Do you use different settings from Honds'a spec when you get a wheel alignment? If so, what settings do you use and why?

I got a wheel alignment, set to Honda's specs, and noticed the car had a higher caster setting (7.0) before the alignment.

As soon as I left the shop I noticed less in-line stability and the car reacted more to the crown in the road. (The shop did use slightly different caster settings from left to right to compensate for the tendency for the car to follow the crown.)

My conclusion is that next time I go I should tell them to set the caster back to 7.0 but that seems rather high to me and if anyone can enlighten me further about what wheel alignment specs are best, I'm interested.

 

On the track, most people set camber and toe to where they want it, then get as much caster as is left over (the settings are not independent). In general, more caster means more propensity for the steering to return to center.

With cars that don't have power steering, lots of caster can make the wheel hard to turn. With power steering that's not much of an issue.