Alignment 101 - QuickTrickApedia

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FAQ’S – FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS are HERE

Suspension adjustment	Affect on vehicle balance, extreme useable adjustment limit	Symptom of TOO MUCH adjustment
Front spring rate increase	More understeer	Terminal understeer, front of car hops in corners, excess wheelspin in FWD car
Front spring rate decrease	Less understeer	Too much oversteer, oversteer then understeer if spring is so soft that the car bottoms under lean, car bottom excessively with a jolting ride
Rear spring rate increase.	More oversteer	Too much oversteer, hop in corners, twitchy
Rear spring rate decrease	Less oversteer	Car understeers, if way to soft car understeers then oversteers as car bottoms out under lean, car bottoms out excessively with a jolting ride
Front antisway bar stiffer	More understeer	Terminal understeer, Lifts inside front tire off the ground which can cause massive wheelspin, also not good for most effective tire usage as inside wheel is now doing nothing
Front antisway bar softer	Less understeer	Oversteer
Rear antisway bar stiffer	More oversteer	Big time oversteer, Can cause the inside rear tie to lift off the ground which is not too bad on a FWD car. On Classics, if this happens while trail braking into a turn, the abs can shut the brakes down which can be a bit scary
Rear antisway bar softer	Less oversteer	understeer
Front tire pressure higher	Less understeer Except with BFG R-1 tires. They will grip less and understeer more if the pressures are increased within a reasonable amount.	No traction as tire is crowned so more understeer, bad wheel spin, jarring ride, center of tires wear out
Front tire pressure lower	More understeer Except with BFG R-1 tires. They will grip more and understeer less if the pressures are decreased within a reasonable amount.	Edges of tires wear quickly because tire is folding over, feels mushy, tires chunk because low pressure means more heat build up
Rear tire pressures higher	Less oversteer Except with BFG R-1 tires. They will grip less and oversteer more if the pressures are increased within a reasonable amount.	No traction as tire is crowned so more oversteer, bad wheel spin on RWD cars, jarring ride, center of tire wears out
Rear tire pressures lower	More oversteer Except with BFG R-1 tires. They will grip more and oversteer less if the pressures are decreased within a reasonable amount.	Edges of tires wear quickly because tire is folding over and cupping upward, feels loose in back, tires chunk because low pressure means more heat build up
More negative camber on front wheels	Less understeer/ -3 degrees	Poor braking, car is road crown sensitive, twitchy, tires wear out on the inside edge
Positive camber on front wheels	More understeer, a little can make the tires last a little longer	Poor braking, car is road crown sensitive, twitchy, tires wear out on the outside edge You almost never want to have positive camber unless you are a dweeb
More negative camber on rear wheels	Less oversteer, more rear grip, less breakaway warning when limit is exceeded/-3 degrees	More oversteer, car feels twitchy in back, tires wear out on inside edge
More positive camber at rear	More oversteer, more forgiving at limit	Car feels twitchy in the back, tires wear out on outside edge
Ride height to low, rice boy style	Car twitchy with unpredictable dynamics, don’t race on when you see it because they will crash, taking you out	Everything that could possibly be wrong, sudden over or understeer, twitchy due to bumpsteer
Toe-in front	Car is stable while going straight. Turn in is average/1/8-inch total toe-in	Car has slow twitchiness under braking, feels odd, kills the outside edge of tires
Toe-in rear	car is less likely to suddenly oversteer when throttle is lifted/1/8-inch total toe-in	Weird slow rocking movement in back, feels slow but still unstable, wears the outside edge of tires
Toe-out front	Car turns in well, works pretty good in FWD cars as they tend to toe-in under load/1/4-inch total toe out	Car is real twitchy under braking, car is very road crown sensitive, car wanders on straight road, kills inside edge of tires.
Toe-out rear	Helps the car rotate, useful on tight low speed courses and slalom events/1/8-inch total toe out	Not too good for street driving, causes lift throttle oversteer, car makes violent side to side rocking motions in rear, tires wear more on insides
Positive front caster	Helps both stability, steady state cornering and turn in because the suspension will get more negative camber when the wheel is turned/ 6-7 degrees positive, negative caster is not useable	Can increase understeer, especially in cars with wide, low profile tires due to a non-linear increase in corner weight. Increases steering effort, SE-R’s are not easily modified to make this adjustable, FWD cars can see an increase of torque steer with excessive positive caster