Went to a local shop to have an alignment done for Auto-X. They tell me the the front adjusment will only go to -1.0 camber on the left and the right -1.4. That's it. Forget -1.5, though I was wanting -1.75. The rears max out at -2.1 left and -2.2 right.

When I had an alignment done in Jan. I asked for -1.5 camber on the front and -2.25 rear. I was told this had been done but I didn't see a computer printout.

Is there something I should be looking for?

Any thoughts on curing a camber challenged s2000?

--Tom

 

That sure doesnt seem right. My alignment shop gave me f-2.0 and r-2.5. At least thats what I asked for and they said they were able to do it, but that they could not get more neg rear camber. I would try another shop.

 

Here's the deal.
And it took me three trips to three different shops before someone explained it correctly.

It is most likely the machine. The machine being used on my car aligned the front tires in relation to the rear tires and vicey versey. In effect, if you pull the rears out and the fronts out the same, you're fine. When you bring camber into the mix, it throws the machine off. The lasers on the rear tires can't align with the lasers on the front tires, and there is literally NO reading on the machine (I don't mean zero, I mean nothing -.--). The way to resolve this is to go to a shop that has some racing background and a machine that will align the wheels with respect to a constant point (say, on the wall in front of the machine).

The shops told me they could only get -1 front camber and -1.2 rear. I THOUGHT they meant the car was only able to adjust that much. The third shop showed me that they could adjust the camber in the rear to -3.5, but in order for the machine to read that measurement, the toe had to be CRAZY funky, and the front tires would have to be just as F'ed up too.

Try another shop. Make sure you ask what type of machine they have. I believe it is an IR (infrared) machine, but I don't know the specifics.

I typed that fast, so I hope I made that easy enough to understand.

 

Same issue here. The last 2 shops I went to could only get the front left to -1 or less although they could get the right to the setting I wanted. I also couldn't get the caster I wanted either. They said my shit was bent which is sort of hard to argue with without making measurements I suppose.

 

I just got this done. I mean, JUST. I picked up the car an hour ago.

They set me (at my request) to -1.75 in from and -2.0 rear. No problems. They are a "performance" car shop, though. http://www.ajusa.com/ Convieniently just 1 mile down the street from my office.

Brian was very professional and they washed and vacuumed the car as well (with no swirl marks, even. They should teach the Honda dealers how to do that.) They gave me a computer printout of what the camber, toe and caster are set to now, what they were at before, and what Honda recommends. I dropped the car off at 9:00 am, went to work, and they called me at 2pm and said I could come get it anytime.

Great place. I'd go back.

-geekd

 

It takes some patience and money to find the right shop. I'm at -1.75F & 2.00R, but we couldn't get the amount of caster we were looking for. Since I've had the car aligned so many times with the shop, they only charge me $50 a whack.

 

The general consensus is try a new shop. Which I will do. Question -- and this might sound stupid--does the front sway bar come into play? I rolled the car up on ramps and put a saner bar on some months ago. Interestingly (sic) afterward the right side I could move -- I mean, I could twist or turn the endlink with my hand -- and on the left side I could not, the tires were setting on ramps, full weight of the car. Now it takes all of a few miles for the bar to make noise -- the endlinks -- before it starts making a lot of noise, when I got the car back from the shop the bar was quiet, yet I was standing there when the alignment was being done and he didn't tighten the nuts and bolts of the endlinks. Here's the stupid part -- could the sway bar restrict the amount of adjustable negative camber on the front? If the endlinks were disconnected and then reconnected after camber adjustment would this make a difference?

--Tom

 

one thing that is tricky about the s2000 is that there are a lot of adjustments, a performance oriented shop shouldn't have a problem (and I have seen cars that, from the factory, couldn't get a whole lot of camber, just unlucky tolerances)

but, more than likely they are only using one adjustment or are doing something else dumb. I would find a different shop.

the sway bar, unless it was SEVERELY binding wouldn't cause an alignment problem, check for deformation of the bushings at rest and make sure the bar is centered.

 

I took the car to two more shops. The first claimed to be a performance shop. Engines seem to be their thing though. He did an aligment on an older machine. The right side of the car he could come up with whatever numbers I wanted. The driverside was a different matter. On the front -1.40 and -1.6 on rear. Ended up with these numbers to keep sides balanced:

Front Left side
castor 5.72 5.92
camber -1.40 -1.60
toe -3/32 -3/32

Rear
camber -1.60 -1.92
Toe +1/8 +1/16


Drove ten miles to another shop (smooth rode), which uses infared setup. He read what had just been done, no adjustments. Readings:

Front castor 6.1 Left side 6.3
camber -1.3 -1.6
toe -1/8 -1/8

rear camber -2.4 -2.0
toe 1/8 0

Left that shop after another adjustment.

Front castor 6.1 left side 6.3
camber -1.3 -1.8
toe +1/16 +1/16

rear camber -2.5 -2.6
toe -3/16 -1/4

The only thing that seems consistent seems that lack of neg camber on driverside front. That tire cords on the outer edge way before any other.

The front adjustment on the driverside front of the lower control arm, the bolt with cam plate, showed the cam plate maxed. But then so did the other side when the best reading I could get was -1.4. Now it's at -1.8 (supposedly). Is it possbile that the bolt that runs through the bushinig is not doing its job when turned -- instead it's compressing the rubber in the bushing and not moving the lower control arm out? Could that bushing be bad? Car is an '00 with less than 19,000 miles on it. I was told at two alignment shops "no way." But I'm becoming increasingly skeptical about what any alignment shop tells me. No bushing looks bad from what can be seen though.

Dealing with the driverside front. The only adjustments I'm aware of are the two on the lower control arm, the front and back. The front running horizontal to the ground, the back one perpendicular. The toe is handled separately? Are these the only two adjustments to play with when trying to add neg camber to the front driverside or is there something else I can fool with?

--Tom

 

what I'd do is ask the local autoXsers where they get their car aligned... someone must know what is going on. that seems very strange unless your bushings are failing