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Hi All
Bought some second hand SE Bilstiens a while back and have finally had them installed along with a new clutch (no more shudder when cold )
The car drives so much better already but now its time to have new tyres fitted and a decent wheel alignment. I have a NB8B which is stock except for the Bilstiens and is dríven daily by the wife with the occasional spirited drive by myself.
I have been reading up on wheel alignment specs in this thread viewtopic.php?f=76&t=15398
and it appears the settings I need to specify are as follows –
Front –
Caster : 5 deg plus (or 4 deg plus, Max positive caster, sacrifice a little neg camber to get it if you have to)
Camber : -1.0 deg
Toe : 0.28 deg (2mm IN)

Rear –
Camber : -1.0 deg
Toe : 0.13 deg (1mm IN)

I understand the Caster and Camber figures but need to understand the Toe In figures as one post indicates 0.15 deg Toe IN Total for the rear but no mention of Total for the front and another indicates the figures are Totals for front and rear.
Are the above figures total Toe IN for the front and rear or 0.28 deg each side front and 0.13 deg each side at the rear ? I would like to get this clear in my head before I head to Fulcrum for the alignment.

Kym

Generally people quote total toe for each axle.

It's very rare that you'd need to quote each side, since people rarely run uneven toe from left to right (maybe oval track racers?)


Those toe figures are similar to what I think I had set on my car last alignment.
It's a very nice setup, still has responsive handling, but it's also enough to reduce tramlining on all but the crappiest bits of road.



If you intend to take corners relatively hard you may want to add a little more camber to help prevent the tyres from wanting to tuck under.
I run 1.5degrees at the front, and 1.8 at the rear (negative of course)

If you get different toe left to right on the front, you will merely end up with the total toe split evenly between the two sides and a misaligned steering wheel . Differential toe on the rear is a different story.

I've only ever used zero toe front and rear on my NA6, and have been very happy with this set-up. Definitely max out the caster and don't be tempted to dial in too much negative camber on the front with stock springs - your braking will suffer. -1.0deg front is good and you might like to try a little more on the rear.

Toe is total toe in, so divide the figure EQUALLY each side.

If your wife is still driving the car, keep the toe figures in the alignment post for spirited driving. Don't do a track alignment. It will move around too much on the road. You could possibly go up to 1.2 negative on the rear. Keel 1.0 negative on the front.

Thanks for the feedback, yes the wife still drives it (more than I do now ) so will keep the settings to those originally recommended by CB below as it doesn't get dríven hard often enough to warrant anything more aggressive -

Front –
Caster : 5 deg plus (or 4 deg plus, Max positive caster, sacrifice a little neg camber to get it if you have to)
Camber : -1.0 deg
Toe : 0.28 deg (2mm IN) Total

Rear –
Camber : -1.0 deg
Toe : 0.13 deg (1mm IN) Total

Regards
Kym