Hi All,

tried to get an aggressive alignment on my s2k, but during alignment i was told my front passenger side has an issue where they couldnt adjust it beyond -1 (all three other corner was capable of going beyond -1 with much room for going even further). *ride height is probably at 1 finger gap

i ended up just settling for fronts for -1 and rear -2

the alignment shop is quite reputable and known for working on s2ks, they did tell me it's probably the lower or upper control arms or knuckles that may be bent , nothing looked off visually so they wont know for sure unless they take it all apart and get it measured to see which part is the culprit.

i am wondering how much negative camber i would be able to achieve if i just went with an aftermarket roll center for the front? (im specifically leaning towards megans, but could go with J's if that offers a great range of adjustability)

ideally i want to be in the -3 range for fronts. the car is not a daily and probably sees the track once or twice a year so i dont mind the aggressive setting

thoughts?

 

I have the Megan Racing offset ball joints which also include roll center adjuster plates. I'm assuming that's what you're referring to.

I was able to get 1.7 deg camber both sides before and ended up with 3.2 deg after. So they add around 1.5 deg.

I'd still try to determine why you're only getting 1 deg on the passenger side as it could be due to something bent or cracked. I'd want to know that I had that figured out before I drove it much more, especially before I tracked it.

 

You need aftermarket joints of some sort to get to -3.

Upper joints or bushings are better for wheel clearance.

Lower joints provide a better track and some roll center correction.

You don't plan to fix whatever is bent, though?

 

i do want to fix whatever is bent but it's hard to tell at this point what's actually bent if at all , i was quoted ~$300 just for the diagnostic and ~$2k for labor and part if every part (upper control arm, lower control arm, knuckles, wheel bearing) needs to be replaced.

although that is an unlikely scenario having to replace every part but i dont know see how they can measure it without buying the parts since you wouldnt know by going used for the arms.

 

What was the max camber attainable on the driver side?

 

it was at least -2 and maybe a little bit more

 

1 deg difference between sides does seem outside of the normal variations just from tolerances. Have you pulled the wheels off and looked at both sides to see if you can pinpoint what's different? Might be worth an hour or more to save the shop charges to diagnose it. Beyond the obvious looking for a bent control arm, I'd also be looking at the mounting points for any signs of the welds failing or any ripples in the metal around them that might occur from an impact with a curb before you bought the car.

 

yea, i actually went to my mechanic friend who got my car on the lift, everything looked pretty normal or at least not able to visually tell what is off from the control arm, knuckles perspective but it still doesnt mean they are not slightly bent

he did however point out one of the sub frame bolts on the passenger front side is not bolted all the way down , maybe off by a little bit and when he tried to impact it in , it is not moving. He did not try to back it out and replace it since we were not confident if it will make it worse than the current situation. i did recently had my clutch replaced so im checking with the shop to see if they noticed that as a problem when they did the clutch job as they had to lower the sub frame a little

 

Maxed out my car was like 1.5

installed this



I can run now like 5 or 6 degre...

 

You have to get the subframe figured out before you go any further. Figure that out and then see if you still have the issue. If it is the 19mm bolt that is a really long SOB, it actually has two sets of threads and gaulds/breaks frequently, be very careful! I would use a ratchet and very slowly work it out, going 1/2 turn out 1/4 turn back in DO NOT force it. This will take some time but will save you problems (ask me how I know). Once you get it out replace it, then loosen/tighten them all back to spec.

To be clear though that bolt needs removed/replaced, I would not just try to tighten it back in, IMO that will cause more issues.

As as far as your actual alignment you start loosing caster after around -2.2 on a normal S2k, so anything more and you will need aftermarket ball joints. I have the Buddy Club and like them.