Front end alignment?

[bball7754]

Looking for suggestions on who to use/how to have the alignment on my Caterham checked/corrected?

 

The garage where I have my state safety inspection performed was going to put it on their alignment rack to get under the car, but the track was too narrow and it wouldn't fit on the rack.

 

I'm not really comfortable taking it to the local tire shop, and there aren't really any race shops (at least that I've found) here in St. Louis.

 

Thanks.

 

Steve

[Kitcat]

I took my Caterham, both to a local race shop and, later to Goodyear. I took my Birkin to Goodyear this Fall as well. Both places did a nice job. Difference in handling was almost amazing. I had each place put weight in driver's side to approximate my effect in driver's seat.(I took 160 lbs of sidewalk salt bags in passenger side and transferred to driver's side by the garage).

Edited November 16, 2011 by Kitcat

[Guest Terry]

You MUST either sit in the car or ballast it as the above post states. Tire pressures are very important on a Caterham as are using the correct tires. Avon CR 500 are best suited to the Caterham as the side wall is soft.

 

Front pressure 16 / 18

Rear pressure 18/19

 

DO NOT set the dampers to hard, this is a classic mistake on the Caterham, setting the dampers to hard will cause the car to understeer badly. The front end MUST have role, if you dial the role out by having it to stiff you will increase the slip angle on the front end. All 7's understeer so tire pressures and alignment are critical.

 

FRONT

Tracking : 0deg 20' +/- 0deg 10' Toe in

Camber : 1deg 20' +/- 0 deg 15' (Negative)

Castor : 4deg 00' +/- 1deg 00' (0deg 20' variation left to right)

 

REAR

Camber : 1deg 30' +/- 0 deg 15' (Negative)

 

The above settings are a good place to start for road use, if you track the car it will need changing, more camber and more castor.

 

Hope this helps

[breezy7]

Steve: Near St. Charles off of 370 & 94. http://www.fastlanecars.com/classic-cars/service.aspx They do mainly hot rods and muscle cars but might be an option. The Lotus dealer in Chesterfield? You could get a little Lambo seat time while you wait.

Mike

[lancylad]

Hey Terry, where do you take yours to get the alignments done. Not to comfortable taking my Westy to the local places, guys who work on farm trucks all day may not have the neccesary refinement to mess with my baby.. cheers..

[Guest Terry]

Dont blame you. You can bring it up here and we can do it for you.

[lancylad]

That sounds great, doing an engine rebuild right now, spring will be a good time, get her ready for some serious 2012 blats..Cheers mate.

[Guest gary0006]

Thanks for posting the numbers, my alignment guy couldn't find it in his database.

 

 

 

 

You MUST either sit in the car or ballast it as the above post states. New tires pressures are very important on a Caterham as are using the correct tires. Avon CR 500 are best suited to the Caterham as the side wall is soft.

 

Front pressure 16 / 18

Rear pressure 18/19

 

DO NOT set the dampers to hard, this is a classic mistake on the Caterham, setting the dampers to hard will cause the car to understeer badly. The front end MUST have role, if you dial the role out by having it to stiff you will increase the slip angle on the front end. All 7's understeer so tire pressures and alignment are critical.

 

FRONT

Tracking : 0deg 20' +/- 0deg 10' Toe in

Camber : 1deg 20' +/- 0 deg 15' (Negative)

Castor : 4deg 00' +/- 1deg 00' (0deg 20' variation left to right)

 

REAR

Camber : 1deg 30' +/- 0 deg 15' (Negative)

 

The above settings are a good place to start for road use, if you track the car it will need changing, more camber and more castor.

 

Hope this helps

[TheDingo8MyBaby]

The above settings are a good place to start for road use, if you track the car it will need changing, more camber and more castor.

 

Unless you're using Bias-Ply Tires at the track, in which case you'll probably want less negative camber.

[Klasik-69]

If you have a lift, why not do it yourself. It's time consuming but I get it done precisely. You will need two 8" laser levels (Lowes) and one 8" digital level (Craftsman). You will need to make a couple of tire frames with some 1" square steel tubing (6' of tubing) and about 18" of 1/4" x 1" flat bar. I now do all three of my corvettes including the Z06 that I run on the track, my 7, the spec Miata race car, and my other personal street cars. I got tired of getting poor results from "expert" alignment shops, tired of having a car drift on the road, tired of premature tire wear and tired of excuses. Since I started doing it about 4 years ago, perfect every time. If I need corner scaling, I take it to a speed shop I trust and have it corner weighed and ajusted and then I do the alignment.

 

If you want to how to do it, send me a PM and I'll give you a step by step process. Probably most of the guys on this forum also know how to do it as well. It is time consuming, about 2 1/2 to 3 hours to get my Z06 done with 4 wheel alignment, about 1 hour for the 7 since the dedion rear axle has no adjustments other than changing the camber plate.

 

You don't have to have a lift but it sure makes it easier to do the adjustments.

 

On the 7 set up for the track only, -1 degree camber on front, 0 toe in/toe out, and 4.5 degree on the caster. This is set up for bias ply Hoosier race tires. I ran the same setup with radial SM Hoosiers last year with great results too. I have no idea what is best for the street since mine spends 99% of the time on the track.