Twohot

Who should I go to for a suspension geometry check?
Does it make any difference whether I go to Subaru or just a random garage as I phoned Subaru and they quoted me £85!

Anyone know of any garages in Stoke-On-Trent that will do the job?
Cheers
Ben

Twohot

Come on ppl. Someone must be able to give me some info here!

GV27

I always recommend a specialist shop. The dealers here in the US charge way too much and often do a lousy job and the muffler- brake-alignment shops we have just do a bad job most of the time!

RB5320

it's a bit of a treck but Powerstation in Cheltenham and TSL in Nottingham seem to be the favourites. I can personally vouch for Powerstation.

Dont bother with a Subaru dealer - they will check that it is within specifications, but these specs are so wide that the car would need to be banana shaped to fail.

Steve

Apple

Steve,

Did you tell Powerstation how you wanted the car setting up or do they have standard suspension "maps" to cover joe public / boy racer / schumacher i.e. differing styles & skills etc?

Apple

911

Twohot, you are not too far away, I went to the old Ralliart place in Dudley, West mids, now Coordsport. They set my much modified STI V3 to perfection, it expensive but a great job done.
Graham.

mutant_matt

I *think* they ask you if you want Fast Road or Track settings which equate to 1 and 1.5 degrees negative camber at the front. Whether or not this effects any of the other settings I'm not sure.

Matt

Steve PPP

Ben (Twohot)
I presume it was Holdcrofts you rang?
They take the car to Holdcroft Toyota at Limekiln Bank, to use their laser rig.
Had 2 previous cars done there, an MR2 and a classis Scoob, made a massive difference.

Spoke to Mark Green about current STi, as I will want it doing after springs are fitted. He says they will work to the settings that you want, so I've been searching threads on here to try and get an idea. There are a lot of settings out there.

I tend to favour Damien Harty's as if he doesn't know, nobody does!

PS the price is good for a full check and adjust. TSL charge £120.

HTH

Steve

PJA

StevePPP

Damiens settings are ???? What about tyre wear ????

Picked up my new WRX from Holdcrofts at the beginning of April and found all the lads, especially Dave B' very helpfull.

PJA

Kippax

twohot, i would go ABP motorsport near shavington on the a500 if i were you.

Steve PPP

Copied from Damien's forum (can't do clicky things)

"Geometry Q: What we're talking about here is what we call "static geometry" - toe-in/out and camber. Basically, static camber influences the way the car departs at the grip limit, with more negative camber giving more grip but also a more 'aggressive' departure. Basically, there is a best camber angle for the tyre to be presented at the grip limit; if the suspension gets stiffened then because the car rolls less the car needs less negative camber. Adjusting the camber difference front-to-rear gives a a difference in progression. It's quite a useful modifier to the vehicle but sadly not many vehicles have very readily adjustable camber. Camber also greatly influences tyre wear - "ideal" camber wears out the tyre uniformly, "too much" wears out the inside and "too little" wears out the outside. Beware though - "ideal" can give reasonably frisky behaviour at the limit. As a quick and dirty test, drive a bit of road you like in a style you like then pull up, hop out and lay your palm across the tyre from outside to in. The tyres will be working at about 50 degrees C or so, so they should be comfortably warm to the touch. If your camber is a long way off you can feel one edge of the tyre will be noticeably warmer than the other. If you repeat the same thing after a motorway drive you'll see whether or not it will lead to excess tyre wear on the inner shoulder. A lot of prototype vehicles we experiment with have adjustable camber but I'm not sure how easy it is on the road cars. Toe-in/out is altogether more adjustable and a powerful modifier on the way the vehicle behaves beneath the handling limit. Some toe-out at the front and toe-in at the rear promotes stability and the opposite promotes agility at the cost of stability. At the front, toe-in gives a great steering response but turns the steering feel all woolly and so spoils the car a bit. At the rear, the opposite is true. Personally I like the fronts out a little - about a quarter of a degree - and a touch of in on the rear, about the same amount. Note these are personal preferences to match my driving style, etc etc etc... and certainly aren't generically applicable to every car, or even every Scooby. In general, any toe setting other than parallel gives some heat in the tyres and hence accelerates tyre wear for road use." Damien Harty.

HTH
Steve Wardle
Edited to include ""quotes

[Edited by Steve PPP - 5/27/2003 4:58:51 PM]

Kippax

steve...who's damien and where's the rest of the interview? is it on scoobynet? i searched but couldn't find it.

ta.

PJA

So according to Damien parrallel front and rear will give minimum tyre wear. I would have thought that even with minimal negative camber some toe in or out would be required to reduce tyre wear - any advice or suggested settings for an MY03 WRX greatly appreciated.

Do I take it that Damien works for Prodrive ?

PJA

911

If you are looking for a good setting for the car try looking on the Whiteline website, it is all there, from mild to wild. My STi is on the 'wild' setting and it is electric (also zero understeer!)

try www.whiteline.com.au

Graham.

Steve PPP

Damian Harty Prodrive Chassis engineer

I can do it, Thanks Kippax

(still can't do clickies)
Steve Wardle

[Edited by Steve PPP - 5/29/2003 2:46:32 PM]

[Edited by Steve PPP - 5/30/2003 11:31:00 AM]

Kippax

ta steve,

type web address or
type click here or
click edit on a post that contains link to see syntax

AlanG

clicky!!

Alan

DeanF

iTrader: (1)

Auto Sense in Hanley, They did mine & they are in the Yellow book, if not if you cannot find it i'll post it.


Dean

Steve PPP

Dean,

How much did they charge?
Was it a full 4 wheel laser alignement, toe, castor and camber, + adjustment, etc?

Thanks
Steve Wardle

DeanF

iTrader: (1)

Steve,
It was all those things, I had fitted Apex coilovers & it went well round right handers But tried to do a belly roll on left handers. They charged about £80 quid but were on it a good while. Transformed the car it was on rails afterwards. They dialed in a bit more Negi camber as i like to drive a bit spirited. Thoughorly recomended.

Dean

Steve PPP

Thanks Dean, may give them a go if I ever get my springs delivered.

Steve Wardle

vulnax999

iTrader: (7)

I used APB Motorsports at Crewe a couple of years ago on my MY94 wagon jap import, for 4 wheel tracking to the fabled "prodrive / SIDC faq " alignment settings, they had their own ( close too ) version which DID work well. Nice bit of neggie camber at front. Cost about £90 IIRC, took about 2 hours ( stiff bolts? ) and did include rear camber adjustment via the oval bolts.

Just recently, as I was eating tyres, I used Bud+Jet ( a kwikfit type place) who do a 4 wheel laser alignment ( no camber etc. ) service for £20, with 4 return visits in the next year included free! Not too bad if you ain't changed bits!

Neil

DeanF

iTrader: (1)

Would Give ABP a Miss, They charged somebody i know £500 for work that should have been completed for £50, All because they missed the offending item that was causing the problem & they said that they had stripped this item down, There is no way they Did else they would of seen it.
Just a thought

Dean