Hi ya'll.

i have a quick question, pretty staraight foward!

when should I align my car after installing coilovers? do they require time to settle too?

Thanks in advance!

 

on how obsessive you are! Just changing struts won't do much to alignment, but if the ride height is adjustable, you really should get the car aligned and corner balanced.

Matt

 

going to be installing megans.
so i shouold align them right away?

 

it's always a good idea to get an alignement after any major suspension component is changed. That said, if you don't really change the suspensions geometry much, then any deviation will be small. But if you change your stuff a lot, that can add up to some pretty hefty bills!

Matt

 

Megan's have camber plates built in, don't they? Either way, changing the ride height of the car will also change toe. Too much toe, in or out, will really chew up tires fast.

I'd get an alignment done in the next couple hundred miles, if not sooner.

Scott
90SM

 

The question is not whether to do an alignment but when to do it.

Anytime you change springs or adjust ride height you will get some settling over time and with use.

It's not that easy to predict how long the process takes.

Once you install your coilovers or springs then expect a few hundred miles will be enough to get things settled. Roughly a week or two of driving if you can spare the time. Put some people in the car and drive around easy.

However if that is really true then when you make fine adjustments to your ride height using coilovers and then just bounce the car a bit and put it on a scale to check for corner balancing, how accurate is that?

It's accurate enough but it's dependent on how you do the adjustments and pay attention to details. I've done corner balancing myself using borrowed scales and it's tedious work.

You can change any or all of the four corners' ride height to adjust the corner weight. But for any adjustment you have to allow for settling of the shock and spring. If the parts are new then they may not settle completely so you can bounce the corners or drive the car a little.

To corner balance you usually detach the front and rear endlinks on one side of the swaybars to remove preload.

I found that it was easier to make only small changes to one corner at a time to get the corner weights closer and closer to 50% diagonal balancing (right front plus left rear = left front plus right rear). I found that if I checked a weight then drove a little then weighed again without further adjustment the weights were a little different.

After alignment I did over a year of competition then realigned and found the toe settings were a little different. Could be from settling or from road use (bumps and potholes) or wear.

Any change in ride height will affect alignment. If you do only street driving you don't really need to do corner balancing ( best for track use). You need adjustable endlinks to do corner balancing (so you don't need them for street only use).

What alignment settings did you choose/plan?

 

wow its like Namikipedia of suspension.
I 'm still fiddlign around with ride height since one side is sitting lower than the other somehow... :impatient
I will get em to a height that I want em to be then try to align fronts at least, on monday. since i dont have rear arms yet but will be aligning the back as soon as they get to me well, no problem there with aligning front first right?

 

Not quite. It would be a bit longer like this-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_%28vehicle%29

OK, first install all of the upgraded suspension parts. Add the lower rear control arms and if you plan to corner balance then adjustable end links for front and rear swaybars.

No need to corner balance if you are only street driving.

Once all parts are installed then do ride height for as long as it takes to get all four corners to the height you want. Realize that adjusting one corner will affect the other three so it is not so simple to make changes unless you make small changes to one wheel at a time and then let it settle. With more experience you can make bigger changes but it can be frustrating.

Next do corner balancing by fine tuning the weights on the diagonals. Front will be about 61 to 63% of the total. Make right front and left rear = left front and right rear weights. That's cross balanced. This helps your handling feel the same when turning right or left. If it's very close like 1/2 % difference then that is fine. When doing corner balancing you should be sitting in the driver's seat with your helmet on (if you drive on the track) with full fluid levels for everything. You car should be prepped for track if needed- race wheels, etc.

Now you can do alignment. If you do it too early any changes in ride height will affect your alignment and you will have to do it all over again. If you get it done for free then that's different but in my are it costs about $100 to do each time.

Have fun.

 

i drive ~100 miles daily... and i'm on my brand new set of tires. i won't be getting the rear arms installed until later next week... and i heard toes will make em go bald quicker than bush invaded iraq.. thats the only scary part about not getting alignment soon... help me out!

 

OK, that's of concern.

Altered ride height can affect all alignment settings. Front camber tends to remain at -0.5 degrees unless you have adjustable front camber plates. Rear camber tends to increase negatively.

I suppose you can try to get a quick alignment done by a shop and see if they can do a basic alignment for about $60. Then you have more time to get your lower control arms and do the install and adjust the ride height without worrying about toe settings being off and eating your new tires.

Most basic alignment shops don't want to handle lowered MINIs and their machines are really designed for out of stock alignment settings- at least that is what they tell me. I always go to a speciality brake and alignment shop I trust.