McDade

what kind of car, what size/type wheels, what kind of driving do you do.

Jay

davenow

neg 1.5 camber front
neg 1.1 camber rear
0 toe all around

On autocross days, I crank the camber plates in to neg 3 deg in the front

John #555

It's too bad my WRX is not just for wkends... what about for street/hwy? With the stock setting I noticed more wear on the inside of front tires. I still do want to change to 0 toe front, but not sure how I should set the camber.
What about caster settings? Can I adjust the caster on WRX?

davenow

The only way you are going to move the caster is with an anti lift kit.
From what I have seen, most ppl run 0 toe, but thats just what I have seen.
And neg 1 to neg 1.5 is a good streetable/semi agressive setting for camber all the way around.

ImprezaRSDriver

iTrader: (2)

I have 0.8neg front camber, 1.3neg camber(stock), and 0 toe all the way around. I am also running the STI suspension setup that is available through dealers. This is a really well balanced setup for the street. Just remember that the more negative camber you put on the car the more the tires will wear out quicker on the inside(meaning towards the center of the car).

John #555

I know... to my trained eyes i thought front stock setting has positive camber. I just didnt expect to see the inside wear out like that. Factory setting has little bit of toe in, correct?

Could someone post the factory settings for WRX?
Thanks.

John #555

I think you meant 0 toe for front and back. correct? Rear caster doesnt make sense since they dont steer... I cant imagine cars with 0 caster.

obviously I dont want to ask for alignment and spend money on settings I already have.

ImprezaRSDriver

iTrader: (2)

stock settings are like this
front 0.3 neg camber
rear 1.3 neg camber

0 toe all the way around. I believe that the Outbacks actually have positive camber.

Jaxx

-2.1 front
-1.5 rear
4.11 of castor
no toe

Patrick Olsen

iTrader: (1)

This is one of my favorite topics to experiment with and talk about, and there's plenty of misleading info to talk about here, so allow me to expound a bit.

Incorrect. I know MRT has plates that allow independent adjustment of both caster and camber, and I believe one or two other C/C plates are on the market now, too (Ground Control? and maybe someone else).

Toe settings vary from person to person and from setup to setup. When I had still had DMS Golds on the car, I ran 0 toe all around. First, toe in or out will cause the shoulders of the tires to wear, even with moderate levels of camber. Since I was running -1.5deg or so of camber, I figured I didn't need any toe effects adding to the tire wear, so I went with 0. I was also using the car for both auto-x and open track work, and IMHO toe out in the rear is not a good thing on the track - makes the car very darty under heavy braking. With the adjustable damping on the coil-overs I was able to keep my track setting (0 toe all around) and then adjust damping and tire pressures to get the car to do what I wanted it to do when auto-xing.

Now that I've returned my ever-so-unreliable DMS Golds and I'm back on the stock struts and springs, I run a bit of toe out in the rear and 0 toe up front. The toe out in the rear helps the car rotate for auto-x events, and I haven't been to a track event with the car in quite a while, so it's still safe. Tire wear is fine in the rear with a little toe out.

Why would you need more than -1.5deg for normal driving? If you're getting excessive outside shoulder wear during street driving with -1.5deg camber then you need to cool it, or you need to work on your driving style.

Taking tire temperatures also seems a bit excessive for normal driving. Go for it if you want to spend the time, but most people's driving habits vary enough during their day-to-day travels that they would need to take temperatures and adjust tire pressures and alignment settings a couple of times during their commute. IMHO taking tire temperatures for street driving would be pretty much worthless.

The best of your knowledge is wrong. The specs are more like what ImprezaRSdriver posted - I think they might even be in the Owner's Manual (I'm at work now and can't check). As I recall the front camber spec is -0.25deg, rear camber is -1.3deg, caster (which is not adjustable with the stock setup) is something like +2.2deg (could be wrong on that, but it is definitely not 0), and toe can be in or out at each end by 1/16" or something like that. As John #555 already pointed out, there is no rear caster spec because caster doesn't mean anything for wheels that don't turn. The front camber spec for the sedan may be different - I'm going off what I remember for my sister's wagon.

It's worth nothing that based on my experience and the experience of a number of my Subaru-owning friends the factory settings are quite a bit different than the factory specs. My sister's WRX wagon had toe in on one side, toe out on the other and mismatched camber up front. It's definitely worthwhile to get the car aligned as soon as you buy it - hindsight being 20/20, I would have told my sister to make the dealership align it properly before she took delivery.

Static positive camber would devour tires, even during pretty gentle driving. I can't imagine the Outbacks (or Outback Sports) would actually be spec'd with positive camber. I know my father's Outback wagon certainly doesn't have positive camber, and the Outback Sports I've seen on the dealer lots look to have pretty much the same type of alignment the TS and WRX wagons have (with the trained eye, of course ).

...to be continued

Patrick Olsen

iTrader: (1)

Anyway, now that I've typed all that, here's what I run:
front camber: -0.8 to -1.0deg (depends on how good the alignment tech is at getting that extra little range of motion)
rear camber: -0.2deg on one side, -1.1deg on the other
toe: 0 front, 1/8" out in the rear (maybe on 1/16", I don't remember)
caster: stock

My recommendation for anyone who wants a good alignment for some moderate to aggressive street driving is to tell the shop to give you maximum, equal negative camber up front, and either 0 toe all around or 0 toe up front and a little toe out in the rear. Caster and rear camber aren't adjustable, so those three specs are all you need to specify. Maximum negative camber up front will be around -0.8deg to -1.0deg for wagons, and around -1.2 to -1.4deg for sedans due to the different control arms. IMHO the sedan camber numbers are pretty good - I'd like to see a little more than the stock wagon suspension will allow you to get.

John, I'd be willing to bet good money that the reason you're seeing wear on the inner shoulders of your tires is because the toe settings are pretty sporadic as these cars roll off the production line. So, I don't think it would be a waste of money at all to get the car aligned as I suggested in the paragraph above. Find a good shop, and ask them to provide you with a print-out that shows the before and after settings. FWIW, I've had good luck with Sears for the past few years - they've been willing to give me what I ask for, and they don't cost nearly as much as a "race shop" would ask to do the same alignment.

Pat Olsen
'97 Legacy 2.5GT sedan

PS - Don't pay for the alignment if the numbers are garbage. That's why the print-out is important. I've seen a number of threads on this board (well, on the original board ) where guys got hosed on their alignments.
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...ight=alignment and
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...ight=alignment are a couple good examples.

ImprezaRSDriver

iTrader: (2)

I am sure that the Outbacks have positive camber, when I checked my Legacy owners manual it says that the Outbacks have about 0.05 degrees of positive camber. That is like nothing by just looking at it. I have a MY00 Legacy GT Wagon and the manual has some info about the Outback.