"Performance" alignments in Charlotte area

[yanceyslide]

Looks like it got swallowed in the conversion, but I posted on the old board looking for a place in the Charlotte area that will do custom alignments. I'm trying to get some more camber in the front of the 'ole WRX and maybe take some out of the rear. I've got a set of camber bolts on the way, and I know there's some more available in the front.

So, any ideas? We're headed up to VIR this weekend with the Tarheel BMWCCA and I'd like to keep the tires from being totally destroyed.

Thanks!
Mike

[lagunamiata]

I've heard that Carrol alignment on South Tryon (just outside of uptown) does a good job. Never been there myself...

[yanceyslide]

Cool, thanks. I'll give them a call.

Anyone else used this place?

Thanks!
Mike

[JWM]

Hey Mike! Long time no see. Come out to another CCR event soon! Thanks again for your and Hannah's help at my very first event there at Knights in April.

I've never been to a specialized alignment shop but it's pretty easy to max out your stock camber bolts there in the front by yourself. Steven Rankins showed me how easy it was. It's just a question of having the tools. You could just use the scissor jack to lift up the car and then remove the wheel and loosen the two bolts there at the bottom of the struts with a breaker bar. Leave the lower bolt kind of snug and then twist the top (eccentric camber) bolt with some pressure on the knuckle and watch it move forward and backward as it turns. Once you see the knuckle stop moving towards the inside of the car hold it steady and tighten it down. You could use a torque wrench to tighten them back down but the amount of torque you should use is roughly "all your physical body can muster" so you may as well just tighten it down hard with the breaker bar. The specified torque in the Impreza service manual is 129 ft-lb. It also says to replace the nuts every time you loosen them but I've done it 3 times without replacing them without any issue.

Once your camber is maxed just go to any old alignment shop that has good equipment and good prices and have them zero your toe and you are set.

If you'd like you can come by my house and we can max out your front camber very easily. I live like 2 traffic lights away from Knights.

-JWM

[yanceyslide]

Cool, thanks JWM. That's kinda what I'd read on doing it yourself, but I figured if I was going to have to get the toe done anyways, I was trying to find some place that could do the whole thing.

I called Carroll Aligning and spoke with a very nice lady who said they'd be happy to align to my specs. The only issue is they can't guarantee it (not a surprise) because that would also mean guaranteeing against tire wear from the alignment. No problem, I think. Her quote was "we get race car drivers all the time that want us to set up their cars for turning left". I told her we were going to be turning right as well. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

We do intend to come out to some more CCR auto-xs, but the timing always seems to be wrong. We have a wedding to go to during the next one. But we will be back! Seems you've got quite the bug since then.

However, we do have some other mods we'll be doing on the car in the future, so we'll be taking you up on your driveway offer in the future.

Mike

[JWM]

Yes, alas some events must take precedence over racing. I will probably have to (gladly!) skip an autocross to go to my friend's wedding here soon.

Ok cool well your tire wear will be completely fine as long as your toe is zero or close to it. You will get about -1.0 camber from the stock bolts or slightly more. Just make sure they actually tighten back up your bolts! Greg Pressley who drives the black A-stock 04 STi here at CCR told me he just found out the other day that his drivers side camber bolt was completely loose! It's sad but you can't trust just any mechanic to work on your car .

I'd love to go up to VIR but I'm paranoid because it's my only car. I have done a seat-time.com HPDE at Roebling Road and had a blast. But at this point in time I feel that the risk is not acceptable to me. I wish I had a beater car to run around the track! At Roebling Road I didn't go very fast in the corners. Any time I caused noticeable tire noise I immediately slowed down to save my tires. I did get up to about 130mph in the straight though! Anyway I had only 7 autocross events with one of them being an Evolution Phase 1 school when I went to that HPDE. Now I have 38 and I'm afraid of what I might do out there on a road course even if I setup my car to understeer as much as possible!

I think your tire wear will be just fine as long as you don't go drifting around every turn. I dunno, I was a wuss at my HPDE but you may feel the need for some hard driving so definitely get more camber!

Hope to see you two at an event again soon.

-JWM