Alignment settings
 

I had my car aligned back in April with my old tires, which are 195 60 15. Im having a new set of yoko avs es 100's mounted in the same size. My car currently has a very rough ride. Has new bilsteins (set on the 2nd to lowest perch), turbo tie rods, and welmeister sp 100 springs. I disconnected the rear sway bar which seem to help abit.

Question - Here are my alignment settings;

Front Rear
camber caster toe camber toe
L -.7 5.6 .16 -1.6 .03
R -.6 5.7 .16 -1.4 .03

RIDE HEIGHT - measured from ground - through center of wheel to bottom lip of the fenders

Left front = 23 5/8"
Left rear = 21 7/8"
Right front 23 3/8"
Right Rear 21 5/8"


Do these settings seem ok or should I have different settings done while I have the tires installed?

What tire pressure are you running? I also have 195/60s and if I increase the tire pressure too much the ride gets teeth chattering. Now, I try to stick to no more than a 2-3 pounds over the factory recommended pressures. On my next set of tires I'm going to go to 205/60s to give a little more cushion to the ride.

I typically run 30 front 32 rear - i tried 28 & 30 didnt make that much of a dif.

What Bilsteins did you install? Maybe the car is too low. I've got Bilsteins but they are set to the highest perch in the rear. My car still has the factory ride height (nose high in the front). I'm getting ready to do a 5 lug conversion. I'm going to keep the same ride height in the back and lower the front a little so the car is level.

Hey Tod,

By rough ride, do you mean it's a bumpy ride or a nervous ride (hard to drive in a straight line at higher speeds)?

What type of bilsteins did you get (regular or sports)?

The toe-settings you gave, are those toe-in settings?

Cheers,

Jeroen

I'd say the roughness is from new shocks as they take a while to settle in and smooth out. The air pressure is a tad high, we use 26# cold front and rear on the street and a pound or so less on the track cold. Good luck.

The car sits extreemly low. And the ride is more or a nervous feel.
Get a bit of tourqe steer with it too. As for the shocks, they are black with the 5-6 ring perch adjustment in the back. I dont know it they are sports or regular. Im wondering how much of this poor driveability is from the old tires. I hate to toss on new tires and have them get trashed if the car isnt set up right. Do those settings seem ok?

Torque steer? To the right?

AFAIK the blacks are standard (not sports). They may take some time to settle, like John suggested. The shocks may also feel a lot harsher if your old ones were worn out badly (and that is what you were used to).

The rideheight should not affect the harshness of the suspension since it doesn't change the springrate.

The nervousness of the ride is most likely affected by the alignment.
The camber and caster quotes look good to me.
Can't tell from your post if the toe settings are toe in or toe out.
If it's toe out, that should explain the nervous steering caracter.

Even IF it's toe out, it's so little that it won't ruin your new tyres, if that's what you are worrying about.

Still I'd have the toe-settings checked...

Cheers,

Jeroen

Tod, Brad Mayeur gave me alignment specs that worked beautifully on my last two teeners.

I can't seem to put my hands on the info right now and don't recall all the settings off the top of my head, but if you are interested, give Brad a call, or send me an email and I will dig up the specs for you.

If you haven't already, you can also check this thread for alignment info:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-914-914-6-technical-forum/87427-rear-suspension-adjustments.html

Cheers,

Jeroen

If your car has torque steer then something is way off.
My bet is corner balance. Does the car pull the opposite direction during hard braking?
I suggest raising it up to a reasonable level and have the car corner balanced and aligned. If you go to a good place they will also do a complete inspection of your suspension while the're in there.
I would do all that before spending any money on new tires.

The torque steer im feeling is when you corner hard and the steering tends to fight you abit. It's not bad, just noticable. Ive driven many 914's, I have a pretty good idea on how they should drive. For some reason mine just doesnt seem set up right. Not sure how much of this is do to the tires. Maybe I'll try replacing them 1st and go from there. Braking is fine on the car.
Thanks for the feed back. I'll give Brad M. a call and see what sets he might suggest.

oooohhh, that's different.
If you are turning in a corner and the front end wants to keep going in a straight line, that's understeer, not torque steer. Basically the front end is plowing. If it does it more with the power on, then it's throttle understeer. 911s do that because they have enough torque to lift the front a little, but 914s usually don't do it because they are more evenly balanced front to back.

Does it do it the same if you are turning right and left?

I still think the alignment is off, sounds like too much toe in, specially if it's been lowered in the front withut re-doing the alignment.

No one has mentioned the *bump steer* problem as far as nervous steering is concerned. If the car is that low, does it have the rack spacers or the steering arm extensions? Or both?

Sammy, the only cars that don't have power-on understeer are ones that are so badly set up that the rear slides all the time.

The main reasons for power-on understeer are weight transfer (the car leans back, takes weight off the front tires making them stick worse), and the fact that most cars are set up from the factory to understeer a bit in all circumstances anyway.

--DD

Car went in the shop today. Went for a test drive. The shop owner confirmed the quirky handleing. Seems to be more than just tires. I'll post again once I get it back and sorted out. Can a 914 ever be sorted out? Thats my question!