Laser Alignment

[mr2nut123]

So having heard that my car once had coilovers and they were removed before I bought the car, I thought it best to get the tracking looked at. I'm glad I did!

I had a rev2 for MANY years, so thought that a rev5 would be a bit more stable if anything, but I had zero confidence in cornering. It felt very light on the front end with constant signs of understeer. The tyres were bald on the insides so once changed, I assumed the car would be fine again but I believe the biggest change was after I got the tracking done on a proper Hunter machine.

Anyway, here are the before and afters. For the experienced guys in this stuff, what are your thoughts? I have to admit, until yesterday I knew sweet ** about this stuff, so it was nice to see how it all worked whilst he was adjusting it.

The camber is now within tolerance, and the toe is almost perfect on all wheels now. One thing I did notice, is that there is about 1 degree difference between the rears, with the right side only being a little within tolerance from Toyotas recommendations. Is this ok?

[stuMR2lee]

Looks a lot better and now within tolerance.

Your camber differs as there is a small amount of adjustment on stock struts - up to about 1 degree. You can tell this by loosening the 19mm nuts and rocking the hub in/out.

However if you now try and adjust this you will need the toe setting up again.

I'd probably just leave it for now if it drives a lot better than it did before.

[SonicSW20]

Yeah, looks like they've just bolted it up on the rear right at full negative (hub pushed in). As Stu said, camber and toe are linked - any change to either changes the other.

I'd leave it until it needs attention again - after replacing tie rod ends for example!

[archangel]

It's incredible how much difference a proper alignment makes. Had mine done and it just rolls so much more smoothly and is so much more predictable and grounded. Left it too long before getting it done though and scrubbed a lot of tread off one of the rear tyres.

[danjama]

Can anybody recommend a place in essex? Are Elite any good?

[SonicSW20]

I've used Elite a few times Dan, probably the best place around here. Importantly they are used to modified vehicles and happy to align to custom specifications.

[2barGee]

Where did you go mate out of interest

[danjama]

I've used Elite a few times Dan, probably the best place around here. Importantly they are used to modified vehicles and happy to align to custom specifications.

Cool cheers mate, hopefully they have experience with mr2's.

[SonicSW20]

They've had experience with mine, if that counts!

To be fair, MR2 suspension is nothing special - it's a straight forward macpherson strut setup.

[danjama]

True that, how hard can it be

[mr2nut123]

Where did you go mate out of interest

Hi bud. It was just a local Kwik Fit actually. Their systems are Hunters but with their branding. Extremely impressive machines!

[mr2nut123]

It's incredible how much difference a proper alignment makes. Had mine done and it just rolls so much more smoothly and is so much more predictable and grounded. Left it too long before getting it done though and scrubbed a lot of tread off one of the rear tyres.

Oh aye! I can't wait for nice weather now! Such a huge difference.

[mr2nut123]

Does anyone have a picture of the bolt I need to adjust to try get the right hand side to match up with the left? I'm going to try take it back as he didn't think you could adjust the stock struts but clearly you can, up to 1 degree. Would I be right in saying that he could get the right side to match the left as it's only 1 degree out?

What is 1 degree in mm just out of interest?

[SonicSW20]

Hi bud. It was just a local Kwik Fit actually. Their systems are Hunters but with their branding. Extremely impressive machines!

The machine is only as good as the operator. My experience with Kwikfit has never been good - while they might have decent equipment, they are merely trained to follow the number on on the computer.

Does anyone have a picture of the bolt I need to adjust to try get the right hand side to match up with the left? I'm going to try take it back as he didn't think you could adjust the stock struts but clearly you can, up to 1 degree. Would I be right in saying that he could get the right side to match the left as it's only 1 degree out?

What is 1 degree in mm just out of interest?

There's two bolts that hold the strut to the hub. Loosen these and pull the hub out. You might need to use a bit of metal between the strut and hub to lever it out. Don't do this at home unless you have a torque wrench, it's really important that all suspension bolts are torqued correctly.

Why do you need it in mm? There isn't a straight conversion from degrees to mm as it depends on what wheels and tyres you have.

[2barGee]

Where did you go mate out of interest

Hi bud. It was just a local Kwik Fit actually. Their systems are Hunters but with their branding. Extremely impressive machines!

Check Kwik Fit out

Yeah looking at it i'd try and match the front right camber as well. So You'd be running -1.19 on both fronts and then -1.23 on both rears or as close as they / you can get it.

I run -2.0 front and -1.5 rear camber on mine but i'm a track day slag and love bends and mine handles amazing (a race team set mine up) . Just my 2p.

[Rob]

Mine is -2 at the front but that's because I have 8" et35 wheels and coilovers and that's the closest I can get to -1 whilst keeping the tyres flush with the arch but avoiding the coilover spring.

I have to say I find it darts around a fair bit and am a bit disappointed with it.

[SonicSW20]

What's your toe set to Rob, and how low is it, and what front tyres? It shouldn't behave like that.

[mr2nut123]

Why do you need it in mm? There isn't a straight conversion from degrees to mm as it depends on what wheels and tyres you have.

Just out of interest really as a rough idea of just how much difference there is.

But that aside, I guess what guys are saying is, I have UP to 1 degree of camber adjustment on the stock struts on both the fronts AND the rears and that he was talking rubbish about them not being adjustable..?

If so, the camber doesn't have a difference of more than 1 degree to each side so I SHOULD be able to get them both the same with undoing the bolts on all the struts, then moving the hub? Will it be moving hub in or out?

[2barGee]

Why do you need it in mm? There isn't a straight conversion from degrees to mm as it depends on what wheels and tyres you have.

Just out of interest really as a rough idea of just how much difference there is.

But that aside, I guess what guys are saying is, I have UP to 1 degree of camber adjustment on the stock struts on both the fronts AND the rears and that he was talking rubbish about them not being adjustable..?

If so, the camber doesn't have a difference of more than 1 degree to each side so I SHOULD be able to get them both the same with undoing the bolts on all the struts, then moving the hub? Will it be moving hub in or out?

Push the top of the disk / hub in for more negative camber

[SonicSW20]

Here you can see it unbolted.

As the hub is fixed to the control arm, moving it in and out will alter the camber as the bottom point is fixed. There is a small amount of play in the bolts which allows for a small amount of adjustment. You can buy camber bolts which will give you more adjustment here. If you're on stock suspension or uprated struts and lowering springs, pushing them in should give you ~2degrees negative camber or less.

Remember, camber and toe are linked - a change to one affects the other.