have the respect of everybody else here when it comes to this stuff.
I'm excited to try it out.

I AM thinking, though, that these raybestos brakes aren't a great dual-purpose pad, simply because of how NOISY they are. I might find myself swapping them for an EBC red (ceramic, so dustless) for the street. I dunno. We'll see. Maybe they'll get better as they wear?

Somebody who uses the NT01's help me with some target pressures to begin with?

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i'm running 31F/32R hot. they seem to want a lower pressure than 'streety-er' tires. i have the same F/R camber settings as you, but with 245F/275R widths. i do not experience the sidewall roll at these pressures that i would with my ad08's. and they'll last a 20 minute sprint at these pressures.

33psi HOT on NT01s

I start them at about 28 cold and bleed usually after the first 2 sessions depending on weather/temp, etc.

I wouldn't start below 26psi cold, but if you do, go easy for the first 2 laps

After having discussions with John Gladwell, my camber is now -3.75 all around and it really works well. This is on the SPB suspension, 1/16 toe out in front and 1/8 toe in in front.

square tire setup lemming?

I concur with lower 30's PSI Hot for NT01s.

Hopefully the morning lows will cooperate as 26-28 is great when it is > 50F but have started at 32 when it was just above freezing. Check and bleed off as needed after a session or come in and check if they start to feel squirrely.

Also I prescribe to the Brad Roberts alignment, no toe front or rear. That's in SPB form and yes I like it a bit twitchy.

In my experience, if you have the camber, the tires like a little bit lower pressure. When I ran the NT-01 at first I was 35 PSI hot all the way around, with maybe -2.0 front and -1.6 back. Once I bumped up to -3/-2.5 I was able to go a little lower, maybe 32-33 and it was good. I've never gone much lower (probably have by accident, sometimes I get crazy and bleed too much). When you get it right you will know (in addition to seeing edge tire wear, etc...) When you get them right and you get that magical session where the car just hooks up and goes where you want it to :cheers:

Rear Toe-in vs Toe-out

I remember that before aligning my car, the first question Steve Alarcón (local specialist) asked was "which track are you running?" Then.. he would recommend the rear toe.

If I remember correctly to be stable at high speed (Willow Springs) you want a bit of toe-in or '0' and if you were running a quick track (Streets of Willow) he would dial even a bit of toe-out to help you rotate.

Again, this was a few years ago and my memory may be wrong..

I like 34psi hot all around with NT-01. When I get down to 32 I do get a bit of shoulder rollover with my car. It is a full weight street Cayman so that probably matters.

ST-43 are ridiculously noisy until the 1st track day. Once you get them fully hot they settle down but will always squeal a bit when cold. Still my favorite pad for dual purpose, long life, good modulation, great heat management.

So I'm watching the weather forecast..... likely gonna rain on us.
I assume the NT01 will suck on the rain.
What do y'all do in the rain? (DE, not racing)

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I think that you'll love the new alignment. It will feel amazing to use the full width of the tire!

I used mid-30's hot (34-36 psi) with NT-01's and had great results (including two time trial track records). One of my favorite tires.

Yes it does, that first time the car really hooks up and you are like whoah!!! :cheers:

Edit: I guess I said that already a few posts up. But I get excited by it!

new nt01s aren't bad in the rain. Heavy standing water should be avoided at speed, but wet track is ok. More grip than street tires still.

In heavy rain, you will need to have your wits about you and be ready to correct NOW.

If you have a way of doing so, bring some decent street rubber if the heavy stuff is coming down.

nt01's have a good wear arrow on the side to help let you know when low is too low.

This is nice to hear.

I built a tow-hitch for my boxster, so I drag a little trailer with spare wheels, tools, chairs, etc with me. So I'll have the street tires I show-up on, and then some brand-spankin' new NT01's on the spare wheels. :dance:

I'm excited to get there with a "known" setup, instead of just driving what I had. I think that's a step in the direction of me finding some consistency and working on getting BETTER, instead of just trying to go faster.

Thanks again for all y'all's help and encouragement!

I'll send some pics. :-)

yes, 255's on all corners.

It's not going to rain!

Now THAT'S what I wanted to hear! Hahaha

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Maytag, I didn’t go out for the NASA event last weekend due for the weather but want to come down next weekend to see how the PCA event compares. I’ll bring my infrared gun and shoot tire temps in the pit for you.

And some camber plates if I can get any anodized this week.... [emoji6]

Sweet! C'mon!
I'll be in west day garage #3

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Alright, y'all who have alignments similar to mine (below) help me out here.

I noticed today that under extreme braking (end of a straight, before a slow corner) the front end would get "wiggly". I won't call it "squirrelly", cuz it didn't feel uncontrolled, but it definitely wiggled around on the brakes at the extreme.

Is this due to the zero-toe in front? Or is this a symptom of my caster being "out of spec"?

(Or, is this common with the NT01 tires? )

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Most likely toe. When under heavy braking the car squats and the weight transfers to the front tires causing toe out. If you are running square NT-01s you can really put the car on it's nose and go significantly toe-out.

Two choices:

1. Re-align and increase your toe-in F/R to eliminate the wiggle under heavy braking.

2. Adapt your driving style a bit. As you enter a heavy braking zone, squeeze the brakes a bit earlier > allow for weight transfer > go full braking >then ease out of the brakes keeping the car totally settled as you turn-in.

Both methods work, #2 tends to be quicker over time.

new tires? they can show symptoms similar to bump steer until broken in. mine did.

Dont use the brakes? Momentum car here, brakes are the devil ;)

This is what I made. Basically, I can check on just about anywhere that fairly smooth.

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Very nice!

Eric,
How accurate (and easy touse) is the Longacre camber/caster gauge?

I could use some expertise here, before I go have a tough conversation with my shop.

I need to make a thread detailing all of the mods I made over the winter, but I won't di that here. Suffice to say that I needed a new track alignment and 4- corner balance.

I took it to my race shop who is highly regarded in the market, and who've always been helpful. I'll be careful here not to "roll" them.... I think it was a perfect storm of crap. Short story is: they did all the work and sent me on my way without ever discovering a loose (new) ball joint and a very bad wheel bearing. I knew ot was wrong immediately when I stepped my foot into it and it turned left.... only to come back to me when I let my foot back off.

Now, whose responsibility is it to have tight ball joints and good wheel bearings when I bring it in? Mine, clearly. Yet whose responsibility is it to make sure the car is alignable (and actually aligned) before charging $600?

Anyway: I went way above and beyond making them whole on it, so save that for another thread too.

I finally got to drive it today, and I'm unhappy. It gets very "darty" at speed, especially as the butt goes over bumps. I jacked it back up ti look it all over and everything looks good and tight. So I went back to the specs.
See image below.

I was curious about the rear toe number, because the first time they did it (before discovering the bad parts) they zero'd the rear toe. But I trust these guys to know what they think makes sense, and several of them have raced boxsters in the past.

But..... here's where I go wonky:

If you look at the 2nd post, waaaay below, you see that last year they set the rear end at 3d POSITIVE, where this year they went 3d NEGATIVE. I really think they put a new guy on the rack, and he went the wrong direction. Last year's setup was AWESOME. This setup scares me over 90mph.

I'd like to hear from some of y'all with experience, mainly because I admit I don't know what a race car SHOULD feel like..... so.... maybe it's SUPPOSED to feel like the ass wants to pass.... but I don't think so.

Opinions? Expertise? I plan to go see them on monday.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...11be30e30b.jpg

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That's a weird looking alignment sheet.

WTF is mm of toe? mm measured from how far from the center of turning?

And three digits on the camber measurements?



That's a Hunter printout, but I've never seen one look like that.


The loads of caster you had last time will make a car find strait faster. Maybe try to put all that caster back into the car.