AWD Alignment

Finally managed to get my wheel alignment done last Saturday. Actually I had no choice as I was driving up to Malacca the following day for a relative's wedding. Since it was a long distance and my wife and son would be in the car, it's safer to get my wheel alignment done.

I base my settings on Turbo Magazine's AWD issue earlier this year which has an alignment guide for AWD cars. There are 3 settings:

1. Aggressive Street Driver
2. Weekend Warrior
3. Serious Autocrosser

I chose "Weekend Warrior" and here are my settings:

Camber Setting
Front: 2.5
Rear: 1.5

Toe Setting
Front 1/8 inches out (was later set to 1 degree by the mechanic)
Rear 0

Caster Setting
N.A.

It took just over an hour for them to set everything up - much faster than I expected as normally they would take about 3 hrs. The mechanic said it's because I had changed the bushings for my steering rack, making it easier for them to get the settings right.

Now that the settings were done, my car has much better handling. All the squeaking and funny noises from the front wheels are gone now. However, I feel that the understeer is still abit too strong and my turn-in is still not as sharp as I would like.

My mechanice suggested increasing the tire pressures to reduce the front end grip. He suggested up to 280psi.. hmmm kind of high. Something to consider next. :-)