RE:Eibachs and Alignment (any fix ?)

[Harry R Glesner III <hglesner@ast.lmco.com>]

Howdy:
    The inability to return to stock camber settings is related to the lowering 
of the car...what did the Eibachs lower the car 1"?  Think about the arc the 
suspention goes through from the inboard pivot point i.e. inside of the lower 
control arm. The tire wheel combination is higher up its arch of travel. Also 
the caster plays in at this point and helps change the toe. With the irs 
(independent rear suspention) not Internal Revenue Service, the same thing is 
true, but instead of the top of the McPherson strut defining the caster it is 
the relationship of the trailing arm pickup points. I would think a little more 
negative camber would help the contact patch perform more evenly (from a tire 
temp and area in touch with the road surface) and a little toe out would sharpen 
the turn in. This should be viewed with moderation for a street car were a race 
car would have camber reading in the 2-4 degrees neg area.
    Camber plates are a slotted track in the top of the McPherson pickup in the 
body that usually allows more negative camber for a race car.
    Suspention setup is a science and a black art many books on the subject are 
around, maybe look for "Tune to Win" by Carol Smith a great book.  
    
Rick Glesner
'82 911 SC
'83 Rx-7 SCCA Spec Racer
'86 Jetta GLi (soon to become the right 90q20v, white please)