STR Prep - Suspension and Alignment
03-12-2012, 09:50 AM
#251
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Boom! Just ordered the 0.125" Rear Gendron bar. Hopefully it will be the ticket to help solve my understeer issue. Now I just need to trim my front bump stops a little and get a new alignment.
I'm thinking about -2.8 front, -2.4 rear and 0 Toe front and 0.125 Toe IN rear.
I'm thinking about -2.8 front, -2.4 rear and 0 Toe front and 0.125 Toe IN rear.
03-12-2012, 04:48 PM
#252
Jon,
I'm not sure what will be best for you, but I like my mx5 rear bar. I do suggest getting two 21mm or slightly bigger split collars to put on the other side of the pressed sway bar retainers that come on the mx5 bar. Mine moved laterally about 1/4" and it was causing the bushing lubr to slide out and the bushing to become dry. I ordered two aluminum ones from mcCarr to limit lateral travel on mx5 bar. I can get u the part number at a later time, but I think I went with13/64 to approximate 21mm.
See you Sunday.
I'm not sure what will be best for you, but I like my mx5 rear bar. I do suggest getting two 21mm or slightly bigger split collars to put on the other side of the pressed sway bar retainers that come on the mx5 bar. Mine moved laterally about 1/4" and it was causing the bushing lubr to slide out and the bushing to become dry. I ordered two aluminum ones from mcCarr to limit lateral travel on mx5 bar. I can get u the part number at a later time, but I think I went with13/64 to approximate 21mm.
See you Sunday.
Pics:
OEM CR rear sway - has a retainer on both sides (unlike the MX-5 bar)
Jon,
I bought four of these, and only needed two. I can sell you the remaining two at the Warminster TnT if you would like.
03-12-2012, 11:57 PM
#253
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Do you guys over torque the alignment bolts to make sure they hold, especially being old/re-used? What's a good spec to use?
03-13-2012, 03:42 AM
#254
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The guy that does my alignments tightens them more than factory spec. I've had a few other alignments someplace else and things always seem to loosen up then. On the way home from Nationals last year I noticed my steering wheel was off by 15-20 degrees which I found interesting. That probably helped right? 
03-13-2012, 05:07 AM
#255
Thread Starter
I use 80 ft-lb and have not had any issues with changes post alignment. At spec torque I did have issues with movement. Maybe that is by design to safe things. A 0.5" grade 8 bolt can be torqued to just over 100 ft-lb under dry conditions.
Or maybe alignment shops use low torque to guarantee you'll need to come back for another alignment.
Or maybe alignment shops use low torque to guarantee you'll need to come back for another alignment.
03-13-2012, 06:03 AM
#256
Just to second what others have said, I've also found alignment to change if the bolts are torqued to factory spec. I've found that tightening them about as hard as they will go with hand wrenches works, which probably ends up being similar to what Rob said - around 80 ft lbs.
03-13-2012, 08:02 AM
#257
FWIW, I get my alignments done at PTuning in Manassas, VA. They do a lot of work on the S2000. They suggested using around 95 ft-lbs for autocross applications and told me they have had good results with that, so I took them up on that tighter spec than the OEM. Never had a problem on OEM torque settings either though.
03-18-2012, 08:22 PM
#259
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So this weekend Random1 and I measured the AP2 rear toe curve on my car to compare to his AP1.
Both of us expected there to be some toe-in under compression and toe-out under rebound, just less then what is found on the AP1.
What we found was pretty surprising. There is no toe change on the AP2, and the track gets wider under compression.
At maximum ride height of 16 inches from axel center to fender there was 0 toe.
From 15.5 - 10.5 there was 1/16 of toe in.
We did get a measurement of 1/8 toe in at 12.5 inches but we figure there is a 1/16 margin of error in the measurements.
Either way this shows why the AP2 is a little more stable than the AP1.
**Normally my car is at 1/4 toe in, but a recent event with some spins moved the alignment around just a tad.
Both of us expected there to be some toe-in under compression and toe-out under rebound, just less then what is found on the AP1.
What we found was pretty surprising. There is no toe change on the AP2, and the track gets wider under compression.
At maximum ride height of 16 inches from axel center to fender there was 0 toe.
From 15.5 - 10.5 there was 1/16 of toe in.
We did get a measurement of 1/8 toe in at 12.5 inches but we figure there is a 1/16 margin of error in the measurements.
Either way this shows why the AP2 is a little more stable than the AP1.
**Normally my car is at 1/4 toe in, but a recent event with some spins moved the alignment around just a tad.
