I am taking my car in to get some stuff done to my 00 Subaru 2.5RS and an alignment is one of them. I was thinking of getting an alignment that would help with autoxing but I want treadwear to remain relatively the same. Looking at scoobymods.com they have a few suggested setups. I was wondering if anyone has any experience/opinions on the best of these setups or a better setup themselves. thx




Source...
Front Camber..
Front Toe
Rear Camber
Rear Toe




Speed USA
-0.75 Degrees
1/16" Out
0.0
0.0




Rallispec
-1.25 Degrees
0
0
3/32" Out




Cobb Tuning
-1.0 Degrees
0
0
1/8" In




Nativo Performance
-1.5 Degrees
1/8" Out
0
1/8" In




Other
-1.5 Degrees
1/16" Out
0
1/16" In

 

If the Sub is like most cars, you won't have much camber adjustment without modifying something. So, the zero rear camber is probably because it is non-adjustable, and the -1.5ish front camber is probably about all you can get.

Camber can be used to tune the over/understeer balance of the car, so if the car tends toward understeer, putting lots more camber in the front vs. the rear would help. If the car feels neutral to you now, you won't want to dial in much more front camber than whatever you already have.

Toe settings mainly effect turn-in, but will also effect over/understeer. For autocross, people normally go for a little bit of toe-out in the front. In the rear, toe-out can make a car feel VERY twitchy, if not downright squirrely. Zero toe or slight toe-in is typical for the rear of the car to promote stability.

AWD cars are a different beast, though. What is typical for FWD or RWD cars could be slightly different, though the basics above should still hold true.

Excessive camber (up to about 2 degrees) won't cause much trouble with tire wear on the street by itself. Toe is what will eat your tire. Anything more than about 1/16" of toe (in or out) especially if combined with lots of camber will chew up your tires in a hurry.

In general, assuming the rear camber is not adjustable on your car, I think the "Other" option looks like a good place to start.

Be sure to get "before" specs on your alignment for comparison purposes. And if you can get them to do it, have them dial in Max camber as a test just to see how far you can go with it. You'll want to know that eventually.

 

What suspension modifications do you have?

If it's stock, you have to treat AWD Subarus (non STi's) like hugely understeering FWD cars.

Run as much camber as you can and keep your toe ZERO. Tirewear will NOT be bad if you keep the toe at ZERO. I've run upwards of negative 3 degrees, and drive 30k+ miles per year. It's fine.

 

That's what I was thinking, but wasn't 100% sure.
True, true. But if the car maxes out at -1.5, a touch of toe out in front wouldn't hurt tire wear much and would improve turn-in.

It's all a balancing act. Like everything else on a car, it's about compromises, and where you choose to place them.

 

Toe out improves turn in, but it'll push a bit more, as you're effectively adding ackerman.

 

well I got agx struts, h&r springs, sti strut mounts, rear sway bar, and front and rear strut bars. Also I have eibach camber bolts in the back. So what would be the best route?

 

Pick a starting point somewhere between the performance edge of stock specs and "extreme" and experiment. That or find someone else with a similar setup who already has. It's the only way.

You'll learn more than we could ever tell you by experimenting with your own alignment, but you have to start with a baseline.

 

I decided to do 1.5 degrees negative camber all around. Not sure if my mechanic can get it around there. I'll find out tonight what he dialed in and how that works out. Thx for the help guys

 

Sounds reasonable. If your swaybars are adjustable, you should be able to fine-tune with them and tire pressures.

Be sure to get a "before" printout for comparison. The difference in how the car feels after the alignment should correlate to the changes you made and help you understand the effects of your alignment better.

 

I got an adjustible rear sway bar and with tire pressure I should be straight.