NC wheel alignment

[JayMo]

Howdy All

MX5 Nooob here

Quick Question

Just bought an early NC1, It feels a touch "odd" and skittish... almost as if the rear is toed out...

Wondering what settings would be recommended (I have tried searching on the forum and get a truck load of NA,NB) I understand it is a different rear end hence my asking here (and yes I have tried searching with NC in the search, which gets ignored).

What I am after is a set up that isn't too dozy, but at the same time neutral rather than toey (if that makes sense), a street & twisty road rather than track set up. Once I learn the car I would probably go to Spinning wheels or wherever, but at the moment I am flat out and just want to go local, hand over a card as ask them to hit the numbers...

Thanks in advance

John

[JBT]

Check your tyre pressures aren't too high. Anything above about 33 psi tends to make the car skittish. NC wheel alignment figures here: http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=48764&hilit=alignment

[Charlie Brown]

Howdy All

MX5 Nooob here

Quick Question

Once I learn the car I would probably go to Spinning wheels or wherever, but at the moment I am flat out and just want to go local, hand over a card as ask them to hit the numbers...

Thanks in advance

John

John, why waste your money on an alignment using someone without experience working on the MX-5?

Make the time and go to Stu at Spinning Wheels and get it done right the first time. Stu makes allowances to the right side settings for your weight. I can guarantee that your local bloke won’t do that.

[Sailor]

John, Don't waste your money elsewhere.
Book it in to Spinning Wheel...they'll do it while you wait and are about the same price as anyone else.

[Regie]

John,

What Phil and Rob said

any other option is a waste of money!

[Dan]

Just called to book in and found out Stu is away until the 1st of October, do the other guys have a pretty good idea of what's going on?

[Charlie Brown]

Just called to book in and found out Stu is away until the 1st of October, do the other guys have a pretty good idea of what's going on?

Wait.

[JayMo]

Thanks gents... i am getting my wheels refurbished, repainted/clear-coated, rebalanced and aligned all in one hit... I thought I would start with some safe but street-able numbers get to know the car a bit... (i have just come out of 12 years of high powered Subaru and Volksie AWD) and whilst I am sorting it out, getting some scrapes fixed, paint corrected etc. I have too much on to go east side or wait...

So if standard is below (I had seen the standard numbers post)- no one recommends different for what I am after? 3mm hind toe in on a RWD car? wow...

(Just shows what I know though... car felt sloppy, first thing I did was pump up the tires to 36/33... )


Front

1 degree negative camber
6.5 degrees castor
2mm total toe in

Rear

1.5 degrees negative camber
3.0mm total toe in

[Zohxoco]

car felt sloppy

100% Stu at Spinning Wheel. But also, unfortunately the NC1 stock suspension is somewhat soft.

[Charlie Brown]

car felt sloppy

100% Stu at Spinning Wheel. But also, unfortunately the NC1 stock suspension is somewhat soft.

Correct but Stu (with me testing and reporting) did a lot of work on alignment settings for the track with standard NC suspension way back in 2006.
Besides the slow recovery of the suspension when doing quick side to side turns like T3 / T4 at Wakefield, that you can only tune out with heavier sway bars, understeer was my biggest bug bear. We were able to improve it but only to a point where the stock adjustments ran out.

The alignment figures JayMo has above are the Mazdaspeed spec's and are an excellent place to start for a road car.

Stu's spec's are different and can be customised to suit your requirements be it cruising, spirited driving, mild track or the full track setup.

[JayMo]

The alignment figures JayMo has above are the Mazdaspeed spec's and are an excellent place to start for a road car.

Ok thanks...

Now don't call me Thomas or nutting... but the 3mm toe in on the rear is correct for a drive axle? (i just want to confirm that bit...) seems foreign, but would add stability under braking and trailing throttle... I spose...

I will then see this MX5 Whisperer called Stu in a few months (I don't know what I want yet - makes sense to start standard , and be able to articulate where I want to go from there)

Thanks

John

[JBT]

[... but the 3mm toe in on the rear is correct for a drive axle?

Yes and it works well on an MX-5. Remember that is total toe in. Much less and you'll find the car can become very tail happy and bite you.

[JayMo]

Thanks...

Got the car done when I got my wheels refurbed at Trivett tyres Parra... as mentioned, it was mainly whilst I drive it around to sort it out and get to know it... got to see under the car... more adjustment than most cars...

Anyhow the gentleman invited me into the workshop whilst the car was on the ramp... seems like I have a bent control arm (front lower) on the kerbside rear... How hard do you have to drive to do that? So my original settings on the rear were +.01mm (LR) and +1.8mm (RR)... with a mere .25 camber either side no wonder roundabouts had been so exciting...

Best balanced toe he could get out of it (considering one side has a bent (shorter) arm) was 1.6mm), and 1.2ish camber...

Once I get a control arm, I will obviously get a new align...

Cheers

John

[Mr Morlock]

how far you drive is not relavant - at least thats my guess. If a control arm is bent then its hit something. Best thing perhaps is have a very hard look at the car including under the bonnet and see if there is any other evidence of a shunt. Another guess- get the control arm replaced and get it aligned again.