The odometer finally made it to 20,000 coming down from a short trip in the local canyon this afternoon.

Handles much better with some camber in both ends. I bought adjustable lower arms for the rear and plates for the front after the first trip up the same canyon road. Less than factory setting in the back and more in the front...works much better. Maybe a little more in the front..!?

Mike

 

Like this?


Where are the quantitive numbers, or did you just winged it like some of us?

 

The "quantitative numbers" (check that spelling !) ?

-.75° in the back.
-1.00° in the front.

Sorry, I didn't go the seemingly extreme numbers that some seem to use here. I chose these numbers as an initial, or first try from my many years (I'm old..!) of adjusting the suspensions on various cars and what the tires looked like on my first trip up the canyon. Plus the slight understeer on some of the corners.
From what I both noticed in the different handling (over / under steer) and the tire wear, these new settings seem to be pretty close. I may give -1.25° in the front a try. The rear tire wear looks very good at -.75°.

Also when the road repair guys are gone, I can take some of the faster turns...faster. The above worked well as an overall, with a few miles of moderately tight turns (50 to 60mph) working well.

Mike

P.s. - With the springs that are on the car, adding weight to the seating area to replicate my weight, didn't seem to want a change side to side, either with OR without the added seat weight. My gauge is a .xx digital gauge, rather than a .x like most.

 

What adjustable arms for the rear did you buy?

 

I used the "Irland Engineering" (SKU - MiniCntrlArm-ST) rear arms and front plates. They're shop is in SoCal.
The "Hsport" arms are a good design also.
Both are a Urethane bushing design.

There are a bunch of designs that have spherical ***** at each end. These would be a good choice if you are racing (only). The ball designs are really not made for years of street abuse without being replaced about once a year. They have NO shock absorbing designed into them. So the ball, race and adjusting threads take up all of the shock as you are driving down the street. So...unless you have glass smooth streets, or are racing only, I'd avoid the "Align-a-ball" (one brand name) style.

Real racers (all versions) that use a ball/race design in the various control arms...normally replace ALL of them at the end of every season. They don't want to take the chance of having one fall apart during a race.

As usual, some will chime in here and say the ball/race design is great on the street..! I say fine...just not gonna use them on MY car..! Don't recommend them to anyone that asks about them for street use.

Mike

 

Now that it handles better, are there bolt-in seats with larger bolsters that I can use ?

I don't want to use a full harness, but better seats may work.

Mike

 

If you want a bolt in solution, then a pair of Recaro Sportster CS that was offered as an option will be an (expensive) solution.

 

Hmm, pretty proud of those aren't they ?
Thanks for the info. Currently have two other cars that build money is going out on. These will have to wait.

Mike