Sorry this might be long, but i need info. about alignment on lowered cars. OK here's my situation. So i figured I need alignment cause everytime I accelerate above 50mph i pull really hard to the left about to go into the next lane, and I need to tilt my steering wheel slightly to the right in order to go straight. Right now my S2k has staggered wheels and a 2 inch drop . I got a front end check and it looks like i have some serious toe wear on the inside, so it looks I need to buy new front tires.

But before that I went to multiple auto shops that I thought could do alignment for lowered cars like R/t tuning is backed up for 4 weeks, Mickey's alignment, NTB, deltona tires, car toyz, firestone (plan on taking it to Ron at Mr. tire woodbury this week to get his opinion). I thought the hard part would be getting my s2k on the rack, but not the issue at all. It was figuring out the specs for the alignment. All the mechanics just looked at me and shook their heads like " dude this car is really low" lol i know. They were kind of giving me a hard time about it, but I think they just didn't want to do it because they kept suggesting to me to raise it up. One of them said if they straightened it that they thought the wheel would hit the fender but Ive been driving it for awhile and it never hit the fender.

So my question here is for anyone who has a lowered staggered s2k what were the specs did you have it at that made driving manageable because one of the concerns I had at the shops was what degrees did I want it at. But I wasn't sure. I understand i won't be getting perfect stock alignment specs, but I want to try and get close to it. I know I got a toe in at the front and I think possibly at the rear too.

Right now im at:
( front left: camber -0.9/ caster 7.9 degrees,/ toe 0.03in
/ front right: camber -0.3/ caster 8.1 degrees/ toe, 0.05 in
/ rear left: camber -3.7, toe 0.14in
/ rear right:camber -2.9, toe 0.29in )

If you guys could knowledge me on what I need to know about alignment for lowered staggered cars, I would greatly appreciate it and owe you a beer or soda at the next tony lukes meet, lol

and btw my camber is already maxed out, was thinking of camber plates to get better working room,but I dont think i really need it I know it's possible to align it just got to find the right person who knows what he's doing.

Thanks for reading,

Roland aka Rolmaster

 

oh one more thing does anyone know any shops that do manual alignment? I know it's old school but i heard manual is more accurate than the computer sensors they use these days. If I'm wrong about this please enlighten me, thanks again

 

I have a few thoughts but I'm just some guy so take it with a grain of salt:
1) As far as a place to go, I go to Just Tires in Norristown. A guy there named Pat Weaver is an autocrosser, he knows the s2000 too, he is awesome.
2) A 2in drop is a lot, but you don't need to raise it, there are plenty of people that run this low or lower probably. For performance/autocross/track you don't want your car this low so I have little experience with slammed cars.
3)I would say put your camber as close to zero as possible without rubbing. So if its -1 degree or if its -2 degrees thats fine. Camber doesn't kill tires like toe does. Toe is the real concern. (I know you can run a lot of camber too because I run 3 degrees front and 2.5 degrees rear and my tires wear evenly, but they are R-S3s and only last 10k miles anyway)
4) Your front toe isn't terrible but zero is best of course. Your rear toe isn't so great, your right side has twice the toe as the other side, fix that first then get them closer to zero.

When you say camber is maxed out are you saying that it is already set to as close to zero as possible?
Not sure if that helps at all. I hope it does. Alignment techs always give me a hard time too; don't sweat it.

 

Holy crap, I didn't think it was possible to get that much caster. The autocross guys could chime in on what a good setting for that is, a good amount is nice (6 degrees or so), but I don't know if 8 degrees is doing anything beneficial, especially if it's at the expense of your camber.

Anyway, down to it: don't bother with stock alignment specs, they suck. Best to just forget about them completely. What size tires & wheels? Do you need a lot of negative camber in the alignment to prevent your tires front rubbing the fender?

UK specs are a good starting point. more camber than stock (good), more rear toe-in than stock (too much, IMO.) They are:
Camber:
FRONT: -1 degree
REAR: -2 degrees
Toe:
FRONT: ZERO toe
REAR: 0.4 degrees TOTAL toe IN (about 0.17 inches)

Now, this isn't bad, but it can be much better, especially if you like to drive it aggressively. For aggressive or especially track/autox driving, there's too little camber and too much rear toe still. You can crank up the camber a bit, say -2 front and -2.5 or -3 rear, as well as getting some of that rear toe out, down to about 1/8" total toe in (about 0.29 degrees.)

I'll see if I can find my printout from my last alignment, I had them done to my own specs last time and i LOVED the results.

BTW - Is Ron still active on the boards here? I've been needing an alignment VERY badly.

 

I have been going to my mechanic who is a huge s2000 enthusiast. He owns an AP1. Does everything for me too. It's located in north Philadelphia and he was a Honda tech at sloane for years. His shop is call Young auto service. Trust me he know the Honda s2000 very very well. My car is lowered and he made my s2000 AP1 drive straight. He is incredible at his job. Only person I go to with my family's car.

 

Yea the common STR autocross alignment is something like -3 degree camber front, -2.5 rear, zero toe front, a little bit of toe in rear (less than .20) or no rear toe. I've heard people run a lot more camber and different toe settings too in STR. This probably a good base to start with if you are concerned with STR alignment specs.

 

Mattjung2003 I;m going to check your guy out this week. I googled young auto service and the one that came up was the one on cheltenham ave in elkins park is that the one? btw what's your guys name?

I'm going to call mr. tire tm see if Ron is still there i'll let you know. heard nothing but good things as well


Thanks everyone for your input, now I have something to work with. My goal here is to get into road circuits soon. Right now my s2k is lowered to about 2 3/4 . I have toyo proxes 4 225/ 45/ zr 17 94 w in the front and some generic brand I can't think of right now is 255/40/ 17 in the rear with megan full coilovers. What i meant by camber being maxed out is that it can't be adjusted anymore it's to his max unless i get a camber kit

 

Mattjung2003 I;m going to check your guy out this week. I googled young auto service and the one that came up was the one on cheltenham ave in elkins park is that the one? btw what's your guys name?

I'm going to call mr. tire tm see if Ron is still there i'll let you know. heard nothing but good things as well


Thanks everyone for your input, now I have something to work with. My goal here is to get into road circuits soon. Right now my s2k is lowered to about 2 3/4 . I have toyo proxes 4 225/ 45/ zr 17 94 w in the front and some generic brand I can't think of right now is 255/40/ 17 in the rear with megan full coilovers. What i meant by camber being maxed out is that it can't be adjusted anymore it's to his max unless i get a camber kit
[/quote]


Young's auto service is located at:
1415 Haines Street
Philadelphia PA 19126

215-782-8588
Or
215-548-2602

 

....and yet you still want your car this low? You really have no idea do you?

 

why what's wrong with that? When I was in cali I know a bunch of people that go to the track lower than mine and hold records for their class