i will finally be aligning the cobra this week after lowering it. What are some good specs to go by mainly for tire ware? Factory specs or something different? Ive heard set the rear camber to 0 which i know isnt factory. Any thoughts on this?
Getting An Alignment
- Thread starter mustangsvtblack
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i used to work as a mechanic at a ford dealership, i would like to think they should be able to do it. I just didnt know if anyone was using some other specs other than factory
ShelbyGuy and the other corner carvers have some good specs posted on here, but they are not fun on the street. I took some of my own specs to the local shop I use. All of the technicians have race cars and are very knowledgable. When I showed him the specs, he suggest I tone it down. I pushed on and now the car is less friendly. I'm all for performance, but you have to be honest with yourself when it comes to stuff like this. I'm taking it back after getting new tires and having him tone it down to the "street performance" settings he recommended. They're a bit more aggressive than the factory specs.
Just make sure you take it to a qaulity shop and tell them what the car will be used for. They should have enough know-how to recommend something based on that. Of course, this is all assuming you actually have a shop with such knowledge. Alignment is one of the very few things I have to let someone else do, so it's a blessing to have a good shop.
Just make sure you take it to a qaulity shop and tell them what the car will be used for. They should have enough know-how to recommend something based on that. Of course, this is all assuming you actually have a shop with such knowledge. Alignment is one of the very few things I have to let someone else do, so it's a blessing to have a good shop.
The biggest problem is not aligning a lowered car its getting it on the alignment rack without tearing up the underside of the car. I just aligned RaceRats car and it just barely cleared the ramps onto our new Hunter machine, once on the machine it was just a matter of doing the adjustments.
Local shop does mine by hand for that very reason.
make sure they don't scratch your strut towers when removing the rivets that came factory on the plates on top,, like the place that i took my car too, which they forgot to tellme about until i found it myself, but i got it fixed at their expense which made me feel better.
make sure they don't scratch your strut towers when removing the rivets that came factory on the plates on top,, like the place that i took my car too, which they forgot to tellme about until i found it myself, but i got it fixed at their expense which made me feel better.
crap.....now i dont want to lower my car. 
can i get away with lowering the car with H&R race springs using the stock isos and no alignment??
can i get away with lowering the car with H&R race springs using the stock isos and no alignment??Definitely not recommended. You shouldn't be scared of getting an alignment. Matter of fact, most of these cars our out from the factory. Just do your research to ensure you use a quality shop.
Ike does your car not self-center after turning? Thats the only thing I recommend going beyond factory (caster). I dont use an alignment rack to set up the car, i use tire temps so I have no idea what my specs are. I set toe with a piece of string and a tape measurer.
What's a tape "measurer"? Is that the guy holding the tape measure? :-D
Just giving you a hard time! :beer:
Car seems to self-center pretty well, but I haven't really paid much attention to it. The biggest thing I notice about my current alignment is the car being more "darty". Part of that may be due to the weight lost off the front end with the aluminum block and other things. I know my craptastic F1s on the front cause a slight pull. I plan to take it back in for another alignment when I get new tires.
Just giving you a hard time! :beer:
Car seems to self-center pretty well, but I haven't really paid much attention to it. The biggest thing I notice about my current alignment is the car being more "darty". Part of that may be due to the weight lost off the front end with the aluminum block and other things. I know my craptastic F1s on the front cause a slight pull. I plan to take it back in for another alignment when I get new tires.
measure is a verb. measurer is a device that measures.
yeah backing off a bit on the caster should help the darty-ness a bit.
yeah backing off a bit on the caster should help the darty-ness a bit.
Our cars alignment from the factory is way out of wack. Ford has large tolerances for our beasts. When I installed my mm grip box/ cc plates and H&R race springs I talked to the guys at Maximum Motorsports and we discussed how the car would be used and I set up my car to their recommended specs - the car feels great and doesn't wear tires abnormally.
Then again the rears dont last long and I don't know why.
Then again the rears dont last long and I don't know why.
With MM Caster/camber plates and coil-overs I'm lowered 1/2"in front and 1 1/4" in back. I'm running 1.3* neg camber with 5.3*caster and 1/16" toe in for the front. rear is 1.1* neg camber with 1/16" toe in. Thrust is 0 Handles great and no unusual tire wear in 12000 miles
they have a listing for 'irregardless' too and thats a non-word if there ever was one. nice try, though
WDW MKR said:
picked the car up today. a guy i know opened an alignment shop of his own and has all the newest stuff from hunter. He told me i wouldn't need C/C plates so i didnt get them. He had me get a set of camber adj. bolts and the car i set exactly to specs. before the lowering my car had a slight pull, now it drives straight down the road.
ShelbyGuy said:they have a listing for 'irregardless' too and thats a non-word if there ever was one. nice try, though
Nice try? Hmm... I still sense disbelief! ;-) We both know irregardless isn't a proper word. Neither is ain't, but it's still a part of the ever-changing English language that never makes sense. Measure is actually defined as both a noun and verb.
Having sold tape measures and every other tool during my high school and college years, I can say that they are almost always labeled as a "tape measure". I have only seen "measurer" on very rare occasions from generic manufacturers.
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