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, Fri, 2 Dec 2005 19:02:12
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What you are describing is what I've been doing for years, mainly on the classic 900's and ng900/9-3's but should work on any car out there.
Usually a car is not that far off...I'm not dealing with crash rebuilds and bent frames, just older cars that have been on the road awhile, or have new suspension parts to tighten them up a bit.
Taking manual toe measurements, or using a simple gage like Dean suggested, is not very hard. Once you are close (I shoot for zero), the toe setting can be felt at the steering wheel, provided that you know what feeling you are looking for and that you pay attention. Your goal is to feel how the steering response is 1) on-center and 2) during turn initiation. Drive on crowned roads and flat parking lots. Drive slow over rippled pavement and fast on the interstate. Drive on your favorite curvy road. Compose a test route that includes several of these surfaces, and run the test track between each adjustment. Unfortunately because you don't have a laser-guided alignment machine, this process is iterative instead of one-shot.
Generally I set toe to zero, then adjust a little *in* (for on-center feel and less tire wear) or *out* (for turn-in response and max cornering power), then tweak for steering-wheel on-center, if necessary. On my c900 vert that has stock suspension w/ performance tires (hey it's just a cruiser) I left toe at zero but went -1.0 camber to lessen the understeer and +2.5 caster for good wheel return-to-center.
If you have a ng900/9-3 with VRK and 50-series summer performance tires, the car will be very sensitive to alignment settings, tire pressure, wheel/tire balance, etc. Road/tire vibrations will be transmitted to the steering wheel instead of being absorbed by tire sidewall, or the big fat rubber bushing on the steering rack. Alignment settings will hold the tire more precisely in place, even if it is a bad place causing tire wear. All that slop from the rubber susp bushings is gone. A car like this needs toe set just right to go straight w/ the steering wheel straight and still have decent response for turning.
On the other side of things, A stock car with rubber bushings and soft tires is way less sensitive to defects in the front end. And if you are running all-season high-mileage "value" tires, you can basically forget about fine-tuning of your alignment like this. It won't really matter because the fatty sidewall and tiny tread blocks will be deflecting and absorbing all your performance anyway. Then you are further "protected" from the road by rubber susp bushings, steering rack bustings, etc.
posted by 65.78.13...
, Fri, 2 Dec 2005 19:02:12, Sun, 4 Dec 2005 17:35:55
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