Guys,

Is there a special alightment setting for "toe" when a vehicle is being used for racing. Corky and I were talking about that last night and I am planning on having my car aligned tomorrow or Friday. I would like to give the guy my desired settings if there is an optimum one to have it set at for best track (drag) performance.

Thanks!

:cheers:

 

For running on a race track or auto-x, it's reccomended to use 0 toe or a bit of toe out to help turn in. On the street, this can give a darty feeling to the handling. I'd also guess, 0 toe would give you the least rolling resistance (tires are pointed straight ahead). Now, how much a little toe in would slow you down, I have no idea. I think I'd err on toe in to help with a more stable straight line feeling.

In the back, I would guess you'd want some positive camber. That way when (if???) the back end squats it will move towards negative camber and give you the greatest tire contact area (0 camber) for traction. The question then is, how much does the rear camber change on take off and for what distance? You could end up with positive camber and less traction after your front tires hit the ground.

Anyway, just some thoughts I had, I've never set up a suspension for drag racing. Hopefully someone will chime in with the settings they've found to be best.

--steve

 

This is what DRM gave me after i installed their rear end brackets.

My Car Front
Toe 1/16"
Camber .25 degrees neg
Caster 6.75 degrees pos
My Car Rear
Toe 0-1/16" in
Camber 0 degrees

 

Ralph,

I'm putting on those brackets tonight. Talked to my buddy at the alignment place and he said if I wanted to bring it in on Friday he would set it to whatever I wanted. The questions is what should it be at? He thought zero would be best,

Are those that you have your set at? Or what it changed to after the intall. Do I need to spend 50 bucks on having it aligned after the install?

 

You're going to have to get it realigned after the install. Those specs are what i'm using now. I usually lower the rear about 1/2 before the alignment so that it will have a little pos camber after i raise it back up...this way when the car squats the wheels are still square. Actually with the rear raised my car hardly squats anymore.

btw, with that setup.....my tires usually wear very even.

 

:cheers: Check VETTE BRAKES web site, they have tested various alignment set ups from Daily driver thru "track" I used their advance street and am very satisfied through the twisty two lane mountain roads

Jack

 

jesse didnt i tell you :D

 

:cheers: I have been meaning to ask you for a long time...years ago, I had a friend from St Marys...Brad Bauer...I think his family owned a small bank there...ever hear of him?

Jack

 

Ralph,

Got the brackets on tonight and street tests seem to be pretty impressive. With the slicks on it and on dry road, no burnout to heat the tires, they spun only a little bit then dead hooked. On the street the car usually blows the slicks off all through first, unless I let off a little.

I think the results will be positive. But the proof is in the pudding. ;)

 

Jesse - I'm not much of a drag racer, but I'd go for zero toe in front (less rolling resistance) and I'd toe the rear in 3/8" or so (so they pull straight instead of splaying outward under acceleration). For drag racing, I think I'd minimize camber too. The rear toe in sure helps mine accelerating out of a turn when it's trying to squat a little & under maximum power. Good luck. Paul :flag

 

Hey Jess,
speaking of suspensions and drag racing,
do you have a front anti-sway bar on the car?

On the back, I found it useful to scribe degrees settings/marks on the rear camber adjustment cams in relation to a fixed mark on the cams' holder. That way I could visually see where the rear camber was at anytime.

How are your QA1's holding up? I blew the seal on one rear after only one day of drag racing. The track was hooking good that day. Setting on 6. Summit switched it out for a new one. What setting you using?

I don't know if it's worth anything or flat out wrong or what but I noticed that when I disconnected the driver's side parking brake cable out of it's 3 way holder, the rear wheels rolled with alot less resistance. The cable connector is just ahead of the rear driver side wheel. The other side still works.
This is probably a questionable safety issue tho.




[Modified by 89 Paul in Cal, 1:23 AM 10/10/2003]

 

Paul,

No front sway bar, can't even tell its removed, but did not see any gains by doing it either.

Qa1S are great, love them more for the street than anything. But I have the fronts on zero or lowest and the rears on 2, but I think I am going to shoot for zero on them maybe this weekend and see what happens. When they were on 6 the car did not hook at all, and went sideways all the way through the 60'. I don't think I got the awesome transfer I usually get with them stiffer. I plan on playing with everything this weekend. It will probably just confuse me though. :banghead: :D

 

I'm only guessing, but I would think a little toe in front like 1/32-1/16, and 1/16-1/8 in rear. Negative Camber in front so the wheels will be about 0 with the front lift; and possibly Positive Camber in the rear to compensate for squat. Like I said I'm only guessing; I'm sure you have more experiance at this than me.

:chevy

 

Finally got a hold of our part time parts guy who is a full time engineer with the Army, little obsessive compulsive but definitely brilliant. What he did for his 9sec 355 powered 79 Camaro and several of his friends:

Photograph the car at launch. Find good reference points for measurement to compare launch to static for instance, center of wheel to fender for front and rear. John entered his pic into a CAD program to figure out the scale of the photo so exact measurements could be transferred from photo to real life, the rest of us can guesstimate. Take your static readings. Place a jack under the front, favoring the left side of the vehicle (simulating front lift, rear squat and torque twist effect) raise to levels reached at launch, take readings and compare with static. This will give you the amount of camber deflection you need to compensate for in the rear. Lower the car, settle the suspension and align rear.

For the front, maximum caster possible is recommended for all out drag racing to improve high speed straight line stability. This is why Mercedes' caster specs are through the roof 10-12* in some instances. Careful though, you will lose some front tire contact as you turn in your daily driving. With max caster and the wheel turned to lock there will probably be enough negative camber to lift over 50% of tire off the ground. No experience here, but with two pencils and a rubber band I'd show you why.

As for toe, you don't need much as the tie rods are in front of the wheels pivot point. This setup is far better at resisting toe changes at speed. As mentioned before 1/16" should be OK.

That's it. I've tried to relay as much as possible and as accurately as possible info from the only guy I know that has experience setting up drag racing alignments. I do several several alignments a week but always to factory specs so I cannot tell you if adding negative camber to a 99 Malibu would put it in the 17's

:D

Best of luck on your quest.