BHORT

From what I have read changing geometry to prodrive settings provides an economic way to improve handling albeit at the cost of more tire wear. Does this invalidate your warranty? I have an MY 99 with just 600 miles and think that the car is great but a bit less understeer and less squirm under braking would be excellent.

sunilp

I was told by my dealer (Bell & Colvill) that it does not invalidate my warranty.

Ask your dealer

BHORT

have you had the geometry changes made? if so what are your thoughts on the changes?

Lee

I too thought my (MY99) car had bad understeer and squirmy feel..

Just had the original tyres changed for a set of P-Zeros. Definitely a difference ! Turn-in is crisper and the car is less prone to sliding out.
Having said that I will probably still get the suspension tweaked, although now the tyres have made a difference I am now considering not having the extremes of camber to offset the extra wear.

Pitbull

I had MY99 suspension set as Prodrive quite a while ago and found it a great improvement. Also no obvious signs of extra tyre wear, do alot of motorway miles.

Pete

Yex

I had my geometry re-aligned on Saturday. The difference was not noticeable on the drive back until I reached the country lanes near where I live. Here the turn in to bends was clearly crisper, and the balance of the car through the bend seemed smoother. I am not a technical expert, don't own an anorak , but the feel of the car when pushed along a country road is much more positive.

Incase anybody want to know my car was done at Elite Wheels & Tyres on the A13 in Dagenham, 01708 525577 and ask for Barry to book you in.

Regards

Yex

Mike F

Hi all,
as you all have a positive say on this topic can somebody put the setting on the page please. with an explanation (i'm completly thick when it comes to suspension !!)
ta.

mike f.

RobScreene

I can testify to a big improvement on turn-in on a 97MY on 16 inch 7mm treaded Pontenza's.

I noticed that the FAQ was stating the toe-in in mm, whereas the fitter at Micheldever tyres was talking degrees. He said that degrees is a more accurate and modern way of releating to geometry.

Anyway here's how it worked out:-

Before my front camber was -0.10 and -0.40 degrees, toe +0.02 and -0.08

After it was -.80 both sides camber, toe +0.10 and +0.07

Before the rear camber was -1.10 and -0.90 degrees, toe +0.19 and +0.20

After the rear was changed to toe +0.10 and 0.11 (rear camber not ajustable).


The downside is a bit of what I call caster steer, sort of like torque steer, but only really noticable when returning the wheel to dead-centre over a road camber change.

Doe anyone know if the above specs are correct or if this is an acceptable trade-off?

cheers,
Rob.

phill .m.

Rear camber is ajustable! but won't be done by just a tyre garage. If you go to a specialist eg.SVS, Burstwick, East Yorkshire, Richard Finney will be able to sort it for you. He did mine!
Richard has just driven in this years TVR Tuscan Challenge, preparing his own car and others so he knows what he is talking about.
If you want any more info send me an e-mail.

Cheers Phill

Stef

Toe-in is measured in mm, and camber is measured in degrees (according to a mate who wotrks at Pro-Align).
I didn't think rear camber was adjustable unless some after market suspension gizmos were fitted?

Dave.
I notice you've got 1mm and .7mm toe-in at the front, and 2mm toe-in at the rear. Was this intentional? Isn't the Prodrive recommended setting 1mm toe-in all round, or did you want your own settings?

Stef.

Lee

Just as an aside I think the reason that some say it made little difference compared to others who rate it as THE MOD..it all depends on how the car is currently set. You would think that all new cars would have decent geometry (ie consistent) but posts have shown that to not be the case.

If anyone has the before and after figures I would be interested in seeing them.

cheers

RobScreene

But isn't mm depending on the size of the wheel?

1mm on a 15 inch rim is different to 1mm in a 16 or 17 inch rim.

Degrees for toe is consistently used throughought the geometry alignment machine I saw at Micheldever, the real-time LED read-outs, graphical computer program and the final diagram print-outs.

What's the accepted conversion?
Rob.

Lee

Whilst it was fresh in my memory I phoned Elite (near me) and Micheldever (preferred but not near me) to find out some info..

Elite can adjust the camber at the rear, but use some special bolts which weigh in at £50. And they want £49.95 for the 4 wheel alignment. They didnt sound as professional as Micheldever to me...anyway never trust a wheel/tyre company that sells ICE/gear *****/racesuits etc etc

Micheldever can also do rear camber (after the guy on the phone confirmed with his in-the-know-colleague)..he said "dont know how its done but we can". I don't think moving the subframe around will adjust camber, just be able to equalise it on both sides so they must have some other trick up their sleeves. Anyone know how they do it ?
Anyhows they want £37 for starters then £20 for each extra hour. He reckons just under the 2 hours so £57.

I've had a trawl through previous posts and it looks like the front camber is only adjustable to 0.5 - 0.7 degrees unless the suspension has been altered ?

I will aim for 1.5 degrees front, 1 degree rear and 1mm toe-in all round me thinks.

Bob Rawle

Micheldever equalise the rear camber by moving the sub-frame from side to side. They do not adjust each side individually and the guy that did my car said that quite often they refuse to do this if they think the sub-frame bolts may shear. The factory spec is 1.1 deg negative per side anyway.

They set my car to 1.3 negative per side at the front, 1.1 negative at the rear with the equivilant to 1.0 mm total toe in front and rear. They looked at rolling radius and calculated the toe from that.

phill .m.

It seems as though the prodrive settings is the maximum amount of adjustment you can get without doing minor modification.

There is no need to move the rear subframe or buy special bolts, all that is needed is to slightly open out the holes on the suspension leg.

Naturally, I wouldn't go anywhere where they say they can do it but don't know how!

By slightly opening out the holes, this gives you enough movement to adjust your camber accordingly.

I have 1.7 deg camber at the front and 1.3 deg at the rear. The standard settings were way off the mark.

E mail me if you want to know more of where it can be done professionally!

Cheers
Phill

Darren Soothill

Lee

You wanted before and after figures well here they are for my car when it was on standard suspension. This was in the days before Micheldever knew how to sort out the rear camber!

Camber
Left Front Right Front
Before -.9 -.6
Min -1.8 -1.8
Max -.8 -.8
After -1.2 -1.2

Left Rear Right Rear
-1.2 -1

Toe
Left Front Right Front
Before +0.02 0.0
After +0.06 +0.07

Left Rear Right Rear
Before +.29 +.07
After +.07 +.07

All measurements in degrees

As you can see the settings before where all over the place and this made a vast imporvement to the handling of the car. The car at the time had only done 1754 miles!

Since then I have had Leda fitted and this is a whole new set of settings which are different again in some areas.

Darren