Street/Strip Alignment Specs?

[TurboT91]

Hey everyone. I just got new Dunlop Star Specs mounted on my '91 Tsi AWD and I will be getting an alignment done soon. Just wondering what alignment specs work well for a street/strip car.

Thanks

 

[jtmcinder]

Lots of people will probably make specific suggestions, which is cool, but the deeper issue that only you can decide is where you want to be on the compromise between launch and turning. When it comes to front camber, you cannot have both and must decide in advance which is more important to you.

 

[TurboT91]

Thanks for the reply. I understand what you are saying. The stock alignment specs have the front wheels with positive camber...which I thought hurt handling. But I can't see it helping straight line traction either. With positive camber, as the front end rises at launch wouldn't the contact patch be smaller ?

I know the rear wheels have negative camber stock. I was going to try maybe 1 degree negative camber in the rear. Would this mess up my handling? As far as toe...I've always heard that is what wears tires out the most. As far as the rear...I was going to try a little toe in but not much...maybe .05. For the front wheels I've always heard a little toe in helps with straight line stability.

I don't have power steering anymore and the car will be a cruiser and drag car.

 

[jtmcinder]

No, the stock alignment is negative camber all around. I think you're reading the caster, not the camber, for the front.

Sounds like turning is not a big deal to you, especially without power steering. So my suggestion is three-quarters of a degree of front (negative) camber, half a degree of rear camber, and zero toe all around. There are some issues, however, with zero toe and squishy bushings - it can make the car wander. A smidgeon of toe-in will take care of this, but note that any toe other than zero hurts in straight-line speed.

If you're ready to completely commit to a car that won't turn but launches great, go ahead and take the front camber to a half degree. Not like that quarter degree makes that much of a difference.

Deeper issue: what you really want for straight-line acceleration (read: drag-racing) is zero dynamic toe, as opposed to zero toe when the car is sitting on the rack. Due to bushing-squish and non-zero bump-steer, to get zero dynamic toe you need to stress the suspension to the way it will be under hard acceleration and then do the alignment. This is complicated, but it can be done. On a 1G, you also need to deal with the lousy rear suspension design (and there are lots of posts on this).