W0Pdego

Hello, I apologize in advance because I know absolutely nothing about alignment settings aside from what I've been able to pick up on S2KI, and there isn't really as much info out there that I've been able to find on AP1's as opposed to AP2's. I have had my current S2000 for five years now, and as I'm not the only one to drive it, I wanted to tame the handling a bit until my significant other became more accustomed to rear wheel drive cars. From the first tire change, I have been running the UK recommended AP1 alignment as it turned down the knife edged handling and throttle lift induced oversteer characteristics of the car. Now that she is more accustomed to how the car handles, I have just brought the vehicle to get aligned back to stock US AP1 alignment specs (along with 4 brand new tires). I asked for a printout before I left the shop, and upon examining it, it appears that the rear toe is different on each wheel (not too worrying), but it is also much higher than I anticipated (worrying). Can someone that knows what they're looking at tell me if I should be concerned or if i should attempt to bring it more into spec?

Car Analogy

Im no expert, but that looks like a recipe for spooky handling. Such different rear toe will have the rear end steering one way, then the other, as weight is transferred, such as when you speed up a little, or slow down a little, while turning.

I would expect you would feel that just going straight, as you accelerate through the gears, on the gas, off the gas, etc, rear having a mind of its own as you go.

The rear toe and rear camber are both adjusted at the same time, with same adjustment. As you work on one angle, the other angle changes at the same time. Its not easy to get both spot on together.

But if I could only get one right, and the other only close to spec, I would want it to be the toe that is accurate. It seems they did the opposite.

Sent from my SM-G920P using IB AutoGroup

Slowcrash_101

You may have a worn rear camber arm bushing, is your steering wheel straight? What happens is that most shops do toe and go, and never really go in depth with alignments. So they don't know all the tricks for setting toe and camber and won't bother to set caster properly either. What they'll do is give you more caster on the right to compensate for the road crown, but honestly this car was better off with your old caster settings, they should not have touched it. To me that looks like a lazy half assed alignment, they got the camber angles more or less right because those are easy to set, as well as front toe. They failed you miserably in rear toe because to do it properly requires more work than they're willing to put in. You have to loosen both lock nuts at each rear wheel at the same time, the little skinny arm sets camber but also affects toe, and this bushing is known to tear and seize with normal use making toe more difficult to set. Worse the second you drive off the lot your alignment changes.

The arm isn't expensive, it's even cheaper but more labor intensive to find a used one and swap the bushing.

http://www.hondapartsnow.com/genuine...0-s2a-003.html

This is the part I'm talking about.

W0Pdego

I'm glad I'm not being paranoid, but frustrated that I have to go deal with this again. I'll check the steering wheel again when I get out there, but I'm pretty sure it is straight. When I get a chance, I'll take a look at the rear control arms and their bushings. My first mistake was probably going to Pep Boys to have the alignment done, but Tire Rack shipped my tires there, so I just wanted to get it all done at the same time. They do offer a three month, 4000 mile warranty on their cheap alignment, I wonder if they will still honor it if I swap the arms and go back and get them to put the rear toe in spec?

Slowcrash_101

I like to get my money's worth from those places, I got a lifetime alignment for $159 and just bug the crap out of them every 5,000 miles if I don't feel like doing it myself.

jr94513

To be honest .43 on one side is way too much, your going to wear out that side quickly, I would have done .20 on each side. And 0 toe on the front. If you want to tame the rear end a bit get a ap2 rear sway bar. Ap1 has a much higher spring rate in the rear that attributes to the oversteer

s2000Junky

Everything looks ok except for the toe front and rear. Have them 0 out the front toe and then the rear has too much, besides it being uneven. I would shoot for half that total amount. This will reduce inner tire scrub improving your tire life as well as improving handling predictability. The car calls for too much toe from the factory really. Aim for the low side of spec or even a bit less. .2 to .3 total.

Slowcrash_101

After much experimentation I've found a smidge of toe in at the front works very nice, particularly mid corner. I'm talking .03 toe up front. When you accelerate, the front end actually toes out ever so slightly. Toe out causes the car to feel darty and reduces mid corner grip.

Billman250

Front toe of .06+ to.08+ is ideal, and prevents inner tire wear.

As long as the steering wheel is straight, the difference in the numbers front left and front right do not matter at all(.01 and .05). This is recorded wheel position at time of print, not actual side to side difference.

Rear toe should come down to .20+ per side or so.

Slowcrash_101

The difference in rear toe can cause the steering wheel to be off center.