ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

I've been doing a bit of enthusiastic driving the past couple of days and noticed she's not handling too well.

Now i've not really pushed this car as I don't drive it much 3000 miles in 2yrs and when I did it was mostly town stuff, this is about to change as it's with me out here in Croatia now and the roads are clear and made for driving with very few cops and NO Cameras.

So off I trot down to local tyre place where they have a nice laser alignment machine to have it checked, armed with an old print out and some other settings i've picked up off recent threads on here, it's out as suspected and he straightens it up a bit and gives me more toe or what ever it is on the steering rack but the Problem is the geezer doesn't know how to get camber and castor and just keeps saying it's fixed and he can't do it, which I know is not the case, he's a nice bloke and is into his cars and he's not being an ****, he just never worked on a subaru before as they're like hens teeth out here.

So please help me tell him what needs to be done so I can sort mi baby and get her handling how she should.

Car is a 54 plate Blob WRX Wagon.

Fonzey

iTrader: (5)

If on stock struts, caster IS fixed but more can be added with an ALK (or rotating the bolt if already got an ALK).

Camber is changed on the front with camber bolts, and it's fixed at the rear.

You can either buy camber bolts for the rear, or if you've got coilovers you'll probably have camber adjust on your tophat which some people often rotate to give them caster as well (imagine the adjustment is left to right when you look at the front of your car, if you rotate the tophat one third your adjustment will now be diagonal giving you caster AND camber, but less of both).

Or just get an STi

tubbytommy

iTrader: (20)

turns out the wonderful wrx suspension is no good for fast driving then

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

tommy **** off unless you have something positive to contribute.

I'm sure I read somewhere that by loosening stuff and wiggling there is something to be gained on standard set up, I just don't know what to loosen.

tubbytommy

iTrader: (20)

sell it and get an sti, this is set up properly for fast driving

jura11

iTrader: (7)

Camber on front you can add without the problem on stock suspension,you will be limited by stock bolts,but is doable

On rear you will need to add Camber bolts and for more castor you will need ALK or you can in theory go with aftermarket top mounts and rotate top mounts and with this you can in theory gain most



Jura

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Yes I know STI is the number one performance car ever, blah,blah,blah, and that's why you changed everything on yours then.

The Pink Ninja

iTrader: (23)

Get some adjustable top mounts to get the best out of what you've got.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Thanks jura.

Do you know what I have to do to do this?

Will any top mounts fit or are they subaru specific.

tubbytommy

iTrader: (20)

still got the ppp certificate

Fonzey

iTrader: (5)

There are two 19mm(?) bolts holding your strut to your hub. The top bolt is the camber bolt, and it's got a lobe (like a camshaft) on the bolt so as you turn it, it changes the angle that the hub is on compared to the strut - hence changing camber. Just loosen off the bottom bolt, then turn the top bolt until camber is how you want it, then tighten both up.

Any alignment place should be WELL familiar with how a camber bolt works - even on a poverty spec car.

jura11

iTrader: (7)

Hi there

At front you will need adjust bolt on the bottom of the shock for more camber,you will be limited,not sure,but think limit on standard bolts is something like -1.3-1.5'

No Top mounts are Subaru specific what I know,but maybe with some modification others can fit too

For rear you will need to use aftermarket camber bolts,they cost around £20 as most,but I would buy too aftermarket camber bolts too for front,you will gain bit more(think some guys has run on aftermarket bolts on the stock shocks around -2.00' and more) with them too on the front

Jura

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Thanks guys.

jayallen

iTrader: (31)

Ohhhh the irony

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Yeah, yeah and i'm sure your another one that has changed just about everything that makes your STI soooooooo much better than a WRX.

jura11

iTrader: (7)

Fan club is here Ditch

You should be able gain more camber with camber bolts,is yours car lowered ?





Jura

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Yeah the fan club don't seem to understand mine is a Wagon too, which I think look better than saloons.

No it's not lowered, which I think doesn't help either but I think it has some sort of uprated springs as it's firmer and a lot flatter in the turns than my old 04 WRX Saloon, i'm running 18's and getting a small amount of tram lining too, tyres aren't fantastic either Falcon 452's, but I can live with them for now, I swapped them with someone off here for some classic fitment toyo's, they're ok for UK but out here the ashfelt is not as grippy as UK tarmac, so i'll be getting some stickier rubber too in a few months when these wear out.

I managed to free the bolts on the suspension struts yesterday so i'll be off down there in a bit to get some camber dialed in, which was part of the problem, there's a bit of a language barrier as my Croatian is not brilliant on stuff like this and the guy speaks bugger all English but it did feel a bit better so i'm getting somewhere.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Well just got back from the tyre place and we managed to get another 1 degree of negative camber, not too sure how this has affected things as i've not had chance to play yet, but i'm off to a mates place later and it's a nice route so we shall see providing it doesn't rain.

Then it looks like i'll have to get some camber bolts and an ALK and take it from there, think I should of had another week in the uk to get it sorted, I knew it wasn't perfect but was pressed for time, looks like my hand luggage is gona be a bit over 10kg again.