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Did My Local Shop Mess Up My Alignment?

2K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  jdawson 
#1 ·
I'm pretty sure my alignment was set up wrong. I just need confirmation from someone with more knowledge than me. I changed out my bushings for monoballs and decided to do my own alignment. I checked my rear toe today and it turns out I have 0.76mm of toe OUT Left (45.36mm from string front, 46.12mm rear) and 1.29mm of toe out right side(45.22mm front, 46.51 rear). Now I'm confused. I can't find my last alignment but I found the one before it (April 1016). I never noticed before but the alignment says negative toe. Correct me if I'm wrong but negative toe is toe out? Meaning my shop has been setting my rear toe to be out instead of in for the last year. I always assumed the rear wanting to step out all the time was due to the Penske DA I installed at the same time I got my alignment. I know I should have noticed the alignment form sooner I just trusted the shop and never thought to question them.
 

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#3 · (Edited)
You're right the number doesn't have a negative sign but the arrow clearly is to the negative side of the ideal range. The front right toe is slightly toe in and the arrow is slightly pointed to the positive side.

Most likely the shop did my alignment right. I'm just trying to figure out how the toe changed so much. Apparently the rear is super sensitive.
 
#5 ·
Seems Total toe for rear is a bit aggressive. Everything else looks good. You beeta be driving the daylights out of it with all that rear camber!! NICE!!!
 
#6 ·
Your measurements do indicate rear toe out, but we're also assuming you setup a perfect square on the string alignment rig. Tear down your strings and put them back up. Do you get the same measurements indicating toe out, or are your measurements different than the first time? If your measurements aren't the same, then at least part of the problem is your process.

When you say you did your own alignment, what do you mean? did you make alterations to camber, toe, ride hieght, or did you only measure what they are?

I'd recommend checking your work with one of those big calipers that gives you total toe, or going back to the alignment shop and just having them tell you what your current alignment is.

Of the sheet you provided, your rear camber is more negative than most plots unless you're putting the car on track, and on slicks. Also from the sheet, for the rear it indicates more toe in than typical. Mine is set at 2.8mm total toe in for the rear, but overall I think you're looking for around 3mm total. Of course nothing is absolute, but if you don't have much knowledge in the world of alignments and you're not using someone elses "known good" alignment as a reference, probably should be closer to the "norms."
 
#7 ·
Your measurements do indicate rear toe out...
Do they? It looks like the measurements are just on the negative side of the specified value.

If the value was actually toe out, it would be a negative number... right? At first, I thought it was toe out but the measurements are positive. Normally the Hunter output sheet shows the specified range, but this one doesn't. It seems like that's adding to the confusion.
 
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