[OldMoparGuy]

I've got an appointment for an alignment on Wednesday and was wondering how I want the tech to set up my AAD Rear Suspension tabs. I realize it's a matter of compromise between straight line performance, and going around curves. I'm looking to plant the power as effectively as possible but don't think I want to go for a full "drag race dedicated" set of numbers as I don't want to compromise handling. Can someone make a few recommendations as far as caster, camber, and toe for a street car that does not go to the drag strip, but wants the most out of these AAD parts? Thanks as always guys.

 

[Frosty]

I'm probably going to get a lot of flack for this but here is how I set mine up:

• Camber: Negative .5 degrees.
• Toe: 1/16th of an inch total negative toe. This is 1/32 on each side. My gauge doesn't measure Toe in degrees or I'd get that for you but I think that equates to a tad more than .10 degrees. So with the natural flex of the tie rods this gets the tires damn near straight on when driving according to the research I've done.
• Caster: Stock setting. I just used the same tabs to keep things consistent. I don't believe rear caster is something a tire shops machine will be able to test for. I know for my Viper you have to buy a special tool to do it. For a Challenger, I don't think the rear is adjustable but I could be wrong.

I've got about 4K miles on my set-up like this with perfect tire wear, drive smooth and straight and has as good of traction that I could expect from 275 Cont Extremes. I gave up on having shops do alignments for me as nobody seems to be competent anymore around where I live. Tired of spending a couple hundred bucks to drive off and the car drive like crap.

The flack I know I'll get is because I do my own alignments. Whenever I mention that at shows or online I seem to always get the, "you must be an idiot" looks/post. As such, I hope someone with professional results advises as well, but I wanted to give you what's working for me and I'm happy with.

 

[OldMoparGuy]

Thanks for the input Frosty. Hopefully this guy gets it pretty good. Never done an AAD setup before...

 

[2ndgen]

How would one go about aligning it by themself without a rack?

 

[Frosty]

How would one go about aligning it by themself without a rack?

It's actually pretty simple if you are detail oriented. You just need some basic tools and some time.

My tools:

• Alignment Turn/Slip plates: These have degree's on it for allowing you to easily do caster adjustments. The ones I have aren't sold anymore but something like this - Quick Trick Alignment 60004 QuickTrick Alignment Turn Plates | Summit Racing
• Caster/Camber gauge - Something like this - SPC Performance 91000 SPC Performance FasTrax Camber Caster Gauges | Summit Racing
• Basic level - I use this to make sure my caster/camber gauge is perfectly set up.
• two high quality tape measures (identical brand and model)
• Toe plates - Something like this - Longacre Racing Products 52-79501 Longacre Toe-In Plates | Summit Racing
• Jack stands
• string

• I always start with getting the tires pointed straight and true. This is done with the string method (jack stands and string used here). Cliff notes you measure center point of each axle and have the string that exact distance away at each corner. This is basically boxing the car out. For which you then can measure front of wheel and rear of wheel distance from the string at each corner. If the front is a shorter distance than the rear of the wheel you know you have that tire toed in. I zero everything out and work from there. Rear is most important to get straight as if you have one toe in and the other toe out then the car with crab walk. If you have both in or both out then it wont handle properly and lead to tire wear. Lots of articles and video's on it so wont go into detail here. The only gotcha to be aware of is if the front and rear wheel track lengths. I.E. the distance between the front and rear wheels (apart from each other) is not the same. You need to know that difference to adjust for it in your measurements. For the challenger HC it's about a .30 inch difference with the rear slightly skinnier than the front. Going off memory but you would want the exact figure.
• Next I adjust caster in the front. This is done by turning the wheels 20 degrees one direction (it's different based on passenger vs driver side). Put caster gauge at 0 then turn to -20 degrees (this is where the turn/slip plates with gauges on them helps. Your reading on the caster gauge will show your caster setting for that wheel. Adjust caster and repeat this process till you get it where you want. Repeat on other side.
• Next you adjust the toe. With the tires on the slip plates you measure total distance between outside of both front tires and total distance between the rear tires. I like to have 1/16 of an inch total toe in. Since I know both are dead straight (from the string method) I adjust to both tires in a little at a time to get to where I want them to be.
• Next I recheck caster as if the toe is change to much it can effect your caster setting. As such toe and caster can be a bit of a dance.

It takes a long time and to be very detail oriented and patient. I've been doing all my cars and my families (parents and in-laws) for about 10 years now. Cars drive and handle great and non-have tire wear issues. Takes me about 2 hours these days but before could easily be 4 or so hours. I could get it perfect with a rack but I've found that my alignments turn out better than 90% of the ones I've paid for as most of the techs just get it in the green and that's it. If I could have found a good tech that would dial things in for me I probably never would have started doing this as initial cost of parts isn't cheap. Now it's just one less thing I worry about needing to take in for work on.

Obviously the above is a very shortened down description of what is done but hopefully it gives an idea. Their are a lot of articles and how too's on the process out their if you want to dig in deeper. The only thing I can't do is weight balance my cars that have coil overs and could be done. I've got a friend with scales so we could do that too but I've never really had the need to do it that much since he now lives 6 hours away from me.

 

[OldMoparGuy]

Alright. So I’m out of there. Below are my before and after rear readings in addition to the front. I haven’t played with it as I had to get right to work. I was looking for as close and flat as he could get it bearing in mind a few of the thoughts you guys suggested here and the other place. Thoughts pls. Thanks.

 

[Frosty]

IMHO, and I'm not a racer or would consider myself an expert on alignments so keep that in mind. I think that's too much negative camber in the front, unless you are planning on carving some corners, and my brain is stuck on why they went with positive camber in the back. Normally you go with negative camber as when you go around a corner you get more contact with the tire but with positive camber you reduce it.

All in, it's not that bad and none of the settings should impact tire wear negatively. Just not my cup of tea. If it drives good and you are happy that is all that matters

Curious to hear what others say.

 

[2ndgen]

Pretty sure you want positive rear camber for a drag setup. That way when the weight transfers when it squats the contact patch levels out.

 

[OldMoparGuy]

It's not set up primarily for drag, but more of a balanced street set up. I do get the idea of positive camber under acceleration though. I'm just glad they got it done, and got me close. Now I can use the shims I've got to fine tune it after some testing. Seems to be alright though, in the little time I drove it today. Thanks guys.

 

[Frosty]

Seems to be alright though, in the little time I drove it today. Thanks guys.

And that's what counts.

Just be advised that if you change the shims to adjust caster and or camber it will effect the toe so just keep an eye on it.

 

[Frosty]

Pretty sure you want positive rear camber for a drag setup. That way when the weight transfers when it squats the contact patch levels out.

Yeah, good call. I always forget about that since I'm not much into the drag racing world.

 

[HC5120]

Greetings all. AAD recommended for my setup go camber positive 0.2-0.3 and toe to be .05 to .1ish positive, for the rear alignment.

I don't have the stock numbers since I installed the AAD arms and then took it to the alignment place. But I will list what it was just so you can see what the numbers were with the tabs I had thrown in there. AAD said that 1mm =0.24 degrees.

left camber 0.0 (6mm tab); right, neg 0.4 (6 tab)
left toe, neg 0.12 (0.5 tab); right, neg 0.40 (0.5 tab)

IAfter trying to get it within the range AAD suggested, it ended up:
Left camber 0.4 (7 tab), Right 0.2 (8 tab)
left toe neg 0.01 (1 tab); right 0.04 (2 tab)

If I'd had .5 increments for some more tabs could have dialed it in more on camber, I think, but this seems to be working well. I did tell AAD that I do drag race the car a lot, too. I have since gotten some 7.5 tabs and 1.5 and a few others, but doubt I will change it unless I swap springs or something.

Every car is a little different, which is why there is a range the alignment is supposed to be within.