So I did my first S2k autox and was not happy with how tail happy the car was. (MY01)... but it only seemed excessively tail happy in Right Hand turns... plus turn in was not the best... So we put it on my buddy's alignment rack and here were the specs it had (bought the car 2 months ago so its what they were when I bought it.)

Camber
LF -.2deg
RF -.7deg
LR -1.6deg
RR -2.0deg

Caster
L 6.2deg
R 6.2deg

Toe
F total 1/25 OUT (fairly close to even split)
R total 3/16IN (a little less on the left than the right)

Well I figured the low rear Toe in explained the Tailhappy nature and the uneven camber explained the excessive oversteer turning right and the lack of camber up front was probably the culprit for the poor turn in....

So He did an alignment for me based on specs we worked out together... so here are the new specs

LF -1.5deg
RF -1.5deg
LR -2.3deg
RR -2.1deg

Caster
L 5.8deg
R 5.7deg

Toe
F 1/20 OUT
R 2/9 IN (just between 1/5 and 1/4)

turn in is noticeably better and there is a lot less oversteer... and what oversteer there is is much easier to manage... I took the car out to a bunch of on/off ramps, jug handle turns (im in Jersey) and an empty parking lot to test the new alignment... I can take turns much faster and the responses and stability has gone up a lot. the car is far less squirrley...

Just figured Id add another data point for those who are interested...

the car is completely stock

 

Stock '01, so ya running 16's ?

 

yep.

 

i'm on 16's too with my00 and mine's oversteers pretty bad as well. i have -2 camber in the rear, and -1.5 in the front just like you but what was the reason for you lowering the caster? is that better? also when you say you want more toe in, do you mean "/ \" or "\ /"? the top being the front of course...

 

Toe IN =

Front of Car

/ \

--kC

 

I have an '01, and my impression is that the oversteery nature is only at initial turn-in. Once the car heels over and is developing max cornering force, it's pretty neutral.

The key is to be gentle with inputs at the wheel, you can't turn in aggressively with this car.

Regarding caster, he might have lost a little in order to gain camber. Some prefer maxing caster first, then camber, but personally I'm a big fan of maximizing camber even if it loses caster, for road course work anyway. AutoX may favor caster, but for sure his adjusted numbers (-1.5 camber with 5.7/5.8 caster) are WAY better for autoX or road course than his original -.2/-.7 camber with 6.2 caster.

 

The camber v. caster changes are partially an experiment as I would have had to have less camber to keep my caster settings... I may go back and change them t back to the original caster settings and sacrifice some camber for it after I get some more seat time if I feel its warranted. Also rear Toe IN is very important towards reducing oversteer as well. I found that with these toe settings that I could be a lot more aggressive than before on turn in.

Before this alignment I was getting oversteer in just about every turning situation, turn in, mid corner, decelerating, acceleration, everything... now I only seem to get it if I am a little too aggressive on turn in or give it enough throttle to power oversteer. even then the oversteer is much more gradual and proggressive and much easier to control and correct.

 

Maxing caster first is preferred for Auto-x since you will not be dealing with any high speed corners, so steering angle will always be pretty large and hence more camber gain versus a high speed sweeper on a road course.

 

so you want the wheels more forward for caster right? or more back towards the fender? i'm going to re-do my alignment then. i'll try to toe in the rear wheels and see where that gets me =)

 

Toe IN on the rear is Vital to settling down the tail... You want positive caster which moves the wheel forward relative to the top of the shock.