Lowering Springs Pros and Cons

[Toadster]

Rear camber should be -.5° for optimum wheel fitment and rear toe under .1

for stock wheel/tire setup?

 

[UNBROKEN]

for stock wheel/tire setup?

For any wheel and tire set up.

 

[BrooseDaMoose]

For any wheel and tire set up.

I’m having an alignment done on Monday. I should tell them to set the rear camber at -.5 and the toe under .1 but what about the front?


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[Cdubya]

I’m having an alignment done on Monday. I should tell them to set the rear camber at -.5 and the toe under .1 but what about the front?

Do yourself a favor and print this out in case your dealer/shop doesn't know about this adjustment in the rear:
https://www.explorerst.org/threads/alignment-specs-camber.3875/#post-86031

 

[BrooseDaMoose]

Do yourself a favor and print this out in case your dealer/shop doesn't know about this adjustment in the rear:
https://www.explorerst.org/threads/alignment-specs-camber.3875/#post-86031

Thanks! I’ll show it to them and see what they say.


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[BrooseDaMoose]

Why is it so difficult for shops to get this right? I told them before they started what to look for and showed them what I printed out from above but they couldn't get it right. He knew how to adjust it but said he couldn't get it no where near -.5°! Said he moved it as far as it would go.

I refused to pay for it because they couldn't get it right. I even brought my iPad and showed the manager this site and of course he said "These are just people on the internet. You can't go by what you find on the internet." This is suposed to be a good shop too! All they do is tires and alignments! So now I need to find another shop quick.

 

[UNBROKEN]

Moving rear toe will drag the camber with it a bit….thats all they did. They didn’t touch the actual rear camber bolt….guaranteed. Find a real shop then take the readout back to the manager at the first shop and drop it in his lap.

 

[Toadster]

For any wheel and tire set up.

ok cool - do you have a spec sheet for the whole setup front/rear for optimal alignment?

 

[UNBROKEN]

The front will generally be around -.8° to -.1°…give or take on each side depending on how square the subframe is. Caster will be fine…set toe to spec. Set the rear how I already posted and it’ll be happy.

 

[BrooseDaMoose]

I made this sheet using the info from this thread. Does it look correct? I want to take it to another shop I found that is supossed to be good.

 

[SimonsGTS]

View attachment 26823
I made this sheet using the info from this thread. Does it look correct? I want to take it to another shop I found that is supossed to be good.

That looks good, nice work BrooseDaMoose. The only thing I would add is that the weight should be removed from the rear wheels to make the adjustment, then set down and verified, then torque the nuts after it's in spec Most alignment racks have secondary jacks for this purpose. Although an experienced alignment tech should know this it won't hurt to bring it up.

 

[Cruising68]

Laughing in this thread. While I agree with all the problems getting these aligned I wanted to share a recent experience at a new Belle Tire with alignment on Steeda springs when getting new tires.

Guy has a nice dual jacking lift making me wish I had one. Punches in my model into the alignment workstation and it pulls up the alignment specs. Goes through an interesting calibration for a few minutes then shows out of spec. A video pops up showing where the adjustment is for the desired change. At least that’s how it worked on the front haha. Back comes out of alignment. Manager comes out and says no charge for the alignment, can’t be fixed. He leaves. I look at the alignment tech shaking my head. I give him $20 and point to the inner bolt in the rears. He smiles. Gets the alignment right on and off I go with a perfect $20 alignment


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[BrooseDaMoose]

That looks good, nice work BrooseDaMoose. The only thing I would add is that the weight should be removed from the rear wheels to make the adjustment, then set down and verified, then torque the nuts after it's in spec Most alignment racks have secondary jacks for this purpose. Although an experienced alignment tech should know this it won't hurt to bring it up.

I went to another shop and mentioned taking the weight off the rear wheels and the guy looked at me and laughed. He said he never heard of that in his 10+ years doing alignments. He said if anything, some manufacturers suggest adding weight to simulate passengers in the seats. He mentioned BMW being one of them. I showed him the print out from the other shop and he said that, considering I'm on lowering springs, it's not that bad. He said he would take it in and try to get it into the specs I showed him but couldn't gaurantee it. He said I may need a camber adjustment kit if they make one for the vehicle.

 

[UNBROKEN]

For fucks sake you don’t need a camber kit. Those literally bolt into the factory camber adjustment slot and have LESS adjustment range than stock. Tell that guy to **** of.

 

[Metalmoons]

I have the H&R lowering springs, adjusted the alignment and you can feel a big difference in the steering wheel

 

[BrooseDaMoose]

For fucks sake you don’t need a camber kit. Those literally bolt into the factory camber adjustment slot and have LESS adjustment range than stock. Tell that guy to **** of.

LOL! I’ve got one other place to try in the next town over, but then I’m out of luck. They’re also a tire and alignments shop but they do lift kits as well so maybe they can figure it out. Only other places around are Town Fair, Firestone and Midas. The Midas shop has been there for as long as I can remember so I might go by there just to see what they say if this shop doesn’t work out.


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[SimonsGTS]

I went to another shop and mentioned taking the weight off the rear wheels and the guy looked at me and laughed. He said he never heard of that in his 10+ years doing alignments. He said if anything, some manufacturers suggest adding weight to simulate passengers in the seats. He mentioned BMW being one of them. I showed him the print out from the other shop and he said that, considering I'm on lowering springs, it's not that bad. He said he would take it in and try to get it into the specs I showed him but couldn't gaurantee it. He said I may need a camber adjustment kit if they make one for the vehicle.

LOL! But he still said you needed a camber kit! But as long as he can figure out a little leverage it works either way. The first two Ford Dealers I went to loosened the bolts and once the upper control arm shifted inside because the weight of the vehicle they gave up! I adjusted it in my garage on jack stands and took it to Les Schwab it was already within specs. Good luck!

 

[Cdubya]

LOL! But he still said you needed a camber kit! But as long as he can figure out a little leverage it works either way. The first two Ford Dealers I went to loosened the bolts and once the upper control arm shifted inside because the weight of the vehicle they gave up! I adjusted it in my garage on jack stands and took it to Les Schwab it was already within specs. Good luck!

This is the way. Make that upper control arm adjustment yourself and then take it in for alignment.

 

[SimonsGTS]

This is the way. Make that upper control arm adjustment yourself and then take it in for alignment.

This is the way.

 

[BrooseDaMoose]

As one point in time I would do this. However, arthritis has limited my ability to do a lot of things I used to do. It’s hard for me to turn wrenches anymore. I do have someone who might help me though. If I were to attempt this, how do I know when it’s in specs? Do I just eyeball it?


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