WarrenW

Can anyone here recommend good alignment settings for spirited driving? Not talking about for autocross or track days, just settings to get the most out of the car and have fun. For the record my car is an AP1 (2001).

Slowcrash_101

Stock.

realblag

This

zeroptzero

the UK settings get it really close IMO, with a bit more camber compared to North American settings

WarrenW

Interesting. I wouldn't think there would be a difference. What are the UK settings?

Chuck S

I wouldn't expect the idiot Honda engineers who threw our cars together to have a clue about alignments for a sports car -- heck, for any car. Internet sources are always better than what the engineers designed into the car.

They drive on the wrong side of the road in the UK and Ireland. Road camber and weight distribution may be part of the settings?

-- Chuck

B serious

They drive less in the UK and are less likely to use a S2000 as a primary car. So if some accelerated tire wear is acceptable. That's likely why there is a UK alignment.

The stock alignment settings are not optimized for a certain type of driving. They're optimized for a blend of a lot of different factors that OEMs need to consider.

The UK spec alignment has a lot of rear toe-in IMO. That was done for stability, to add understeer to account for the greater front camber, and to aid in evening out tire wear...though it will be accelerated wear.

Custom alignments are dialed in by people who know what they want and what they're doing...and lots of other info about the car is taken into account. In any case, you sacrifice something for the sake of something else.

Nobody can recommend a bang-on alignment that works for everyone and every car. People can make suggestions...but it may or may not work.

There are PRINCIPLES that work. Its better to learn what these do.

For example....additonal front camber will tend to create more front grip....and hence shift the car's behaviour to oversteer. The up side is that the front will bite harder as you turn in. The degree to dial in is dependent on tires, driving style, suspension, and environment.

Try a stock alignment first. Find out what the car does that you'd want it to do better. Then change things.

Don't get over confident on the street. You shouldn't be asking for an alignment that allows you to push the car further on the street. Its a bad idea.

Go to a track.

WarrenW

You missed your calling. You should've been writing for The Daily Show.

WarrenW

I used to have an autocross setup that I drove around with all the time but I haven't done autocrossing in quite a while. I was just looking for a little more aggressive setup than stock but not quite as aggressive as an autocross/track setup.

Slowcrash_101

This is what I use, mostly street car. .7 camber front 6 degrees caster with a tenth more on the driver side. .04 degrees toe in up front. Rear .40 total toe and 1.7 degrees camber. For a mostly street car with Oem tires you don't need more. If you use stickier tires like an RS3 then you should use more camber front and rear. Toe and caster should stay roughly the same.

The higher the grip the more camber you need, our high caster angle adds a fair bit of dynamic camber so in most situations you won't need any more than ~2.6 degrees front camber, or ~2.4-.6 in the rear. This assumes stockish suspension. Sway bars and other chassis mods will influence this.

If your car is stock just put the cambers to the high end of the stock specs. You'll be happy with the handling, this car is pretty good out the box.