I feel that my steering is not as responsive as some other Evos that i drove this past weekend. I took it to the dealersihp and told them to check the alignment. They came back and said that the steering response was fine and the alignment was ok. When i told them to produce the spec slip of the alignment they couldn't. Told them to reprint it and they said they couldn't...which basically tells me they didn't do jack.

Can anyone tell me if the steering response is affected by the alignment? Is it the caster, toe or camber that affects the turn in response. I just had my summer tires put on and the car has only 2600 miles so I cannot even tell of any tire wear.

Also they will be replacing my front pads and rotors after they get approval from the DSM about it on Wednesday. As this is the 3rd time i took it to them after they had resurfaced all 4 rotors. The problem was excessive vibration in the steering wheel when braking hard.

I drove my friends evo yesterday and he has 12000 miles and his brakes are perfect and turn in response is awesome.

 

Probably got negative toe. Take it to a private alignment shop. I hope you didn't pay for that alignment check...

 

No I did not. I was thinking of taking it somewhere else and getting the car aligned and then going back to the dealership to try and get reimbursed.

From what i've read on this forum, it seems like everyone has a 0 toe after alignment.

Thanks for your input though

 

I believe Caster is not adjustable (or if it is, it is minimal). Most of turn in response is dialed by toe (on street cars anyway). Do a seach for "EVO AND alignment AND settings" and you will find several posts describing what settings you should use for a desired feel. But to answer your question, both will have an effect on turn in. Think of caster when looking at Harlys and sport bikes. Harlys have long front forks angled forward and sport bikes are almost perpendicular to the road. These Harley don't turn very well, while sport bikes will be very nimble. Think of toe as pointing your toes on your feet inwards or outwards as opposed to being parallel to each other. Camber also will have an effect but significantly less than the others. Ultimately you need a good balance between all 3 settings.

As a general rule, the closer you are to 0 toe (ie having wheels parallel), the more the car will be stable at high speed and will want to track straight. It will not like turning very much. The more toe you change, the more the car will want to veer off course (making it less stable in stright line) but will want to turn in on its own and hold a nice arc through the turn with ninimal steering input. You need to find a nice balance betwen the two for your specific application and type of driving and road.

I forgot what the difference is by having toe out as opposed to toe in (have to look it up again) but I think you will want toe out for better turn in response (at least in the front). I think toe in in front will just wear out tires and not help much. Someone verify this please.

The above is for the front. You can also play with the rear settings to get the rear end to come around a bit. I'd be careful with those settings, you better know what you are doing while messing with toe in the rear. In my opinion, since you asked the simple alignment question, you should not mess with the rear quite yet. Wait until you learn by experience how your handling changes by just messing with the front alignment. It will be a lot safer.

Also note, that playing around with alignment settings will affect tire wear and wear pattern. Your car may be all over the place (and lots of tire noise) initially until the tires wear in a new pattern depending how drastically you change from one set of specs to another.

 

Thanks a lot for your reply. it was really helpful. I'm just extremely frustrated with the dealership and having to take the car in 4 times in 3 months to get something fixed or looked at.

I'm taking it somewhere right now to see if they can align the car and then compare the before and after specs to see if the alignment is messed up.

thanks

 

Basically what other have said. Try 0 toe in front or a little toe out 1/16 or 1/8 total toe out if you want even faster turn in. As for the rear, I'd start from 0 toe also, rear toe out will make the car oversteer (too much will be dangerous driving on the street) a little toe in will add high speed stability. too much toe in or out will definitely wear out your tire prematurelly. I would suggest you to go to a good alignment shop (forget about the dealer) who will work withyou, give you before and after print out and adjust the spec you ask for. Good luck!

 

KEVO- Thanks for the advise. The car is actually at another dealership and they're looking into all the other problems including alignment and brakes. I just wanted to get the car fixed and get it covered under warranty. I have confidence in these guys as their tech only works on Vipers and Evos. It's a dodge/mitsu dealership with one tech dedicated to Vipers and Evos and he seemed pretty knowledgable and willing to work with me than the other dealership. I first want to get the feel of the correct stock set up and then adjust the alignment to suit my driving style. I'll let you guys know as soon as I hear back from them. thanks!