Wheel alignment on coilovers - what settings?

[ThatGuyThere 54]

Have ST XTA coilovers, which have an adjustable top-mount. Rota Titan Wheels - 17x9 ET42. When I bought the car it was as low as the coilovers recommend. I have raised it to as high as recommended (20mm drop over standard).

Have it booked in with a local garage for 4 wheel alignment this Friday, can anyone tell me what settings I should ask for? They suggested I give them some rather than them going with OEM.

I'm new to all this, I understand from searching this forum that it depends what I want from the car. I drive mainly on shitty B roads, sometimes on shitty A roads. It's my daily driver, and I'd prefer comfort over absolute performance. It's supercharged, so traction is also a priority.

Can anyone recommend a good setting for me? I'm utterly clueless on toe/camber/top-mounts etc. - I will do some reading later about the basics, so I understand the concepts better, but I'd really appreciate if someone could give me some idea of what to request from the garage.

[Paul 442]

Tbh, those are the sort of settings I would expect the garage to recommend!

When I originally went to Abbey they just asked what sort of setup I wanted, road comfort, fast road or track beast, and then set it up accordingly based on what they thought would be best.

I can dig out the settings on mine but my wheels are a different width to yours so it wont be spot on.

[ThatGuyThere 54]

7 minutes ago, Paul said:

Tbh, those are the sort of settings I would expect the garage to recommend!

When I originally went to Abbey they just asked what sort of setup I wanted, road comfort, fast road or track beast, and then set it up accordingly based on what they thought would be best.

I can dig out the settings on mine but my wheels are a different width to yours so it wont be spot on.

Ah. I think this garage although experienced in modified cars, wouldn't have a clue what the correct settings were for this car! I went to them, because a local modified-BMW specialist, who fit a lot of coilovers and have a good reputation, told me they take theirs here for the alignment once fitted. But again, the guy at the garage said that most people who bring modified cars in have their own requirements, other than that they will go for OEM specs - which I do not know are appropriate for a lowered car with wider wheels?

[Guest]

It's a personal preference really, it depends what you want from the car. What will it primarily be used for? For example you wouldn't want track settings on a car that that will never see the track. 

[ThatGuyThere 54]

3 minutes ago, don said:

It's a personal preference really, it depends what you want from the car. What will it primarily be used for? For example you wouldn't want track settings on a car that that will never see the track. 

Indeed. As I said, I generally drive on shitty B roads, and track use is my lowest priority.

[Church 209]

If wheel & tire setup is square, and car will never see the track, i'd put -1-1.5deg neg camber front, by -0.5deg less in rear (to make a bit less understeery vs stock), as in from -0.5 to 1deg, at front zero toe, rear 0.1 toe in (for a bit more stability under throttle). Or also zero toe.

If on rare ocasions, but you'll visit track once or twice a year, i'd up front camber to -2.5, rear to -2deg (still imho ok for street & w/o noticeable wear increase). If you'll become track junkie, i'd dial camber to -3.5 to -4 front (rear in same fashion -0.5deg less).

I wouldn't go for "factory" zero camber & zero toe all around. Imho at least -1deg camber is nice to have in front even for only daily driven car.

[ThatGuyThere 54]

5 hours ago, Church said:

If wheel & tire setup is square, and car will never see the track, i'd put -1-1.5deg neg camber front, by -0.5deg less in rear (to make a bit less understeery vs stock), as in from -0.5 to 1deg, at front zero toe, rear 0.1 toe in (for a bit more stability under throttle). Or also zero toe.

If on rare ocasions, but you'll visit track once or twice a year, i'd up front camber to -2.5, rear to -2deg (still imho ok for street & w/o noticeable wear increase). If you'll become track junkie, i'd dial camber to -3.5 to -4 front (rear in same fashion -0.5deg less).

I wouldn't go for "factory" zero camber & zero toe all around. Imho at least -1deg camber is nice to have in front even for only daily driven car.

Thanks a lot

Looking around, it seems the rear isn't too adjustable anyway, so I may be stuck with whatever camber it naturally has on a 30mm drop.

[Rich 378]

You'll probably be running -2.5 degrees of camber at the rear or fairly close to that, so you'll want a fair bit of front camber to match that. Zero toe all round I'd suggest as Church says.

[Lauren 2259]

If you haven't got offset bushes or adjustable lower control arms you won't be able to change the camber at the rear. The settings that Church suggested would be fine for the road. 

[ThatGuyThere 54]

Many thanks. Really appreciate all the help here.

[Church 209]

Rear camber is not adjustable stock on ours, only toe is. Also if one lowers, one gains some extra negative camber naturally.

Imho simplest to get those SPC lca-s too & call it a day. They are not just stock like (was important for me here, as local vehicle rules didn't allow my initial choice of Velox LCAs as lighter, as strong, and simpler to use adjustment mechanism), but also cheapest. Yes, rear LCAs will cost 3-4 times as dual front camber bolt set, but still 300-350$ for front camber bolts+lca-s imho is not extraorbitant amount to pay. Many pay tenfold that for cosmetic mods.

P.S.

I don't push much on public roads, at most some small tire screeching here and there still within legal speeds .. but on track i certainly appreciated alignment changes. More neg. camber in front made it less understeery for tight turns, and more negative camber in general let me go faster/gave extra confidence due extra grip even on same stock gripless primacies. And slight toe-in rear let me open throttle sooner going out of bend .. and yes .. car was also more stable on public roads under acceleration during low-grip in winter (toe-in self-stabilizes)

BTW, even if one doesn't do any more fitting for performance/track use alignment .. it still is advisable to align nevertheless, even if one goes for stock zero camber all around and zero toe. Simply because stock alignment to pass has too broad ranges, and even completely new cars may handle VERY differently with still 'green/pass' adjustment range extremes.