Full Version: How do you align a 914?
Recently did the 5-lug upgrade on the 914 which involved upgrading to 911 front towers/hubs/brakes and replacing the rear trailing arms with 5-lug hubs. I also installed turbo tie rods on the front. I plan on having my local professional align everything but I was curious about how/what gets adjusted?
Basics of suspension alignment.
There are 3 settings for suspension alignment. Caster, Camber, and Toe.
Caster - How much the spindle leans to the front or rear. 0 degrees caster is straight up and down. Positive caster is the spindle leaning forward, and negative caster is the spindle leaning backwards.
Camber - How much the spindle leans in or out. Positive camber is the top of the spindle leaning out, and negative camber is the top of the spindle leaning in.
Toe - How much the tires point in our out at the front "Toe in" is the front edges of the tires point to the inside of the car, and "Toe out", well, they point out.
More negative caster will make the car more stable at high speed. Grocery carts have "casters" for wheels, and they are built with positive caster. They turn easily but the positive caster makes them look like there always a windstorm 2 inches off the ground.
More negative camber makes your car stick better in the corners. All cars roll to the outside when cornered. Negative camber makes the tire lean in when it is running in a straight line, but when the car rolls, the tire is able to use it's whole tread for grip, because the spindle is standing up straight during the turn.
One note.... in a 914, a lot of negative caster makes more negative camber on the outside wheel when in a turn. This also makes the car stick better in turns.
Toe in is normally set to make the steering less twitchy. The toe in goes away during driving because of suspension bushing flex, so at speed the toe is supposed to be 0. If you set the suspension to toe out, the car will corner faster because one wheel is already turning out the minute you move the wheel. But on the highway, it becomes really twitchy and hard to keep in it's lane.
Rear suspension settings only have camber and toe. Caster does nothing in the rear. 914s only have rear camber and toe adjustments.
Remember, that any setting other than stock will result in premature tire wear. Lots of camber will make the tires wear on the inside, as will toe out. Toe in will make them wear on the outside. But you don't want lots of toe in for a performance alignment.
My suggestion would be to set the front suspension to as much caster as you can get, but keep it equal side to side. Set the front camber to 1.5 degrees negative, and the toe to 0. On the rear, set the camber to 1.5 degrees and the toe to 0. On both the front and rear, make sure the toe settings are equal from the center line of the car. This is called the thrust angle. If the toe is correct but the thrust angle is off, then the car will "dog track", meaning it will go down the road slightly sideways.
That is a brief overview of suspension basics. There is a lot more when you get in to details of how this stuff works. If you are interested in learning more, suggest a book called "How to make your car handle." It really goes into the details.
There are 3 settings for suspension alignment. Caster, Camber, and Toe.
Caster - How much the spindle leans to the front or rear. 0 degrees caster is straight up and down. Positive caster is the spindle leaning forward, and negative caster is the spindle leaning backwards.
Camber - How much the spindle leans in or out. Positive camber is the top of the spindle leaning out, and negative camber is the top of the spindle leaning in.
Toe - How much the tires point in our out at the front "Toe in" is the front edges of the tires point to the inside of the car, and "Toe out", well, they point out.
More negative caster will make the car more stable at high speed. Grocery carts have "casters" for wheels, and they are built with positive caster. They turn easily but the positive caster makes them look like there always a windstorm 2 inches off the ground.
More negative camber makes your car stick better in the corners. All cars roll to the outside when cornered. Negative camber makes the tire lean in when it is running in a straight line, but when the car rolls, the tire is able to use it's whole tread for grip, because the spindle is standing up straight during the turn.
One note.... in a 914, a lot of negative caster makes more negative camber on the outside wheel when in a turn. This also makes the car stick better in turns.
Toe in is normally set to make the steering less twitchy. The toe in goes away during driving because of suspension bushing flex, so at speed the toe is supposed to be 0. If you set the suspension to toe out, the car will corner faster because one wheel is already turning out the minute you move the wheel. But on the highway, it becomes really twitchy and hard to keep in it's lane.
Rear suspension settings only have camber and toe. Caster does nothing in the rear. 914s only have rear camber and toe adjustments.
Remember, that any setting other than stock will result in premature tire wear. Lots of camber will make the tires wear on the inside, as will toe out. Toe in will make them wear on the outside. But you don't want lots of toe in for a performance alignment.
My suggestion would be to set the front suspension to as much caster as you can get, but keep it equal side to side. Set the front camber to 1.5 degrees negative, and the toe to 0. On the rear, set the camber to 1.5 degrees and the toe to 0. On both the front and rear, make sure the toe settings are equal from the center line of the car. This is called the thrust angle. If the toe is correct but the thrust angle is off, then the car will "dog track", meaning it will go down the road slightly sideways.
That is a brief overview of suspension basics. There is a lot more when you get in to details of how this stuff works. If you are interested in learning more, suggest a book called "How to make your car handle." It really goes into the details.
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