more toe advice

[PPTom]

I had my camber and toe set up just before christmas (standard shocks + sportlines), went for 1.5 neg camber and I was going for around the standard 12mins toe out, as per the common concensus. After speaking to the suspension expert at Northampton Motorsport, who were doing the setup I was advised to go for toe in rather than out. The reason being is that I do about 300 miles per week and the chap said that toe out would wreck my tyres very quick. So 12min overall toe in was set.
I've now done a full weeks wortrh of driving to work and I'm noticing that I'm constantly having to correct the car, even the tinyest bit of road camber and the car follows it. Seems like I'm constantly having to steer a little bit to the right.
For a couple of reasons I won't be going back to Northampton Motorsport (one being that there was about 25 mins of differance between each sides camber, althougth they said it was within tolerance), but I've thought about going somewhere else this week to have the toe adjusted. Any advice on my opitmum toe please?

 

[d4ve86]

Camber adjustment is quite time consuming to get accurate, i know my clio isnt the same both sides, If i owned a camber gauge maybe id spend some time getting both set identical (because i have OCD!!) but i dont think it would make much difference and im not paying to have it done. mines prob -ve 2.5 or greater

I do have to drive a bit to the right like you said you were doing and mine does follow the camber of the road a lot, i think its with the nature of the set up that this happens just something you have to live with,

im pretty sure mine is set toe out, not 100% sure and not sure by how many min

 

[PPTom]

The camber differance probably doesn't matter, but if it were me doing it, I'd make it alot closer than 24mins. The reason I didn't pull him up too much on it is that the guy was seriously dragging his heels, and at £85 per hour, plus Vat tbqfh I couldn't afford it. It took him 2 hours to slip the camber bolts in, dial in the camber and set the toe! I was thinking of having a power run afterwards, but they wanted another £65 plus Vat for only one run!
Needless to say, I'll not be going back or recommending them - shafted!

 

[pete.grant]

I am experiencing the same problem with my 182. I feel like I am constantly battling to keep it in a straight line, especially on cambered roads. At high speeds on a motorway it is not too bad but at low speeds when travelling in a straight line it's awful. The car feels as though it is constantly pulling to the right. Is this a common 'fault' or is it just yet another thing to expect with 182's!?

 

[d4ve86]

yeah if i had done mine i would of made it as accurate as possible, but forking out 100 quid for a good camber gauge is too much at the moment.

2 hours .... what was he doing!?

 

[PPTom]

some lad was doing it, the proper suspension bloke was mapping on the rollers.
It was excruciating watching, took him 30 mins to fit the bolts, which i was going to do myself but the chap said don't bother, its only a 5 min job! 10 mins to look up the factory settings, which i could have told him if i knew that was what he was doing, then he asked if i just wanted the stock setup, wtf! you have just put camber bolts in!
In retrospect, I'd have a 4 wheel alignment, to get the base settings and alter toe, and buy a camber guage so that I could fit the bolts and play around with them. Probably would have cost less too.

 

[Coby.]

I got my Camber Bolts Fitted and Wheel Alignment etc. for £156 IIRC

I don't think I'm running much Camber or Anything BUT I WILL be going back to get a more track biased setup for the summer

You got any printouts you could scan in to show your settings?

 

[Fred@BTM]

never had a problem with Troy or the boys down there, not cheap though

12min toe in is too much IMO 3-5 is about perfect (yes that is sod all, but it works well)

also on a road car i would've gone about 1-1.25neg max

camber being 25min out won't make any noticable difference tbh

 

[PPTom]

Problem is Fred, that although I'm doing 300 odd miles a week, I also want a good trackday setup (R888's) I might get the tracking re-set and make a camber guage, so I can experiment, it seems pretty easy, especially since I know what the settings are now.
So would you suggest 2min toe in per side i.e. 4min overall?
Taken from Pistonheads, re camber guage:
'It's pretty straightforward. I used a 600mm steel rule leaned up against the side of the wheel (couple of small spacers so it sits against the rim not the tyre) for an upright, two 150mm rules rivetted to the ends of ths to form arms sticking out sideways, a plumb line tied to the outer end of the top arm so it hangs level with the outer end of the lower arm.

With zero camber the plumb weight is exactly level with the outer end of the lower arm. As you increase the -ve camber the weight moves inwards. Because the plumb line is 600mm long, 10mm at the bottom represents exactly 1 degree of camber. The lower rule is marked in 0.5mm increments so I have a resolution of 0.05 degrees'

 

[Fred@BTM]

IIRC i run something like 3min toe in per side, which is also known as an ant's c**k

a lot of people go for toe out which helps turn in, but i find it doesn't suit me

that's the problem, its a personal thing really, i would suggest cocking about with tyre pressures a bit before doing anything, as that can make a huge difference, and its free to do!