Just did my 12000 km service (around 8000 miles), so what the heck lets try that UK wheel alignment. I didn't have any issues with the car's handling before, but decided to see if it would be better for autocross and the track. My rear tires are almost worn, so the extra negative camber should put the last nail in the coffin. Anyways, here is my settings (MY02, stock ride height, stock wheels and SO-2 tires):

Adjustment / Old value / New value

left front camber / -0.3

 

why different negative cambers for the front - left and right not equal??

compensating for driver or something???

 

Quite honestly, I don't know. I'm no suspension expert so I'm not going to worry about it since I really couldn't feel the difference with right and left turns. It might show up when I'm on the track, but like most things it probably doesn't matter on road. I'll see when the car get's pushed at Shannonville.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Fongu
[B]

Quite honestly, I don't know.

 

Fongu,

I had mine done recently. I also wanted the UK settings but ended up with something close (the tech said he could not get anymore caster in the front). However, I really love the new feel and I would describe it the same as you have. I can't wait to track the car, which I hope will be next week. I don't know what it will do as far as tire wear but I like the feel so much better I don't care. BTW, my original settings were all to specs (except he forgot to check castor before he changed it, so that I don't know.) It definitely gives the car a more grounded and aggressive feel.

DLQ Wheel Alignment
Camber, Front: Left -0.7 deg / Right -1.0 deg
Camber, Rear: Left -2.0 deg / Right -2.10 deg
Caster, Front: Left 5.5 deg / Right 5.1 deg
Toe, Front: Left 0.05 deg / Right 0.05 deg
Toe, Rear: Left 0.19 deg / Right 0.21 deg
Total Toe,Rear: 0.39 deg
Thrust Angle -0.01 deg

UK TSB Wheel Alignment Recommendations
Honda UK settings are published in degree/minutes and some machines take inputs in decimal degree which is translated by = sign.
Camber
Front -1 deg 00 min
Rear -2 deg 00 min
Caster
Front 6 deg 45 min = 6.75

 

dlq04: on your final rear toe calculation, 40 min = 0.67 degrees, not 0.32 degrees. Were you trying to equate that toe angle (40 minutes) to 1/32nd of an inch (0.03125"), since toe is more typically mearsured in inches?

 

These are the settings which I have applied fairly recently - this is on a MY00. Overall, the car feels more 'seated'.

Just as a matter of interest, tyres wear slightly unevenly over here due to the high number of roundabouts which need to be negotiated (clockwise)

 

dlq04,
I actually pulled the settings from a thread you answered! I'll want to get to the track too to see if there is better feel. I'm sure there will be more lateral grip because of the increased negative camber, but it will be more interesting to see how the new under/oversteer balance is and how controllable it is. Got a track day on the 17th and an autocross on the 24th so a pretty good opportunity to wring it out. It'll be hard to tell how much is the car or how much it will be me since I've been getting progressively better at car control in my rookie autocross year.

Chris,
Thanks for the actual UK TSB scan. It's nice to see the actual document. BTW, I would think it would be a blast to do the turning circles at the straight line speed limit

 

I've had the UK settings for about a year now and highly recommend them. /They make a noticeable improvement.

 

As I recall I picked the conversion numbers from another thread in which the owner took in the UK sheet (which I also had) to an alignment shop and I understood they did the conversion with their machine... I may have mistakingly picked up degrees instead of inches when he did the post. Thanks for the catch. All the alignment stuff - camber, caster, toe, thrust angle, included angle, steering axis, scrub radius, and on and on can give a guy a headache. I'm stilll puzzled why they could give me more castor. I'm below the original spec. The alignment person was personally recommended to me by high performance shop in our area that does chassis dyno, etc. I really love my settings and have no plans to change them at this time but I'm still a bit puzzled. I'd rather be lucky than right.