Geometry question
 

UK Turbo MY00 with 18" wheels, just replaced standard springs with brand new P1 springs, kept original standard shocks.

Having had the springs changed took the car to get the alignment sorted at local place with allegedly all singing all dancing laser equipment. Guy put it on the machine and 10 mins later brought me a print-out of current settings and asked me what I wanted it set to. I gave him the "Prodrive settings" and off he went. 15 mins later he comes back and says he can't adjust the camber front or rear 'cos it's not adjustable, only the toe. Confused, I suggested he needed to loosen top and bottom bolts, adjust camber with top bolt (pushing and pulling the strut accordingly) then tighten bottom bolt back up. Off he went again then came back 10 mins later saying he's tried but it's not adjustable and that there's nothing he can do unless I get the "proper" bolts or "top mount adjusters" installed!

Is it me?? Have I misunderstood something? Or does he not know what he's doing??

Or could the guy who changed my springs have done something wrong which would prevent the camber being adjusted?

Don't know what to do now - geometry is way out and car is handling like a pig so don't want to drive it too far and knacker my tyres or damage anything.

Any ideas??

Cheers,
Lofty

I can't speak for classics, but on a newage, camber on the rear can't be adjusted unless you fit camber bolts mate.
Camber and toe on the front are both adjustable.

Advice would be take it somewhere who knows what they're doing!! :)

You're right in what you're thinking in that to get the camber you want with std bolts you slacken the clevis bolts off and 'wiggle' pretty strongly taking up as much play as you can and get maximum camber.

How much did the tech manage to get? For road you need about -1.5° if you can't get that much then you need to fit camber bolts - one in the top hole of each strut should do it

What are your 'Prodrive' settings you're wanting to dial in?

He claimed he couldn't move them at all - said my car wasn't the same as other Subarus he'd done before. To be honest I don't think he tried very hard, he didn't seem quite with it if you know what I mean!!

The Prodrive settings I asked for were taken from other posts on here (probably from your posts actually!):

Front Camber -1°15'

Front Toe-in (Total) 0°06'

Rear Camber -1°30'

Rear Toe-in (Total) 0°06'

I had used these settings previously and liked the feel of the car.

Might have to look at fitting camber bolts front and rear.

Thanks,
Steve

You shouldn't need camber bolts on the front mate, as Bonesetter said they're already adjustable as standard.
I'd take it to somewhere who know what they're doing as this guy doesn't exactly sound very clued up!

Take it hear mate http://www.tracktorque.co.uk/. It's not too far for you, I live in holme on spalding Moore so it's only a bit further for you. Can't reccone d these guys highly enough. Had all my cars set up here. They just come back feeling so crisp. Think a geo setup is about £80.
Joe

Cheers for the replies - got it kind of sorted now but it's been a bit of a PITA and I wish I'd never bothered having the springs fitted!

I ended up ordering 2 pairs of camber bolts despite knowing I only needed one pair then took the car back and dealt with a different guy who seemed a bit more with it. Anyway, 2.5 hrs later it was done but he didn't fit the camber bolts to the front when he discovered the fronts were adjustable (!) and as a result could only get -1 degree camber on one of the fronts. At that point I just wanted the car back and to get the flock outta there :)

To be honest whilst it's not exactly what I wanted it's 100% better than it was and it will do me for now. It's possible that in the future I will upgrade other things like bushes and ARB's etc so I will get it done by a competent place then!

Just gotta work out how to stop the front springs rattling and knocking now.................

Cheers,
Steve