Alignment questions...

[hunter8411]

I was trying to look for a good shop to have my alignment done at, however I did not find one that was either reasonably close or had enough good things said about them. I just replaced my RUCA, Toe Link, Traction Link, Tension Rods, TieRod/TieRodEnds with fully adjustable aftermarket ones, and was wondering where anyone would recommend going to have the alignment done.

I live in SoCal right off the 57/60/10 freeway. I am thinking of taking it to West Covina Nissan, however I'm not too sure on what the settings should be and they charge $140. Is there a shop near by that does fully adjustable alignments and can recommend a setup that is a bit more aggressive than stock but not full race.

Thank you for any and all advice.:bigok:

-Marc

[gotta240]

Depends on how hard you drive and what tires you have.(as far as allignment specs)

[Bushido]

if you give us the specs of your car than maybe we could suggest a setup.

what chassis?
what wheel/tire size?
stock body?
ride height?
street driven?

[hunter8411]

Ok thanks,

S14, Buddy Club Racing Spec Coilovers, 18x9's with 225/40. Fully adjustable RUCA, Rear Toe Link and Tranction link. BattleVersion Tension rods, SPL TieRodEnds with Z32 Tie Rods. Not sure if it matters for alignment, but Front/Rear Tanabe swaybars, front Carbing StrutTower Brace.

Its low but not slammend, I want to set the car up for street/track use. Its not my daily but does get used about 2x a week, and when I drive it I'm not tearing up the city streets but I dont baby it either. Now that I'm coming up on finishing it, I am going to start taking it to the track atleast 1-2x a month for both drift and grip events. :2f2f:

Thanks again for any suggestions, and any more info needed please let me know.

[racepar1]

I've heard good things about west end alignment I think they do corner weight and align for like $250. As far as specs goes I would run 2.5 degrees camber in the front, 1.5 camber in the rear, slight toe in in the rear, 0 toe in the front, and I like to reduce my caster to about 4.5 to 5 degrees (stock is like 6 to 6.5). The steering seems to respond a little crisper to me with less caster. Be careful with your ride heighth though if you are really concerned with performance because the lower you make your car, the lower the rollcenter of your suspension drops which increases the amount of leverage the center of gravity of your car has on the suspension. This causes excessive body roll and that is obviously not good. Also your front suspension will start gaining positive camber as it travels instead of negative camber if the angle between your upper mount and balljoint to your ball joint and and lower control arm bolt exceeds 90 degrees.

[KA24DESOneThree]

Darin at West End is the man.

He will set it up right. He does only what you tell him, though, so make sure to tell him that you want an alignment and cornerweight. He'll align it with you in it and have you take a test drive to see if you like it.

I keep meaning to head back but it's a long drive for me.

[gotta240]

I agree with everything racerpar said EXCEPT.

Most guys like to get MORE caster in the front. In fact, most guys run as much as they can get away with. Personally i run about 7.5.

Also, unless a fully dedicated track car, i'd run -2.2 or -2.3 camber in front...Especially with those tires. I run -2.5 but i drive the piss outa the car and i'm running much bigger, stickier tires(which causes the car to gain more positive camber).

[hunter8411]

Thanks for the advice, I guess I'll have to look into West End.

[chuonthis]

There are tons of threads in the South Western States forum on good alignment shops in SoCal. Hiro's, West End, M-workz, JC Autohouse, etc. All will charge you about $90-120 for an alignment to the specs that you want.

[Nikeboy355]

Bear Frame & Wheel
14271 Amar Rd.
La Puente, CA 91746
626-917-1418

That's where I take my track car to get aligned... My S2000 homies go there as well...
They use manual measuring tools instead of lasers that can be wrong due to either operator error or off on it's calibration...

$80 and you tell them what settings you want...

My S13 is set to :
2.5 degrees camber front and rear
1/8" toe in rear
0 toe in front
stock caster

I think that's good for a car that sees more track than street...

[hunter8411]

Thanks, actually my Dad and his car friends suggested Bear Wheel also. But they said to check around also and see what other people have to say. Good to hear someone else likes them. Thanks for all the info everyone. I'll look into the SouthWest section also.

[racepar1]

I agree with everything racerpar said EXCEPT.

Most guys like to get MORE caster in the front. In fact, most guys run as much as they can get away with. Personally i run about 7.5.

Also, unless a fully dedicated track car, i'd run -2.2 or -2.3 camber in front...Especially with those tires. I run -2.5 but i drive the piss outa the car and i'm running much bigger, stickier tires(which causes the car to gain more positive camber).

Ya I haven't played with the caster too much so I'll have to try that.