alignment specs
 

i was wondering if anyone knew a good alignment setup for a 90 miata with just either tein or racingbeat springs i am lookin for one that will make the car handle well this is just my autocross car so it dosen't have to be too streetable. and just incase you are wondering i did search but didn't find any good results....anyway if you have anything post up.

my current is:

-2.5* front camber -2.8* rear camber.
0* toe front .15* toe in rear.
4* castor.

CAMBER
-2.75F, -2.5R

CASTER
Max

Toe
1/8th out front, 0 rear.

fouwhls, you're running more camber in front than the rear?

The Miata has more dynamic camber in the rear, therefore less static camber is needed.

Running more camber in the rear is a theory invented by the m.net "thinktheyknowitalls"

interesting number, how is tire wear with this setup?

This is an alignment recommended for a 205 to 225 series tire.

Tire wear is great on the autocross course. I would not recommend an alignment this agressive for daily use. You will wear your tires out on the street.

With the 275s I was running -3.0F and -2.75R while in CSP. I'm going to ditch a little camber in the rear now that I have a SC. I need to get the power to the ground.

This is news to me. I was always under the impression that less camber rear than front, meant oversteer. Just curious how you arrived at those numbers....did you do an analysis of the control arm movement as well?

What's your recommendation for a 80/20 street/auto-x situation?

I was thinking -1.5F/-1.5R as a starting point (with 195/60 R14 Azenis) and then tuning the balance with more or less camber at the rear.

for a 80/20 set up, i would say
1.5f 2r
max caster
1/32nd toe in rear (assuming you are at stock power level)
1/32nd toe out front
make sure you are in the driver seat when having the alignment done or at least a weights equal to about what you weigh
fourwhls, please elaborate on the rear camber...this is the first time i hear this and my prior educator was not affiliated with mnet, lol

All the SM and other Miata track guys I've spoken with run more negative camber up front than rear. Emilio started a thread on m.net about alignment settings that he's had luck with. There's an alignment tech articl on SM.com that states -2 f/r to start with, that is with an SM suspension though. I was running -1.4/-1.8 0 front toe, 1/16 rear toe in, RB hollow bar, no rear bar, 9kg front springs, 6kg rear springs and the car still felt a little tail happy. I'm going to try -2 f/r, keep the rest, reset the ride height, and try again. I don't want to run any toe out up front since I drive on the street, and the toe is going to beat on the tires more than the camber. I just read a thread on m.net where Andy Hollis said if aftermarket control arm bushings are used, then the rear toe in should be greater than 1/16.

My alignment spec were derived from testing. Every car is going to be different being that there are so many factors that come into play.

Here's a good thread discussing alignments. It's worth a read.

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=245058

All measures with driver in car.

Alignment settings
Front
Camber -2.9/-2.9
Caster 6.3/6.2 ( love those offset bushings)
Toe -0.17 degrees ( that should be a little more than 1/8 total toe out)
Rear
Camber -2.2/-2.2
Toe 0.06 (slightly less than a 16th toe in)
Thrust angle -0.04

That's with 275s. I was running -3.2 front last year with zero rear toe. I am a little lower with a litte more front spring and a lot more power this year. I was wearing the inside fronts at -3.2. YMMV

wow i am surprised to see so many responses this fast i will just have to try a few differnt setups and see what works best(i get alingments done for $25 lol) any recomendations on springs and sway bars? i will be ordering them this week but not too manyother parts yet bc my honda needs over $1000 to get my new tranny in.EDIT prolly just gonna go with racing beat springs and sways

I would recommend FM springs if your going with springs and shocks, as for shocks im not the best but have had experience with agx's which i liked for 300 bucks off e-bay. FM springs with so koni's would be nice. As for allignment specs i feel it really depends on driving style/ ride height/ and spring rates.

I currently have tein flex 9k front 6k rear springs.
My hub to fender height is 12F 12.5R
Camber F = -2.8*
Caster F = Max
0 Toe all around for me (b/c of tire wear issues)
Camber R = -2.9 ( but i will be changing it to -2.5 soon)
Caster = 4.5* rear

with my setup i run these (12" all around):

1/16" toe out front
1/16" toe in rear
-2 degrees camber front
-1.5 degrees camber rear

For my road car i tried 2.5* all round, but found that 2* all round feels just as good and a little less tyre wear.

More camber on the rear is a fwd style setup.

My current alignment is 2.0* all round with 0mm toe front and 1.0mm toe in each side rear. And as much castor as possible which i think was about 5*

Tim

Oh come on, you can't bash m.net in your first post and then turn around and post a link there saying it has all the answers. LOL



I really agree that your alignment needs to be developed through testing. Mine is a compromise based on the local driving I do. Each track and driver should have a different setup including springs, shocks and tire pressures.


Is anyones alignment going to be perfect for you? No, but you can start with a good baseline and go from there.

thats all i am lookin for lol

I forget what i run. My numbers are at home. I tend to wear away the inside of my tires on the street. Oh well thats what cheap tires for the street are for and the big stickies for the track.

You may not be able to hit more than -2* camber. The important thing about a baseline is that it's precise, tracks straight and you can return to it when you fuck everything else up.

Maby start with something like -1.5 camber all around. 0 toe front and 0 toe rear.