Alignment Specs.

[MattR]

I am going to get my alignment done this weekend, I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on alignment #'s...

I was told to try min camber on the front / \ -1degree.

But what about the toe out, what is the best setting, ...any help would be great...

[AtomicLabMonkey]

In general you probably don't want to go with toe-out on a street-driven car. If the leading edges of the tires are pointed outwards like that it will be very "darty", follow the bumps and grooves in the road all the time, and probably get to be a pain in the ass after a while for street use. It's best to stay with either 0-toe or a minimum of toe-in, maybe 1/16" toe-in. Go with as much negative camber as you can get while realizing that the more you camber the tires the more they will wear on the street (my car is set at -2.0 degrees, that's about as much as i'd want to go with for street use cause it's already wearing the tires faster than usual). Also go with as much positive caster as you can get, maybe 5 or 6 degrees if possible.. this will lessen the tendency of the front tires to gain positive camber (bad) when the body rolls, and even cause negative camber gain (good) when the body rolls if you have enough caster. This helps compensate for the relatively poor camber curve of a strut-type suspension. The only side effect of increased caster is increased steering effort. This can actually be good though for a street car when combined with a low or zero toe setting. Most of the reason a factory car tracks straight when it's going down the highway is because the front wheels are toed-in, it provides a stabilizing, centering effect. When you reduce toe-in or set zero-toe you no longer have that stabilization, but the increased steering effort that comes with increased positive caster has its own stabilizing effect, which sort of compensates for not having any toe-in set.

Hope that didn't ramble too much...

[sperry]

More specifically for the WRX,

With the stock bits, you're not going to have much room for adjustment, but here's what to try for:

Camber:
The front camber should be set as far negative as they can get it, which will be in the -1.3deg range IIRC. If they can weasle -1.5deg out of it, that's great. Rear camber is not adjustable w/o new top hats or eccentric bolts. Mine were at -1.2 and -1.3 degrees, which honestly is too much, it's wearing the insides of my rear tires too quickly.

Castor:
I don't believe castor is adjustable, but they can tell you what your at. You'll want a much as is possible with the stock setup, but again, I don't think they can change it. This is one of the nice things about the ALK... more castor, but alas, not on an STX car. As Austin said, positive castor is a good thing. It'll be a bit stiffer to steer, but as you turn the wheel, your camber goes more negative, which helps the tire to bite as the car rolls.

Toe:
Up front, zero is the best on the WRX IMO. Rear toe is more of a matter of opinion. I had mine set just a touch toe out in the rear, the idea is that in a hard turn, most the car's weight is on the outside tires, so if the rear outside tire is toe'd out, it will act a little like 4-wheel steering and should help the car rotate. However, this will increase rear tire wear (esp. since the rears are over-cambered).

Here's a basic alignment for the WRX:

WRX Agressive Street Alignment:
                FRONT
        LEFT            RIGHT
Camber  -1.5deg         -1.5deg
Castor  +5.0deg         +5.0deg
Toe     +0.0deg         +0.0deg

                REAR
        LEFT            RIGHT
Camber  -0.5deg         -0.5deg
Toe     +0.0deg         +0.0deg

--------

WRX Track Alignment:
                FRONT
        LEFT            RIGHT
Camber  -3.5deg         -3.5deg
Castor  +6.0deg         +6.0deg
Toe     +0.0deg         +0.0deg

                REAR
        LEFT            RIGHT
Camber  -1.0deg         -1.0deg
Toe     +0.5deg         +0.5deg

--------

Realistically Attainable 
Stock WRX Alignment:
                FRONT
        LEFT            RIGHT
Camber  -1.2deg         -1.2deg
Castor  +4.0deg         +4.0deg
Toe     +0.0deg         +0.0deg

                REAR
        LEFT            RIGHT
Camber  -1.2deg         -1.2deg
Toe     +0.2deg         +0.2deg

Of course, I'm not an alignment guru, this is just what I've gathered from reading NASIOC, etc. and my experience trying to align my own car for Autocross. I'll bet Austin and Phil will have some insight on these figures, since they both have more racing/setup experience than me.

[ArthurS]

Originally Posted by sperry

Realistically Attainable 
Stock WRX Alignment:
                FRONT
        LEFT            RIGHT
Camber  -1.2deg         -1.2deg
Castor  +4.0deg         +4.0deg
Toe     +0.0deg         +0.0deg

                REAR
        LEFT            RIGHT
Camber  -1.2deg         -1.2deg
Toe     +0.2deg         +0.2deg

I guess the guy at Big "O" Tire lied to me. He said he was going to adjust my alignment more for track use. I didn't know what #'s to give him, so I trusted him. Here are my Numbers:

                FRONT
        LEFT            RIGHT
Camber  -0.3deg         -0.4deg
Castor  +2.9deg         +2.9deg
Toe     +0.02deg         +0.03deg

                REAR
        LEFT            RIGHT
Camber  -1.1deg         -1.5deg
Toe     +0.08deg         +0.05deg

Does this sound weird to anyone else. I can list al the other specs including front cross camber, cross caster, and total toe and rear total toe and thrust angle. They also have numbers listed for front left and right SAI, Inlcuded Angel, and Turning Angle Diff.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

You actually have a little bit of front toe-out, which is not a bad thing necessarily if you can deal with it on the street, it's actually good for auto-x. I'd definitely want more negative camber at the front if I were you, especially since you have up to -1.5 in the back. Remember that more negative camber on a pair of tires means they will grip better through corners (up to a point), so the way you're aligned right now will tend to increase the amount of understeer.. which isn't good in a car which already understeers like crazy.

See if you can get less negative camber in the rear, maybe -0.5 degrees, and like in Scott's example as much as you can in the front. Same with front caster, as much as you can get. Also, next place you take the car too for an alignment - tell them to make both sides of the car symmetrical! -1.1 LR and -1.5 RR kinda sucks, you shouldn't have a 0.4 degree split... this isn't an oval track car. I've watched them do alignments in those shops and they can adjust it accurately to 0.1 degree, they just have to have a little patience and not be lazy.

[ArthurS]

I am going to go down to Firestone and pick up their lifetime alignment deal. Then hopefully get in their good graces so they can do it to what I ask.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

You actually have a little bit of front toe-out, which is not a bad thing necessarily if you can deal with it on the street, it's actually good for auto-x. I'd definitely want more negative camber at the front if I were you, especially since you have up to -1.5 in the back. Remember that more negative camber on a pair of tires means they will grip better through corners (up to a point), so the way you're aligned right now will tend to increase the amount of understeer.. which isn't good in a car which already understeers like crazy.

See if you can get less negative camber in the rear, maybe -0.5 degrees, and like in Scott's example as much as you can in the front. Same with front caster, as much as you can get. Also, next place you take the car too for an alignment - tell them to make both sides of the car symmetrical! -1.1 LR and -1.5 RR kinda sucks, you shouldn't have a 0.4 degree split... this isn't an oval track car. I've watched them do alignments in those shops and they can adjust it accurately to 0.1 degree, they just have to have a little patience and not be lazy.

the problem with evening out the rears is that it's not adjustable w/o camber bolts. Those rear specs are virtually identicle to mine IIRC. Also, it looks like the stock max camber is about +3.0deg... I thought it was +4.0deg. Castor is also not really adjustable. Sometimes the shops can just loosen everything up and try prod it inot a better spot, but there isn't a specific way to adjust front Castor or rear Camber. You need castor/camber plates or camber bolts.

Unfortunately, I think true Castor plates are illegal in STX... the rules say somthing like: "Camber adjustable plates are legal in STX; changes in Castor due to installation of such plates is allowed." Basically, you can install Camber plates, and if the install modifies the Castor that's okay, but they can't be Castor adjustable... minor issue I guess. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.