akula-ssh

I've finally decided I want to have better turn-in on my car, so I went in for an alignment. I've been reasonably happy with how my car has been behaving, but thought some experimenting won't hurt. I don't have CPP arms, so there aren't so much to adjust, but anyways, these are my initial spec (all in degrees):

Camber: -1.41 (LF), -1.47 (RF), -1.30 (LR), -1.06 (RR)
Caster: 4.32 (LF), 4.41 (RF)
Toe: 0.24 (LF), 0.26 (RF), 0.34 (LR), 0.22 (RR)

Specs after the first alignment (no change in caster):

Camber: -1.38 (LF), -1.46 (RF), -2.10 (LR), -2.06 (RR)
Toe: 0.04 (LF), 0.05 (RF), 0.16 (LR), 0.21 (RR)

What I asked the shop to do was to reduce toe, which they did to about the same amount front and rear for me. The guy who worked on my car told me that in stock form there's about 0.5 degree more negative camber at the rear than the front, thus the setting. The turn-in improved quite noticeably, but I had a bit more understeer than before. So what do I do? I went back for an adjustment to the rear:

Camber: -1.35 (LR), -1.33 (RR)
Toe: 0.29 (LR), 0.27 (RR)

The unfortunate thing is that for whatever reason camber simply has to be quite negative for close to 0 toe, thus this spec. This brought me to settings that are close to what I began with (except now the toe's not wonky like before). Impression: to be honest, not a whole lot different than before I started with this experiment. That's of course unacceptable after having spent money, so a 3rd adjustment...

Camber: -1.94 (LR), -1.89 (RR)
Toe: 0.17 (LR), 0.17 (RR)

The guy at the shop managed to get the toe back to similar specs as after the 1st alignment, but reduced the amount of camber by ~0.2 degree. And now I'm happy: sharper turn-in, and a good neutral handling balance

Jack Wang

Hi, are you in BC?? May I ask which shop you go to?? Thanks..

Spinnetti

A4 is essentially a pig, as much as I like it..

To get it to rotate, you want to REDUCE the grip in the rear, namely, less rear camber, less rear toe, increased roll stiffness in the rear (I put on the S4 rear bar)... I'm going to have mine aligned pretty soon, and put the rear camber to stock (-2 now) and around 0 toe.

leftcool

Did you ever install the BMC CDA?

akula-ssh

Fountain Tire at Clark and 1st. Ask for Curtis.

akula-ssh

I agree with what you said, which is why I've got the H-sport at stiff, and wanted to have less camber than I seem to be able to dial in, and the lowered toe.

akula-ssh

One thing at a time :P But no, still not. Now that I've bought it, I'll put it in, in time.

JsprZ

my alignment guy said that without a camber kit, i cannot reduce my camber of -2 in the front b/c my suspension is so low. is this true?

akula-ssh

Indeed, you need CPP links for that. The rears though can be adjusted quite readily.

Spinnetti

Now it just so happens, that 2 degrees is what I wanted...

I am getting bad wear though.. Gonna raise the car just a tad to reduce the front camber a bit.

If you want stock type alignment, you have to get adjustable arms for the front..