mikedamageinc

iTrader: (49)

I've had my car aligned twice now at a national chain with the lifetime alignment and both times I ended up with around +5.2 driver and +5.8 passenger. The problem is that it pulls pretty bad on uneven roads. I know the wide tires like to wander but it is worse than it should be. Perfect roads are okay but any surface that is not smooth it is work to keep it centered in the lane.

Here are the details: 99 Camaro SS, stock wheels 275 tires
Summit (eibach) springs on Koni 4/4 shocks upper perch
rear LCA relocation brackets on lower setting
heater hose mod ADDED to raise rear since I think the LCA relo lowered the rear
floor to fender is around 26.5 on all corners

I have other suspensions mods that don't matter but thats about it. The first time I installed the Koni's they were on the lower perch by mistake so when I raised it up on the top perch and added about two coils of heater hose in the rear I thought it would even out but the caster ended up the same. toe and camber are fine. So do I need adjustable arms or what?

TIA for any help.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

You have .6 more positive on the passenger side---that's fine, it's called caster lead. You do have a lot of caster, most cars are lucky to get 4.5, the pulling isn't from the caster.... If you drop it down the steering will get lighter, but the tramlining will still be there. That's largely due to wheel offset, type of tires and toe settings (also how good the front LCA bushings are).

mikedamageinc

iTrader: (49)

Thanks for the quick response Sam. So if I understand correctly, I should toe in 1mm each side and replace front control arm bushings? tires are rock hard Raptor Rikens so I dont think they are grabbing excessively.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

1mm isn't much, and it's irrelevant not knowing the toe setting you have. And if the car has miles all the steering components are something to investigate, but the most critical for this are the "caster" bushings (not their official name)---the rear bushings in the front lower arms.

Greggy

old tires that have been wore unevenly contributes to this. Also make sure everything is tight under there, including the camber bolts that the shop may have messed with. If those are loose your camber and toe will be self adjusting.

mikedamageinc

iTrader: (49)

So here's a quick update,

I put the rear lca's on the upper setting on my relocation brackets and it helped the tramlining described earlier. It's not perfect, but soon I'll replace the front control arm bushings, ball joints and tie rods and it should be dang close.

I did some reading over on frrax I realized lca relocation brackets on the lower setting is not good for normal driving, drag strip only. And since it got worse after installing the relo's it made sense. They need to be parallel to the ground or slightly up in the rear for normal driving.

Hopefully this will help someone else too and I'll update after the other parts are installed in the next couple weeks.

SS SLP2

iTrader: (8)

"but soon I'll replace the front control arm bushings, ball joints and tie rods and ---"

if there is no wear or slack I see no need to replace

"after installing the relo's ---They need to be parallel to the ground or slightly up in the rear for normal driving. "

I am sure the OP is better able to understant reading info than I, but I think the REAR of the LCA SHOULD BE lower ON THE REAR than the front,
I am open to be corrected,
Johnny

leadfoot4

iTrader: (1)

No need to be corrected, as the reason for the "relo brackets" is to correct the angle that the LCAs arrive at, after the car is lowered.

When the car is lowered, the body drops relative to the rear axle, therefore the front attachment point of the LCA drops accordingly, while the rear attachment point stays the same. Ususally, depending of the amount of the drop, this causes the LCA to slope down at the front point. The "relo bracket" allows you to correct for this, and return the LCA to a "level to the ground" attitude.


FWIW, I'm running close to 5.5* caster on the driver's side, and almost 6.0* caster on the pass side, on my car.....

mikedamageinc

iTrader: (49)

You're probably right about no need to replace, I've since decided my funds could be better used in other areas of the car.

As for the LCA's, the axle mount being lower is better for launching but straight line only, normal driving is better with the lca parallel to the ground or at least as close as possible. Like leadfoot said, my car is lowered so brackets are necessary, and with the two mounting points now, I'll use the lower at the drag strip and the middle/upper for everything else.

Thanks leadfoot for the castor numbers, I guess that much castor isnt bad afterall, and it seems some like it for high speed runs.