Hey All,
Big thanks to Glen for his help and the use of his digital camber measurement tool (it was on extended loan)! It made the iterative process MUCH EASIER as one of us could adjust and the other measure, etc. Glen's great problem solving skills and logical and practical thinking made the exercise quicker and more efficient too. Again, thank you much Amigo!
Yesterday we setup my smart strings alignment strings adapted to fit the 124.036 and dialed in caster, camber and toe settings front and rear. Took us about four hours.
Up front.....
Our method for setting caster was more of a relative measurement than actual (we don't yet have turn plates to accurately measure the front wheel angles). We'd measure camber at full lock positions on each wheel and use the difference for our relative caster measurement. Our strategy was to maximize caster on the wheel with the least available caster adjustment. Then we matched the caster on the other side. In short, we maximized caster, making them consistent and also adjusted camber to match.
Front wheels are set at -1.5 +/- .1 camber. Camber change (relative caster as described above )was 13.2 on the right. Camber change on the left was 13.0
Rear wheels are set at 1.2 +/- .1 camber.
A note ....... camber measurement tool is more accurate than the floor of my garage was level. Very small elevation changes in the garage floor surface are picked up by the tool.
Rears are toe-in 1/16" each
Fronts are toe-out 1/16" each
Thrust angle = zero
Driving feedback.
The car drives dead straight on the highway. With a bit of toe out dialed in upfront, the steering feels livelier in turns and turn-in improved, but still requiring only tiny inputs to keep it centered in the lane down the highway. Compared to before, it also seems to be more consistent in turning feel each direction. At baseline, toe was not even side to side and actually significant upfront.
A few other notes..
In between adjustments we'd roll the car two or three feet forward and backward as well as exercising the rear suspension to allowed the suspension to settle.
We did not use a spreader bar, but think the settling process did make setting front toe repeatable.
With the engine turned off there is more slop in the steering wheel. It takes some iterations to make sure the wheel is set dead center when setting toe.
Every suspension component is new within three years and less than 12k miles (most of it within a few months) and either lemfoerder or genuine MB. I think the slop in the front end is minimized in my car. With more slop, the results of the process may vary.
Upcoming projects:
I'd still like to make the steering ratio more aggressive as well as optimize bump steer. Glen suggested the common race car setup technique of bending the steering arms to improve bump steer characteristics and reduce their effective length. This is a great plan and one I will likely follow.
I've also considered custom shortened steering arms with bump steer spacers.
We shall see. No rush, but something with which I'd like to experiment!
Big thanks to Glen for his help and the use of his digital camber measurement tool (it was on extended loan)! It made the iterative process MUCH EASIER as one of us could adjust and the other measure, etc. Glen's great problem solving skills and logical and practical thinking made the exercise quicker and more efficient too. Again, thank you much Amigo!
Yesterday we setup my smart strings alignment strings adapted to fit the 124.036 and dialed in caster, camber and toe settings front and rear. Took us about four hours.
Up front.....
Our method for setting caster was more of a relative measurement than actual (we don't yet have turn plates to accurately measure the front wheel angles). We'd measure camber at full lock positions on each wheel and use the difference for our relative caster measurement. Our strategy was to maximize caster on the wheel with the least available caster adjustment. Then we matched the caster on the other side. In short, we maximized caster, making them consistent and also adjusted camber to match.
Front wheels are set at -1.5 +/- .1 camber. Camber change (relative caster as described above )was 13.2 on the right. Camber change on the left was 13.0
Rear wheels are set at 1.2 +/- .1 camber.
A note ....... camber measurement tool is more accurate than the floor of my garage was level. Very small elevation changes in the garage floor surface are picked up by the tool.
Rears are toe-in 1/16" each
Fronts are toe-out 1/16" each
Thrust angle = zero
Driving feedback.
The car drives dead straight on the highway. With a bit of toe out dialed in upfront, the steering feels livelier in turns and turn-in improved, but still requiring only tiny inputs to keep it centered in the lane down the highway. Compared to before, it also seems to be more consistent in turning feel each direction. At baseline, toe was not even side to side and actually significant upfront.
A few other notes..
In between adjustments we'd roll the car two or three feet forward and backward as well as exercising the rear suspension to allowed the suspension to settle.
We did not use a spreader bar, but think the settling process did make setting front toe repeatable.
With the engine turned off there is more slop in the steering wheel. It takes some iterations to make sure the wheel is set dead center when setting toe.
Every suspension component is new within three years and less than 12k miles (most of it within a few months) and either lemfoerder or genuine MB. I think the slop in the front end is minimized in my car. With more slop, the results of the process may vary.
Upcoming projects:
I'd still like to make the steering ratio more aggressive as well as optimize bump steer. Glen suggested the common race car setup technique of bending the steering arms to improve bump steer characteristics and reduce their effective length. This is a great plan and one I will likely follow.
I've also considered custom shortened steering arms with bump steer spacers.
We shall see. No rush, but something with which I'd like to experiment!
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