things i've found that i would like to try.....

 

"Front-wheel-drive race cars, on the other hand, are often set up with a bit of toe-out, as this induces a bit of oversteer to counteract the greater tendency of front-wheel-drive cars to understeer."

"Race cars, in contrast, are fitted with steel spherical bearings or very hard urethane, metal or plastic bushings to provide optimum rigidity and control of suspension links. Thus, a street car requires a greater static toe-in than does a race car, so as to avoid the condition wherein bushing compliance allows the wheels to assume a toe-out condition."

"The best way to determine the proper camber for competition is to measure the temperature profile across the tire tread immediately after completing some hot laps. In general, it's desirable to have the inboard edge of the tire slightly hotter than the outboard edge. "

 

very interesting article!

well I took my car in to Firestone today to get a nail in my tire fixed and I also got their free alignment check. I was pretty pleased with the results. I improved the alignment apparatus by connecting the front and back posts with 2x4's and using some no stretch fishing line to measure off of.

As you can see the toe is out of spec but i measured it at zero at home and it shows zero total toe in the front so home alignement is definatley possible for us now. I took a test drive with the zero toe down the interstate to if there would be any bumpsteer. It was really stable didnt notice any swerving over bumps but could kinda tell there was a difference when i went over bumps. After that I took it to the "track". Really noticed the difference there. It's probably a combination of the new tie rod ends and the zero toe but it feels a lot more stable in the turns now. When it gets to the edge of grip it doesn't vear off like it did before but smoothly slides and feels alot more controllable.

The other thing I got from that alignment sheet is that theres something wierd with the right rear wheel. The camber is less than spec (which seems like its alot for the street). Thats the shock that is in backwards and also the corner that creaks. So it looks like me and the mad scientist are going to have to rip out that shock again and flip it around. The front camber looks good though a little more than spec but not too much. I'm glad that the home alignment worked out because I don't want to sit in any more waiting rooms.

Thats awesome!  Glad to see that worked out.  I'll have to take a look at your alignment jig.  If there are no problems with stability, the zero toe sounds nice for turn in and steering responsivness....how much camber are you running?  must be nice to have adjustable settings......and negative camber

i dunno, we'll have to look at my alignment over the break too....i've never had it aligned.  I'd like to know what its at, and to play with it a little.