Hello, I am doing my own alignment on an Evo 9, I put Megan track coilovers on and adjusted the alignment as far to neutral as possible on the camber plates. I also adjusted the camber bolts in the struts to the max positive position. My question is this why is the driver side 2 deg negative and the passenger side 1 deg positive even though both sides are maxed out? I would like to have both sides equal (street use/long trips) for tire wear. Any Ideas with be greatly appreciated!
Sam

 

What equipment are you using to get these measurements? Are you on a perfectly level surface? Are you sure you are doing it correctly?

I dont mean to assume you don't know what your doing but we should at least detmine if you do?

 

1. Double check your work.

2. Are you on a perfectly level surface? You may actually have 0 on the driver side and 3 positive on pass side if ground is pitched 2 degrees.

3. What camber gauge are you using? Is it zero'd properly?

Adjust to get the same settings on both sides. The camber bolts and/or plates do not need to be in the same position as the otherside to achieve this.

 

LOL!!! Typed at the same time!

 

Would the cross member being out of adjustment cause this? I have the same issue but with the rear.

 

One point--whats going to cause most ( if not all) your wear issues is Toe.. so as you get other things eqaul--camber etc, toe will be the defining "wear" culprit. You might leave that to a shop though--

 

Thank you all! 1. I am using a FASTRAC Guage, leveled area is my garage floor, and I have done alignments many times on a nissan ser (I know it's another car). I will have a friend help me with the toe adjustment. My main concern is why i can't get the front drivers side below Neg 2 degrees! No Accident history on car either. Thanks again.
Sam

 

"Neutral as possible on the camber plates......."

Not sure what you mean beside putting them in the middle. This is where you adjust to get addl neg camber. The OE camber bolts only give you so much neg camber.

A garage floor is usually slanted for drainage and not level enough for corner weighting and checking camber. Check by using 4 exactly the same size blocks placed approx where your tires would be. Then place a level diag and then front left block to righ and do the same for the rear.

If and what is wrong should be obvious. We could guess a lot of things. Take a good look at your car and parts, thats all a mechanic would do too.

But for the street -2 is fine, just make sure toe is perfectly zero.

Keep at it, you'll get it right.

 

Here is my input.

There is a reason cars come with ways to adjust the alignment. In theory, both cars should be the same camber if the plates and the strut bolts are in the same position. The harsh reality though is that things are not perfect. That is why you can adjust things. I can gaurentee that when a stock evo has a perfect to spec alignment the camber bolts are not in the same positions.

"My main concern is why i can't get the front drivers side below Neg 2 degrees!"
If your plates are neutral what makes you think that it shouldn't be -2 degrees. You are running coilovers. Just adjust the plates as nessesary.

Why would you need a friend to help with your toe? Just tie a ~20 foot piece of string between two jack stands. Pull the string taunt several inches away from your wheels. Measure from the center caps to the string and make the string parallel to your car. Measure the distance from the front most part of your rim to the string, then measure from the rear most part of your rim to the string. Since you should have a 0 toe up front it makes things that much easier

 

Thanks again guys, I am sure the answer is obvious, I just have not seen it!
Sam

 

It might sound like a noob question but are the eccentrics on the adjustment bolts in the same orientation? If one is 180 degrees or opposite from the other that might cause problems. I have also seen spacers or washers and bearings missing or out of place whe nstrut tops are installed cause problems. On my old porsche the alignment would never be right if the weight was taken off the front end like wheels removed then the suspension not fully allowed to settle prior to alignment. I was actually told to come back after a couple of days of driving because ride/fender height was too high

Oh well I',m a suspension noob so take it for it's worth which is possibly nothing

 

It does sound like one of your eccentric bolts are off.. here's a diagram from the shop manual.

 

Thanks Mark, I have the "arrows" on the camber bolts both facing inside. Still the same problem persists. I am begining to think that the top hats of the coilovers are the problem? I have them full positive and the camber bolts @ -1, still no change.

 

Hey, I just got the fastrax alignment gauge, how do you like using it? I just checked my alignment and was off 1' degree on the front left.The camber bolt was facing in for me though. How do you check toe? Did you measure to find car center front and rear? Also, according to that service page theres no adjustment for caster and kingpin settings? sorry for all the ?'s tx

 

I love the fastrax! It has helped alot! TOE is measurable with an additional kit. Part # 91100/91130. I believe the site is spcperformance.com I have yet to adjust my toe, since I am adding some whiteline bits. And I also believe the problem I have may be from a bad camber bolt.
What do you have done to your EVO? I was tuned @ SE last week and was able to put out 301Whp/295wtq.