Camber Adjustment/Alignment

[AadosX]

I took my car to a couple places today to get an alignment...

The first place didn't know what camber was, they tried to convince me that camber was caster, and vise versa. The second place tried to give me an alignment, but nowhere near where I live can figure out WHAT I'm trying to tell them when I want a custom alignment. I'm so confused now because even I don't know how to adjust it. What they finally did was try to get as close to the OE settings as they could... here's the printout.

http://www.auburn.edu/~lockejc/other/front.jpg
http://www.auburn.edu/~lockejc/other/rear.jpg

I have TEIN HE and I'm told that I can adjust the camber up front as well as in the rear... how do I do it? I want to get as close to -2 deg. up front and -1.5 in the rear.

Thanks,
John

[Dousan_PG]

front: camber plate
rear: eccentric bolt on upper arm

stop going to moronic shops
go to racing shops that do alignments!!
CALL AROUND and ask the people who work there their expirience. i found a guy at one time who did alignments and race cars for 20 years and owns his own shop in Orange, CA

[AadosX]

Oh trust me, I wish to God I could do that. I live in Auburn, AL, and the nearest post office is miles away... it sucks here. :(

[Dousan_PG]

pick up the phone
you'd be suprised what you can find out when you stop posting online and actually spending time talking with shop owners

support mom and pop shops, definately. more then likely they'll do a better job too, more to risk. they want to serve you best they can to stay in business and usually they know more hten the dumb idiot who was hired at America's Tire Co. and whatnot

[KiDyNomiTe]

Hmm they are kinda off there on stock settings. I got a lifetime warranty from Firestone, one place did a good job on getting it to stock. But there is another one I talked to where one of the employees does good work on lowered cars and custom alignments. Most Firestones won't touch lowered cars cuz it won't make it on the lift, but some creativity will get it on.

[AadosX]

I don't get it... it seems to me that they are pretty much dead on the stock settings minus camber...

[Titan Locks]

usually they know more hten the dumb idiot who was hired at America's Tire Co. and whatnot

I resent that because I work at Discount Tire :sadwavey:

but its all good, because Discount Tire doesn't do alignments :p

[240 2NR]

I second going to independent shops. I just got back from having mine aligned. Rides so much better (thank god for no more bumpsteer :rawk: ).

The nissan Dealer should at least have competent employees, even if they're a little more expensive. Most chain places have pretty low caliber staff in my experience because the guys who are good generally go on to better jobs.

The place I went to survives based on word of mouth (I couldn't even find their website) and does excellent business from repeat and referal customers. In fact my mechanic had a brother who just picked up a 240 so he was really interested in finding out what I knew about them (they're all former Honda Master techs).

As for your alignment, try to dial out some more of that rear camber and front toe. Rear camber has a limited amount of adjustabilty stock. Not sure if that reading is after using up what's available. Eccentric bushings/ bolts (I know PDM sells them) will give you about .5-.75 degress of adjustment ($20-40, in fact I have a set of whiteline eccentric bushings sitting in my garage I could sell you), or you could get some RUCA's (SPL parts, JIC, among others) that will have a pretty broad range but will run you $2-300.

[HiPSI]

Oh trust me, I wish to God I could do that. I live in Auburn, AL, and the nearest post office is miles away... it sucks here. :(


if you're willing to drive a ways out here to atlanta take your car to gran turismo. they do a ton of race vehicle alignments and will do custom specs no problem :)

[LanceS13]

jeez...are competent places that hard to find. I just take mine down to Gateway...they let me watch and pretty much tell them exactly what I want done as they do it.

[Var]

i'd also recommend a shop but it's norcal. they did my front wheel alignment for 35 bucks(shop price). 2 degrees negative camber and 1/16 overall toe out. Good deal if you ask me.

[TRUENOCOUPE]

OMFG. Stop giving advice if you guys REALLY have no idea what you guys are talking about. Im not about to go in flaming time cause its just pointless with you guys.

Please Read.
http://www.ozebiz.com.au/racetech/theory/align.html

[Var]

who gave advice on alignment specs.? jesus christ truenocoupe. it's like you always have sand in your vagina

[Ranger_Man]

as weird as it sounds, call around to ford dealerships. i just got mine done there and everyone there raced cars, be it drag racing, all the way to formula atlantic. the guy knew exactly what he was doing and knew exactly what everything was that i had on my suspension.

[Replicant_S14]

jesus christ truenocoupe. it's like you always have sand in your vagina

tru dat

jeez...are competent places that hard to find.

Yes actually. Most places around here would rather set the toe on minivans all day than screw around with our cars. They can do more and still charge the same. That's why I don't "nickle~n~dime" when I find a shop that gives a crap.