Not Enough Caster & Camber

[BenBrausen]

I had my suspension aligned today and they tech told me that my caster (I think that's what it was) was way off and they adjusted to to the most that the factory settings allow but they still couldn't get it exactly to where it needed to be. Luckly it hasn't affected the tire wear. He asked if I had dropped the front end and I told him, "Ya I cut 4 coils off the stock springs." He shook his head and rolled his eyes. Then I told him I was just kiddin' and I have Eibachs. He suggested either puttin' the stock springs back in or replacing the struts with some aftermarket ones if it becomes a problem. Are some caster and camber plates gonna do the trick? Here's the report from the alignment.

Before:

Front Left: Front Right:
Camber -1.3 Camber -1.8
Caster 3.4 Caster 3.6
Toe -0.39 Toe 0.18

Front:
Cross Camber 0.5
Cross Caster -0.2
Total Toe -0.21
Set Back -0.53

Left Rear: Right Rear:
Camber -1.4 Camber -0.7
Toe -0.01 Toe 0.09

Rear:
Total Toe 0.08
Thrust Angle -0.05

After:

Front Left: Front Right:
Camber -1.2 Camber -1.7
Caster 3.4 Caster 3.6
Toe -0.10 Toe -0.15

Front:
Cross Camber 0.5
Cross Caster -0.2
Total Toe -0.25
Set Back -0.41

Left Rear: Right Rear:
Camber -1.4 Camber -0.7
Toe 0.01 Toe 0.09

Rear:
Total Toe 0.10
Thrust Angle -0.04

I also have a nice sized gouge outta one of my rear tires so looks like I'll be replacing those too. Fun.

 

[AutoSHO]

Take a look at these two threads:

http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=27668

http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=27639

For the front, you will need to drill the spot welds. For the Rear you'll need to find some sort of adjustment for the control arms. Either Eccentric Bushings or Adjustable Control arms.

 

[Shoaz]

A couple of thoughts, FWIW:

Those numbers don't look that bad, I think that's a reasonably good front end alignment. The rear is a little funky, though, with double the camber on one side as the other. This isn't tragic, either, though, especially if the tires are wearing evenly.

I don't see how changing struts is going to affect the alignment at all.

If you want to get the rear alignment closer a set of the GTP adjustable control arms is a very good way to go.

As it is, though, that's not an unreasonable alignment IMHO.

 

[BenBrausen]

The summer and winter tires have been wearin' fine so I guess I should just leave it how it is right now. Is there any sense in drillin' out the welds to allow more adjustment how it sits now?

 

[Slo-Sho]

I'm curious as to why the tech didn't even mention drilling the spot welds...this is a simple procedure and could've charged you extra for doing it. You can drill the spot welds yourself, btw.

 

[BenBrausen]

I guess it might have been cause it was a Saturday and they were only open another few minute. That and their a pretty by the book shop (other then lettin' me pay off my bills in payments of whatever I wanna make over whatever period of time I want cause it's my dad's cusin's place). I'm sure if I woulda asked, they woulda done it. I'll most likley do it before I have them mount my new tires when I get them.

 

[Shoaz]

I find it difficult to believe that he would have said that he tried to do an aligment without breaking or drilling out the spot welds. That's taking your money for reading the caster and camber and just setting toe, which is like a ten minute operation.

It's easy to see whether the spot welds have been drilled or popped out, just take the two plastic covers off the tops of the strut towers and see what you can see. I'd be surprised if they're not already popped.

Other than moving the subframe around, which is a much larger operation, popping or drilling the spot welds provides the only means to adjust camber or caster.