Alignment question NEED HELP!

[rjwong]

I went to a speed shop today that deals mostly with race cars, and they did my 4 wheel alignment. They saw the front asked to be toe out and rear toe in

they suggested to toe in the front and rear to increase straight line stability. I took their suggestion and they did it to their own specs.

So questions, is it ok to put it toe in for the front? it was very slight toe in,
front toe +.05 inches per side
rear toe +.08 inches per side .16 inches total (4mm)

before the alignment my car would wander after hitting 60 and up on the freeway, i felt as if it was going with the lines of the road and felt unstable.

the alignment shop said if i put toe in for the front and rear it would stabilize more on the freeway. The car feels better, but still wanders even after the alignment

I am running 17x8 front and 18x10 rear with 215/40/17 yok es100 and 275/35/18 yok s drives

what could cause my nsx to feel unstable in the rear at 60 plus... 0-40mph the car handles great

 

[TyraNSX]

Have u considered doing a search?????????? It ain't rocket surgery.
http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72270&highlight=alignment
http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showpost.php?p=566036&postcount=3

 

[rjwong]

Have u considered doing a search?????????? It ain't rocket surgery.
http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72270&highlight=alignment
http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showpost.php?p=566036&postcount=3

Yes I have searched, I don't see how you answered my question.

I did not ask what the stock spec alignments are.

I'm asking if anyone is running toe in for the front and rear or could this be causing my car to feel unstable at 60 plus.

Please read my post carefully, its not rocket science

 

[TyraNSX]

Yes, you are right. It is my fault you put no units on your alignment settings, explained whether the settings you gave are per wheel or total, or compared your settings to the specs I linked to. The specs call for front NEGATIVE toe (slight toe out) and you have positive.

Your rear toe is excessive if units are degrees whether that is total or per wheel (which you didn't specify).

When you read the very bottom of the wiki page linked to in the one thread I linked to, it says:

Toe-in is dynamically stable; it will tend to self-correctively counteract any sideways forces applied to the car. Toe-out simply amplifies those forces, with often-scary results.

Some autocrossers like to run toe-out at the rear, since it lets them rotate the car into a corner faster. I wouldn't recommend this for a car that's EVER driven on the street, and it's completely unsafe for any car that's running at high speeds on a real track.

Food for thought.

Yes I have searched, I don't see how you answered my question.

I did not ask what the stock spec alignments are.

I'm asking if anyone is running toe in for the front and rear or could this be causing my car to feel unstable at 60 plus.

Please read my post carefully, its not rocket science

 

[Hapa88]

Honda spent a lot of time working on the Alignment specs for this car. I would just go with those as a baseline. They are widely available and come in two proven flavors 1) the "aggressive" OEM 1991-1992 spec and 2) the 1993+ spec which is slightly less aggressive in the rear.

I found that wandering is usually tied to the tires (though it still could be your alignment). Running mismatched tires front and rear makes figuring it out that much harder.

 

[rjwong]

Honda spent a lot of time working on the Alignment specs for this car. I would just go with those as a baseline. They are widely available and come in two proven flavors 1) the "aggressive" OEM 1991-1992 spec and 2) the 1993+ spec which is slightly less aggressive in the rear.

I found that wandering is usually tied to the tires (though it still could be your alignment). Running mismatched tires front and rear makes figuring it out that much harder.

thanks for your input hapa

Ya, the shop stated it might be the mismatched tires and the s drives being too wide with them mounted on a 18x10

the toe specs were given per side in inches

rear + .08 inches per side .16 total which is 4mm total (what factory 93 specs call for)

but since the front is also toed in, could this be causing the rear to wander at high speeds?

 

[rjwong]

ok, so after doing some research i decided to jack up the rear and move the wheels from left to right as if i was trying to make a turn with them.


Both wheels had a lot of play in them, so I look under the car to see what might be causing this. There is a 17mm bolt that connects to each toe link. The bolts were so loose I could turn them by hand!

So i got my torque wrench out, not sure what lbs but put it on 50 lbs and now the wheels have no play.

Took the car for a test run up to 90 mph, everything is good and stable

I dont know if these bolts loosen over time, but i guess its good to re-torque them every so often

 

[topolone]

but the alignment shop did not noticed of these loose bolts?

ok, so after doing some research i decided to jack up the rear and move the wheels from left to right as if i was trying to make a turn with them.


Both wheels had a lot of play in them, so I look under the car to see what might be causing this. There is a 17mm bolt that connects to each toe link. The bolts were so loose I could turn them by hand!

So i got my torque wrench out, not sure what lbs but put it on 50 lbs and now the wheels have no play.

Took the car for a test run up to 90 mph, everything is good and stable

I dont know if these bolts loosen over time, but i guess its good to re-torque them every so often

 

[rjwong]

but the alignment shop did not noticed of these loose bolts?

ya, im taking it back to the shop since im sure its moved since i tightened the bolts... you would think a good shop would have checked the main bolts

 

[hlakhani]

bumping a dead thread, but i had this happen to me today. During my drive to work I felt the car wandering and felt like the alignment was way off. I had to turn the wheel 10 degrees to the left just to track straight!

I had an interesting drive home - the wandering was causing the car to get really squirrely every time I changed lanes. Once I got home I pulled off the wheels and inspected, and sure enough, the left-rear end link was loose. Hopefully that solved the problem

btw, the end links should be torqued to 65 N-m (61 lb-ft) per the service manual.

How often should these be inspected? I just had my coilovers, sway bars, and bushings installed about 800 miles ago.