Hotchkis A arm alignment?

[Pat]

I did the 12" brake upgrade with the Hotchkis arms. I'm going with 17's all around and would really like this thing to handle. I found a place that will do a custom alignment, but wonder about what to set it to.

someone P.M. me these #'s

Caster:
+2.5 deg driverside
+3.0 deg pass

Camber: (this is where the handling comes in?)
-.25 deg

toe in:
1/16"

Any ideas?

Ryan

 

[GN ERGY]

Hey Ryan, thats the same thing I read in the archives. I'm going to do the 12 in. discs in front, so I've been doing some research on parts. Why did you go with the hotchkis arms and not the Global west arms with the brass bushings. How much did the total setup cost you?
Thanks,
Tarey D.

 

[Pat]

I got the new a arms and spindles on here for $500 and finished price was around $650 after rotors(autozone $65), calipers($15 each), and pads.

The factory brake line seems to be a bit long also. I need to bleed the brakes again tonight using a vacume hand pump, then see how it stops. Last night it seemed to have a LOT more pedal travel, but did whoa the car down quickly.

Ryan

 

[Brian Mc]

Pat, go with 4 degrees caster driver,
4.2-4.4 degrees passenger,
-.2 degrees camber both sides and toe it in .4 degrees, without the toe in the car will follow the road too much. It will handle! these are the numbers i'm using now on the hardtop Monte SS. HTH

 

[olds443]

Hey Brian MC, how is your tire wear with those specs? Just curious as I am going to be sending the Cutlass in for it's alignment soon.
Thanks,
Jason

 

[Matt Weiser]

Check the site below for a writeup I did on doing your own alignment. If you don't want to do it yourself, skip the detail and go to the alignment specs recommended by Global West. On my own car, I went a little more aggressive than this, with about -.5 degree camber and 4 deg. caster. More caster doesn't really hurt anything and helps the car hold a straight line at high speeds, while more negative camber will help dial out understeer (plowing). A little toe-out will help the car turn in faster, but could make the car twitchy and cause a lot of tire wear. I went with zero toe on my car. Basically, if you really want the car to handle you'll have to live with some abnormal tire wear. Not really a big deal.

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/suspension/alignment.html