Just lowered 3/4" and need to get an alignment. Did some searching of past posts, and seems the UK alignment specs are quite popular for the street. I will be doing a half dozen or so track events, starting on street rubber, OEM wheels, '04. This is a street car first, track car second, at this time.

Based on this info, are the European alignment specs appropriate, or should I be looking at something else? If something else, why?

thanks

 

There is only a such thing as UK spec alignment for AP1, suspension was revised for AP2 and there was no uk spec

Did you try searching? there is lots of information on alignments, I just got mine done last week and all the other threads answered my questions

 

Please re-read my post - yes, I did some searching, and found people with AP1's and AP2's using the same "standard" UK alignment specs:


Front Caster 6[sup]o[/sup]45" = 6.75°
Front Camber -1.0°
Front Toe 0.0°

Rear Camber -2.0°
Rear Toe 0°20" = +0.16°
Total Toe 0°40" = +0.32°

There were a boatload of other alignment specs people are/were using, but I am not going to get aligned based off one of 2 data points - wanted to find something which was more commonly used / liked / followed.

BTW, what are your specs, and how did you get there?

thanks

 

Dude, alignment specs are like butt holes.....so just pick something and try it out if you don't know what you are doing.

More camber usually means more traction in turns, and less under braking. Most ppl chose zero toe for the front for high speed stability. Most will chose some toe in for the rear for stability, I use the OEM setting here. Most will chose max caster in the front for better steering feel.

BTW, the "UK" settings will work for any S2000.

 

I tried these specs too. I think next alignment I will be wanting more camber on the front, more rear toe, and I gotta figure out my front toe. Im all about the best feel on a track or a corner though. One guy at honda said toe out is better than toe in on the front, I could have sworn it was toe in that you wanted on the front .

 

Toe out helps you "start" the turn as the front inside will begin in the direction of the turn more quickly.
I have 1/16" out on the front and I like the feel vs neutral.

 

Honda changed the rear toe specs for the AP2, since the suspension was revised (6mm toe in for 00-03, 3.7mm toe in for 04+ according to my service manual). Yes you can still use whatever specs you want, but the 'uk spec' was never really meant to be applied to an ap2

I did stock toe (0 F, 1/8" total toe in rear), camber -1.5 F and -2.5 R, caster maxed out (equal on both sides of course). I started with the stock specs, copied what I needed from the uk specs and kept my goals in mind and decided on those specs (a bit more camber to fit my wheels, ap2 toe specs to save my rears from extra wear) and decided on that. Like the other poster mentioned, everyone uses different specs and different people will prefer different alignments - if you're going to be doing that many track days you can play around with different alignments until you know what works best for you.

 

\ NOW I start to get confused..... You state toe in mm and inches, rather than degrees - what's the conversion?

So, what do your specs look like when converted to the format I have listed, above (or is toe usually listed in units of inches?)? I don't have my factory manual here, so dot no know the '04 factory alignment specs.

FWIW, am willing to sacrifice some tire wear, due to camber, in exchange for better track handling. FWIW, drop is 1".

 

did some more searching and found a general trend, relative to Honda's specs:

Toe (F and R): no real difference from 'stock'
Camber (F and R): a degree or two more than 'stock'
Caster (F): unsure what you typically get when max'd out - 'stock' is something like 6[sup]o

[/sup]

How are inches converted to degrees for Toe? I've seen people using both units.

 

Inches is the standard measure for toe and I recommend you stick with the stock settings. I tried less toe in the rear and didn't like the twitchy squirming under hard braking and the nervous turn in. The rear toe in adds stability under braking--bushing flex allows the rear wheels to toe outward under braking. The more you trail brake the more toe in you need.

The S2000's camber and caster settings are tied together and normally camber is the higher priority. Without modifying the front ball joints you'll usually max out at -2 front camber.

Alignment specs are a compromise. Most track only cars are set around -3.5 front and -3 rear camber, 0 toe front, stock toe in rear, and 6-7 degrees of caster. These settings work well with an upgraded suspension and r compound tires.

These settings will wear out the inside shoulder of a street driven tire pretty quickly though.

I would recommend you start with the "UK" settings but stock rear toe and go from there.