Car is FINALLY done...ALIGNMENT question....
 

So my CRX is finally done and on the road...
I need to get and alignment before I can really drive it daily.
Anyone have any recommendations on what to tell the alignment shop for the specs?
Maybe a bit of negative camber?
I'm going to drive it daily, mainly smooth roads, and it may see a mix of drag/autocross on the weekends. It's currently pretty low, about 1 finger fender gap front/rear, not sure if that's too low.

It's got a JDM B16A swap and as for the suspension mods:

D2 36-way adjustable full COILOVERS

AVID Chromoly Pro-Series Traction Bar

BLOX Lower Control Arms

BUDDY CLUB rear camber kit

Re: Car is FINALLY done...ALIGNMENT question....
 

anyone? i'm thinking 1.5 neg camber f/r? how about caster?

Re: Car is FINALLY done...ALIGNMENT question....
 

Caster is not adjustable. I personally would skip the camber kits and leave the camber at whatever you get with stock upper arms at your ride height, unless you plan to seriously track the car and want MORE negative camber than what your ride height gives you.

Other than that, just tell the shop to align the TOE to factory specs and call it a day. At your ride height, you would be perfectly fine with driving daily with whatever camber you get with stock upper arms, as long as the toe is set correctly. Tire wear will not be an issue.

Re: Car is FINALLY done...ALIGNMENT question....
 

You won't be able to adjust camber in the front with out a kit. It all really depends but since you are mostly dd and some auto-x I would suggest getting alignment done at a place that offers lifetime alignment. That way when you don't have an even you can run little to no camber and when you do you can go in and have them change it.

You would want a little less camber in the back so the car rotates a little easier. Toe can be set to stock specs.

Re: Car is FINALLY done...ALIGNMENT question....
 

maybe do the washer trick in back to take out a little of the negative camber back there, then just have the alignment tech set the front AND rear toe to factory specs.

Re: Car is FINALLY done...ALIGNMENT question....
 

Thanks, someone who autocrosses told me to go slightly negative with camber front/rear about -1.5 to -2.5 and then got a little toe out for the front (1/8th") and a little toe in for the rear (1/16th")....does that make sense? I'm clueless and the shop i'm bringing it too needs me to tell them what to do as they're not experienced in setting up a car like mine.

Re: Car is FINALLY done...ALIGNMENT question....
 

Slight toe-out will accelerate tire wear, especially with negative camber. I would think you would want slight toe-in if nothing else up front. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Re: Car is FINALLY done...ALIGNMENT question....
 

front toe-out can help reduce understeer at initial turn-in. rear toe-in is what drifters do to help make their rwd car easier to control during oversteer conditions (in the middle of a drift). rear toe-OUT will help induce some off-throttle oversteer on a fwd/awd car.

You can tweak the toe on your car and get slightly improved handling on a road course or autocross course, but you sacrifice a great deal on the street. Namely: stability/predictability on bumpy roads or while braking. The biggest sacrifice will be tire life. You'll be eating tires FAST! Do you have a tire sponsor?

Re: Car is FINALLY done...ALIGNMENT question....
 

oh, I just noticed you have a rear camber kit, so forget the washer suggestion, lol.

I would make the rear camber closer to zero than whatever your front ends up being. Actually, for the rear, I wouldn't go more negative than -1deg.

Re: Car is FINALLY done...ALIGNMENT question....
 

Actually he can adjust his caster with the traction bar he has. I use to have the Z-10 traction bar which also allowed for changing of the caster.

Re: Car is FINALLY done...ALIGNMENT question....
 

Adjusting caster in that manner can cause the LCA bushings to bind, since you're essentially pulling the LCA out of its normal plane of movement.