Laser alignment

[UltraFlynn]

I'm going to get the tracking, alignment and camber checked on the car and I was wondering whether someone could point me towards the settings which I need to have the car set to.

My car is lowered, has adjustable suspension and sits on 18" rims. Does this affect these settings?

The other question is .... Has anyone got any recommedations where to get this work done? (In Essex)

[The Restorer]

Have a look for Lance's Alignment on MKIV.com. I know, from looking at my tyres that the standard Toyota alignment wears the insides of your tyres unforgivably.

[UltraFlynn]

Thanks for that. I've looked it up. Tons of information on that site.

[UltraFlynn]

Does ?85 quid + vat sound reasonable for a laser alignment? And has anyone used Nemesis Performance?

m.

[UltraFlynn]

My car is lowered, has adjustable suspension and sits on 18" rims. Does this affect the settings in Lance's alignment?

Any ideas?

[dunk shaw]

Think someone like Chris Wilson is the man to speak to.
How low is your car as going too low really messes up the suspension geometry.

dunk

[Cuthbert]

?85 + VAT is a fair bit more than I pay - ?75. But, location etc...
I've had the lance alignment done, but to honest I can't give any feedback on it as I've just had the rear shocks replaced as they were completely shagged & my SO1's are completely bald after less than 2k ( ?190 each - ouch ! http://www.mkivsupra.co.uk/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif ), so that kind of messed up the handling in a big way.

[Martin F]

Quote[/b] (JZA80 @ May 16 2005,17:34)]My car is lowered, has adjustable suspension and sits on 18" rims. Does this affect the settings in Lance's alignment?
No, Lance's alignment still applies and are the settings i would recommend.

Personally I wouldn't be confident that Nemesis can set up your car correctly, but i'm willing to be proven wrong.

It really needs somebody who understands car geometry and perhaps does track car alignment\preperation. Failing that a good accident repair centre usually have the correct kit and knowledge to do this job.

Its not a standard tracking alignment which some places want to convince you is a four wheel alignment.

I went to a place in Watford that did mine and had done a few Supra's before but their name escapes me.

[UltraFlynn]

I only mention Nemesis because I emailed them to see how much they charge. I'm in no hurry to get it done though. I want someone else to drive it and give me their opinion before making my mind up whether it's necessary.

[John_M]

Just had my suspension geometary set up by Performance Turbo Systems in Luton. They done my last Supe and the handling was considerably improved. ?Geometary settings include Caster, Camber, Toe-in and corner weighting. ?Cost me ?150 for 3 hours work but well worth it (many companies can't do the full calibration so check first).

[UltraFlynn]

I just spoke to GBH in Colchester and they reckon that corner weighting is only applicable to race cars. Is this a setting which you would usually do when aligning a Supra?

[Martin F]

I wouldn't say corner weighting is essential but it's certainly nice if you can have it checked and defenitely worthwhile if you're going to track your car often.

[John_M]

Corner Weighting


As the name suggests this involves very accurately measuring the weight on all four wheels at the same time. ?What?s the point you may ask? Well the amount of weight or pressure on each tyre will affect the amount of grip that tyre has. Ideally all cars would have 25 % of their total weight on each corner, this would give completely neutral handling during cornering, acceleration and braking. Unfortunately this is rarely true apart from exotic mid engine?d cars where the designer has not had to compromise weight distribution due to other design constraints.

If a car has more weight on one side than the other then the heavier side will have more grip when braking and accelerating. At best this imbalance will make the car feel nervous, and in the worst cases will cause loss of traction or wheel lock up. ?

If your car has adjustable spring platform shock absorbers, the platforms can be adjusted up or down to optimise the distribution of weight around the car, this allows us to take into account the manufacturing tolerances in the suspension and chassis and also to compensate for driver weight. Corner weighting can also be useful during the build of a car as once the major items whose position is fixed have been fitted other items such as batteries, fire extinguishers etc can be placed to optimise the weight distribution as much as possible

With many cars it is not sufficient to use ride height as a method of setting up adjustable platform shocks. This method does not take into account any variables such as slight chassis twist or differing spring lengths ?and especially with many kit cars or rally cars using the body as a reference point is not advisable due to inconsistent body mouldings or inaccurately repaired panel damage.

Corner weighting is an inexpensive method of fine tuning suspension and diagnosing the cause of handling problems even in standard road cars.