1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
The 9000 is built with no provision for changing front suspension alignment settings. The factory front suspension settings are good for tire wear but less than ideal for crisp steering response on turn-in and high-speed stability.
It is possible to get more negative camber by slotting the holes in the struts where the strut bolts to the spindle, or possibly by using offset bolts in the strut holes. The former approach reduces tire clearance to the strut (though this is not a problem on any 9000 I've ever looked at) and as for the latter approach there are those who feel that the offset bolts are not as strong as a straight bolt. In any case, neither of these approaches gets you more positive caster.
My approach was fairly drastic - part of my reason for wanting to do this was that one legacy of a long-ago accident the car'd been in was front suspension alignment settings that could not be gotten even on both sides, and beyond just getting more +caster and -camber I wanted everything evened out forevermore.
I ground off the ridges on the tops of the strut towers where the strut tops are located, and elongated all the holes to allow the tops of the struts to be moved back and in. I actually ended up doing more surgery than I should have, cut bigger holes than I needed to and had to weld some metal back in (hint: don't put yourself in the position of having to do this, the strut tops are a wedding-cake of about four layers of thick sheetmetal with a bunch of anti-corrosion goo in between, it takes forever to get a decent weld) but in the end everything worked out very nicely.
As additional reinforcement I cut apart and ground down a set of strut mounts in order to get a ring that would fit on top of the tower around the strut mount protruding through the tower. If at some point I want to make it look prettier I'll have a machine shop make one out of aluminum plate and have it anodized.
I think the strut tops moved in about 3/4in and rearward about 1.25in (the rearward strut-mount bolt is now right at the bulkhead.) I got just about +4deg caster, and I think -1.2deg camber - the tech at the shop that does my alignment and chassis work (when I'm not carving up my cars myself) was rather impressed by the camber-gain-with-steering-angle this setup produced.
The turn-in behavior and front-end grip is pleasantly improved over stock, there's no longer any feel of tire rolling up on its sidewall. -1.2deg is a good street compromise, enough to help steering response and front-end grip while not screwing up braking or tire wear too badly.
posted by 209.172.1...
, Thu, 7 Apr 2005 22:49:20, Fri, 8 Apr 2005 08:52:31, Fri, 8 Apr 2005 08:57:52
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