i went for a alinment today and waited for a hour after getting the windshield repaired from a rock on the way home today so i was already in a bad mood. they finally got it on the rack for a 4 wheel alinment after my suspension upgrades. and they told me that the computer wouldnt give them specs at my lowered ride height. im lowered on tokico d-spec and swift springs lowered .8 and ap sway bars and evo-r endlinks. all stock everything else. can anyone give me alinment specs to take there or point me in the right direction to get them.

 

wow, i cant beleive we have the same setup (AP bars, Swift Springs and Dspecs), minus the Evo-r endlinks. I just isntalled all my stuff too (accept the front bar, im waiting until next week to do that i think). I havent done my alignment yet, but im planning on using the stock specs. I work at a mazda dealer, so its all up to date in the computer there what the car should be at stock. I dont see why you couldnt use stock specs. there should be plenty of adjustment to get the car back into spec even with it lowered. Thats what im planning on doing anyways.

on another note, how much did your car drop? After about a week and a half, im measuring a 2 1/8 in drop front and about a 1 1/2ish drop in the rear. my car was a GS though, so it was riding really high, like 4x4 high before. haha.

 

they are supposed to drop .8 i have the red springs not the grey and blue ap bars not the white may be different and mine is a gt. not sure if i got more or not i know its low enough i can barley lay on the ground and see the front endlinks now and not sure about using stock specs i may see what you can find out about it and let me know they wouldnt do a alinment unless i signed off on it because the computer would not give them spes based on my ride height they also said that they have it happen with other tuners that lower.

 

This sitcky thread has info about alignment. Hope it helps!

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-racing-25/alignment-settings-street-track-use-43308/

 

I have the red springs but white bars. hmm. but ya, i think they are a .8 drop from a GT, but a GS rides more than an inch higher than a GT in the front, or at least mine did. the wheel gap was disgusting.

I'll do a bunch of researching this weekend to see what i can find out on the specs, i just assumed stock would be good. for me, the alignment isnt to make it handle better on the track, it will be so that my tires wear at the same rate as with stock suspension.

 

right mine has some neg camber in the rear but i dont want to tell them to do stock and it not be right thats all and thanks ill look around too and let you know if i find anything out

 

cool man. so in the meantime, how do you like the setup so far?

 

very nice just about no body roll in turn and turns on a road i have by the house along a river the 25mph ones that i would take at 35-40 now i can do at 55-60 no issues i used the middle hole up front and rear hole in back and it is very responsive almost like puttting a finger on the wheel to turn it dont have the shock adjustment dialed in yet havent had the time to mess around with it i bought used and used the setting they had and seems alittle stiff but still over all good. just need to finish up my 6 point strut bar and 4 point for the rear and under bracing

 

wow, doing all the braces too eh? you're going all out man. what sorta tires are you getting/have? obviously the tires will be the weak link once you get an alignment.

as for how i like the setup, like i said i dont have the front bar on yet, but its very sharp now compared to before. Actually, the other day we had some snow and i noticed the car was much harder to control in crappy weather. It understeers slightly, then when you try and fix that the back end just snaps around at an uncontrollable rate. I actually spun out pulling out of my driveway. I usually do a little sideways peel out pulling out of my driveway in the snow, but this time it was very very different. That was with both stock bars front and rear. The front at 3 turns from full stiff and the back at i think 4 turns from full stiff. I'm also still tweeking the shocks, but i think im going to wait to get the front bar on and the alignment done before i worry too much about it. Its weird though, i dont feel any understeer at all now that the roads are nice and dry and its warmer out. I have my summer wheels back on, and i noticed my winter tires were pretty much toast...so maybe thats why it handled so sloppily the other day. Also, i have the rear bar set at the stiffest setting.

 

They're probably not a very good alignment shop if they can't get your specs. Basically tell them to start with 0 toe front and rear and then try to get the fronts as much negative camber as they can. Depending on the car you will get between -.8 and -1.5. I wouldn't go above -1.5 but some people will go as much as -2.

Add in another -.2 over your front camber for the rear and be done with it.

Here's a printout from one of mine and it has the specified factory ranges in the right hand column. I could only get -1.1 and had too much rear on that alignment. I'm now at -1.2 in the front and -1.4 in the rear.

And with dpecs, htechs, MS tower, and progress sways I've got my dspecs dialed to 5 full rotations front and back. For track/autox I dial it to 1.5 rotations. Any more than that and the car feels like it's bouncing too much.

 

They should atleast get 'Business' correct.

 

Hah! Never noticed that but it's pretty funny. I'll have to check my latest alignment printout to see if they fixed that.

 

Go somewhere else...

 

I would go slightly less negative camber in the rear than in the front. EG: -2.0 front and -1.8 in the rear. Or just go stock which should be fine too.

Else go find a performance alignment shop that knows what they're doing. If you go with more negative camber in the back than in the front the car will understeer.

 

+1 what shaun74 said about negative camber in the rear. I believe I'm -1.7 Front and -1.5 Rear.

 

i actually too it to belle tire an called a few other places they said at my ride height that they couldnt shoot where it was adjusted now to even change it but i did contact a performance shop that can do it but they would have to take it to another shop and do it but that would mean by the way they made it sound they would have to drive my car there and i dont like that. and also 125$ to have it done does this sound right

 

First: try inserting a period every so often. I ran out of breath 3 times reading it.

2nd: Why is a performance shop taking your car to another shop to do the work? Sounds like you should just go to the other shop.

This really is not complicated. Do any of these folks know how to breath through their nose?

If these guys don't know how to align your car just go back to the dealer. $125 sounds right for a performance 4 wheel alignment which is what you need.