Suspension settings - what do you think?

I run 1.5 degrees negative camber in the front, which is on the aggressive side for the street. You may(probably) won't be able to get that much unless you have the aftermarket camber adjusters that go in the top trailing arm where the ball joint bolt is.

I know general wisdom is 1/8" toe-in, but I've been using 1/16" front and rear for 15 years, and I really like it that way.

All your other settings are spot-on. Remember air pressure too, run 20-22 front and what, 25 or so in the back.

Agreed with Danny, for street driving you're front camber is a bit aggressive.  For street cars we set camber closer to zero in the front, err to the negative side with no more than 0.1 degree deviation left to right.  I usually target -0.2 to -0.3 degrees.

For toe that varies with how tight your suspension is, that is why you see such a range on adjustment... When your control arms defl3ct backwards under acceleration toe increases due to natural flex and/or any play in control arm bushings, etc...  If you can grab your front wheels and feel a slight amount of play left then be a little more aggressive on toe, like 1/8" total.  If they are uber tight you may want to dial that back to 1/16" or 1/32" total toe.

That's also a lot of caster.  VW spec is 3+/-1 and 356 spec is 5
Caster in a Beck is fixed and changes slightly as a result of camber change, but we're set up for 5 at stock ride height.

We run CRAZY amounts of caster in the track cars, 10-12 on GTS.  You lose straight line stability but the "snap back" and self correction of the wheel is a greater benefit to us...

OTOH, Mike lives on Maui. He's unlikely to drive it far enough to be concerned about excessive tire wear. For years I ran 6+* of negative camber in the back-- and the car stuck like glue.

The tires wear out in about 10,000 mi, so there's that...

"Caster in a Beck is fixed and changes slightly as a result of camber change, but we're set up for 5 at stock ride height."

To slightly expand on what Carey said, you can adjust the caster on a Beck by changing rear ride height.  Lower to increase caster, raise to decrease it.

IIRC, at the last alignment I had my front caster set at 6 degrees.  It tracks really straight with zero bump steer but is a trifle harder to turn in parking lots.  

Boy, what a wealth of good information. Since I'm setting it up a regular street driver and not for racing, I'll apply the suggestions above and create a new target setup. Let me know if you think I've got it wrong. Thanks again!

Tire pressures: current 20 psi front / 28 psi rear 

Chassis level from front to rear

- Front camber 0.2 to 0.3 degrees negative

- Front toe in 1/6"

- Front caster 5-6 degrees

- 3/4" front sway bar

- Rear camber - 1.5 to 2 degrees negative

- Rear toe in 1/16"

- 3/4" rear sway bar

That should do it. 

Gordon Nichols posted:

IIRC, at the last alignment I had my front caster set at 6 degrees.  It tracks really straight with zero bump steer but is a trifle harder to turn in parking lots.  

Gordon, youe 6-deg caster angle and tight turn issues must make parallel parking a nightmare?

I think you're really going to like what you're proposing, Mike. A little negative camber (up to -½°, and as was mentioned, the important thing is each side is almost the same) and anything over 4½° caster on the front, a little negative camber on the back and it will be a hoot to drive.

Michael B (aka bluespeedster SoCal) posted:

Gordon Nichols posted:

IIRC, at the last alignment I had my front caster set at 6 degrees.  It tracks really straight with zero bump steer but is a trifle harder to turn in parking lots.  

Gordon, youe 6-deg caster angle and tight turn issues must make parallel parking a nightmare?

A manly man has the forearms to be forewarned... or something.

I yam what I yam.

Got THAT right!