NC alignment

[russs]

Just had Pedders go over my alignment and it already feels better. They used Charlie Browns settings posted 29 March 2006 http://www.aus-cartalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=16263 . I'd actually given them the printout of that thread for the standard settings, but they read over the page and used his... his car is 40mm lower than mine, so the club run this weekend should be an interesting test. They swear these settings will be fine. I suspect they will but that tyre wear will increase.
In degrees
BEFORE
Front
Camber L -0.24 R -0.12
Caster L +5.74 R +5.70
Toe L +0.39 R +0.37
Rear
Camber L -1.46 R -1.32
Toe L +0.11 R +0.03

AFTER
Front
Camber L -1.43 R -1.48
Caster L +6.49 R +6.40
Toe L +0.05 R +0.04
Rear
Camber L -2.37 R -2.35
Toe L +0.18 R +0.20

[Artificial Life]

Those are pretty much the same as mine (also based on Mr Browns good work). With the stock suspension the feel and handling is dramatically better, I'll work out tyre wear over the coming months

[pastapete]

Do most alignment shops now accept degree specs in decimal fractions instead of degrees and minutes? Gets confusing looking at alignment figures in mm/thou/degrees and minutes/degrees with decimal fractions.
I've supplied some figures to one of my local suspension shops, and they say they can't read them...
maybe one day there'll be an industry standard?

[Charlie Brown]

Wow, you are running a lot of negative camber for a standard height NC, Russ.

I can tell you now that you WILL get inside tyre wear running those specs especially on the rear. Your aligner probably didn’t want to redo the work after you found he used the wrong figures, that why he told you it would be fine.

Actually your old specs for a standard car weren’t all that bad except for the toe.
Your new toe settings are good for front and rear but I think that if you are after a sporty setting without tyre wear, I would back the camber down to -0.7F and -1.3R. That’s more than the recommended -0.14F and -1.0R.
I also like zero or slightly toe-out on the front. Like all MX-5s ALWAYS run toe-in on the rear.

[JBT]

I guess the camera doesn't lie. It looks like positive camber on the front right..................




...........and it looks like it really was . Check out the weird rear toe settings too. Good pre-delivery work by the dealer......NOT :!:

The printout is from the alignment I had done today to correct an off center steering wheel and a check of the settings.

[Boags]

Isn't toe out on the back bad?

That's pretty dodgy from the dealer though, shoots down AJs argument of not messing with it from the factory...

[rjastra2]

I reckon a wheel alignment with any new car is mandatory.

[AJ]

Isn't toe out on the back bad?

That's pretty dodgy from the dealer though, shoots down AJs argument of not messing with it from the factory...

well smartarse, i guess i should have said, don't mess with it if you buy it from South City Mazda


RJ, i had ours CHECKED & it was fine, & still is

[Charlie Brown]

Must have been driving down the street sideways JBT with rear settings like that and you still kept up with the NAs & NBs

[JBT]

Yes CB, it makes me wonder why it was going as well as it was.

I'll give it a bit of a check out this weekend to see if there's much of a difference. The car seemed a tad more \"stable\", for want of a better word, on the way home but it was only for 10km on \"motorways\" - again, for want of a better word.

[Garry]

Kuntry Kuzzin had an alignment done on his NC. I had a drive last weekend and it drives much better now. I'm not sure what specs he's had it set too but it feels much better than it was with the settings Mazda were using at the factory.

I have to agree with rjastra. I dont think I've ever had a new car that didn't need an alignment. My NB was setup all over the place. I guess it's hard to set it up right at the factory seeing as the suspension would settle and \"bed in\" a bit in transit from factory to final sale.

[Frostymx]

After a long drive at the weekend and reading this thread I am convinced that there is something not quite right with our NC's alignment. The steering feels very \"un MX5\" -a little vague just off centre (for an MX5) and too much wandering. For the record in just under 7000km its never had the alignment done (and after getting the new 6 with a cockeyed steering wheel at the dead ahead I shouldn't be surprised).

The question is - what specs to use for the daily driver (unfortunately yet to convince the CFO that Wakefield can only be a good thing -maybe Mrs Charlie Brown can discuss this over the Cowra long weekend!). A track alignment seems a bit agressive for the road. How does this stadard stock MX5 alignment stack up. Basically I'm after a bit more stability in the steering without the vagueness.

I have a good alignment shop in the Gong but don't expect they have seen to many NC's.

So, I defer to the forum alignment gurus..........and hope to get the answer in time to get the alignment done for the weekends run to Cowra!

Cheers

Frostymx

[Charlie Brown]

After a long drive at the weekend and reading this thread I am convinced that there is something not quite right with our NC's alignment. The steering feels very "un MX5" -a little vague just off centre (for an MX5) and too much wandering. For the record in just under 7000km its never had the alignment done (and after getting the new 6 with a cockeyed steering wheel at the dead ahead I shouldn't be surprised).

The question is - what specs to use for the daily driver (unfortunately yet to convince the CFO that Wakefield can only be a good thing -maybe Mrs Charlie Brown can discuss this over the Cowra long weekend!). A track alignment seems a bit agressive for the road. How does this stadard stock MX5 alignment stack up. Basically I'm after a bit more stability in the steering without the vagueness.

I have a good alignment shop in the Gong but don't expect they have seen to many NC's.

So, I defer to the forum alignment gurus..........and hope to get the answer in time to get the alignment done for the weekends run to Cowra!

Cheers

Frostymx

Frosty, don’t bring Mrs CB into the discussion with Mrs Frosty on Wakefield because you will NEVER get to test the NC onto the track.

As for your standard alignment, if you land in the 0.75 – 1.0 negative camber front range and 1.0 - 1.25 rear that will do. Go for 1 – 2mm total toe in on the rear and 0mm toe on the front. Caster should be up around 6.5 degrees.

See you Saturday.

[JBT]

The figures I used are a from a thread where Charlie Brown listed all the factory alignment figures. I looked at them and also CB's recommendations.

As a result, I asked Fulcrum to go for .5 to .75 degree front camber, max castor, 1.25 to 1.5 degrees rear camber and 2mm toe in front and rear.

You can see the crap setings from the factory (or the dealer if they ever touched it) to which our car was set. The car behaves much better through some of my favourite local corners and curves now and is completely stable during normal cruise.