Looking to get the car set up for autocross and was hoping that somebody had some Alignment specs for me to start off with. If anyone cares to share please post up or pm me.
Thank you

 

There's a lot that will affect what's best and what's possible.

Currently I'm at 2.3º negative camber in front with 0 toe. (camber bolts and 30 offset rims)
In the rear I'm at 1º negative camber with 1/8" toe in. (camber arms and 25 offset 18" rims)

On a short, low speed course you should try a little toe out in the front but it will be nasty on the street. You can try more negative camber in the rear for a low speed track but I'd keep a little toe in for stability. I also found tire pressures around 40 psi hot to work best with street tires. I like Kumho Ecsta XS or Hankook Ventus RS-3 because they don't loose grip when they get hot or wear out. Yokohama AD08 are fantastic cold but fall off as they heat up and are garbage when they get worn. I'm told that Hoosiers are like purple crack. You go broke but the high you get from them ...... I'm sure the other racers will chime in too.

Les

 

Thanks for the specs, Im not going for anything too insane due to it being my street car as well as autocross car. I have full slicks for racing, Hankook and Kuhmo to race on, and just trailer them up.

 

If you are swapping tires at the course, then it is easy to do a "field alignment" to get a little toe out up front. It gets the car to turn-in much quicker, and saves the tires when not racing.

First, make sure you are aligned, then put a paint mark on the steering link (adjustable arm for toe up front) so you can reset your alignment to "STREET" (let the paint dry).

At the track, loosen the locking nut, rotate the link IN to shorten the length of the linkage (see diagram) 1.5 turns per side. I use a 12mm open end wrench. This sets your toe to about 1/8" OUT total after adjusting both sides. Tighten the lock nut. Do NOT just adjust one side 3 turns. I tried this and the ESP/BAS went crazy.

Smile at your competition when your just spent $0 and about 45 seconds to give you another little edge over them. The car is much more responsive, but like a race horse, you have to pay attention because you just took out one of the "I want to drive straight" settings of your car (see below).

When you are done racing and changing your front wheels, just loosen the lock nut, rotate the linkage 1.5 turns OUT to lengthen the linkage back to your paint spot and tighten the lock nut. Drive home on perfectly aligned front wheels.

I did this last season, and experimented from 1/8" toe in, to 1/4" toe out, and 1/8" toe out is about perfect. CAUTION: early in the season I only adjusted the toe at home, and when driving home in the rain once with the toe out (and rear in about 1/4") the car was very unstable over 35mph!

Don't forget the 5 other great things you can do to improve your autocross time:
1. Hoosiers
2. Hoosiers
3. Hoosiers
4. Hoosiers
and finally, you guessed it.
5. Hoosiers

Happy racing!
Mike

 

Does the camber adjustments up front diminish tire clearance? After experimenting with diffrent spacers I opted to run without them. I have clearance (going to do some grinding for piece of mind) but if I go for a more aggressive camber......problems??

Thanks,
Mark

 

From what we found you cant really do much with the stock set-up. You need the camber bolt kit for the front to really adjust camber. I did not need to shave the top bolt above the tire but my father did with his hoosier's, I do plan on shaving mine just for the future.
I will let you know when we really get some camber up front if we have any issues

 

With the stock rims and a 235/40/18 tires the clearance was within 2 or 3 mm to the bolt with around negative 1.6º of front camber. Too close for comfort. And yes, negative camber tucks the tires inside closer to the suspension.

Les

 

Thanks for the responses. I am looking forward to my first auto-x next month. I will be a novice(in cars ) but I think the xfire will be competitive. Thanks to this forum I feel I am not going in totally blind plus years of knee dragging on bikes has taught me a little. Camber is the last piece and my intent is to stay in DS class. I keep hearing that I will get the bug and want to modify and bump up.

Thanks,
Mark