I can, because he is a friend and I do not trust my balancer. I don't like my balancer, but hey you have to work with what you have. I am not gonna take any chances with a customers wheel nor a friends.

Richard, having aftermarket suspension does nothing on an alignment rack that goes off an OEM setting. You can have the best custom rear independant suspension on your car and no one can do a thing with it, except eyeball it. There are no specs from the factory that they can go off of. Hell you're technically not even aligning the car, just tightening the chasis a bit better for handling. Most cars with rear adjustments, when made, will affect the front adjustment. That's why the rear is done first, then the front. However,I do see your point though. Most places have OEM settings on their racks, especially if they use a Hunter machine.

 

you work for sears? If so, which one?

 

Put my car up on a 2-post lift, and you'll see why I get the rear adjusted to align correctly with the front. Last time, we adjusted the panhard bar, hammered into alignment the LCA's, and moved around the axle mounts of the torque arm to adjust the alignment.

A watts link will prevent the axle from moving in the arc motion of a panhard bar. When lifted using a 2-post, can readily see the travel arc. The panhard bar is adjusted using ramps or a 4-post lift. Adjusting this piece helps with the camber.

The LCA's can be adjusted for toe in/out when installed out of spec. With a 3-link suspension, the upper control arms are removed (like mine are) which exaggerates tolerance specs of the LCA's.

The torque arm is the beast. Adjusting where it connects to the axle makes a huge difference. If it's to one side, you will definitely notice it when cornering or travelling on the track's back straightaways. I use a magnetic angle finder, several levels (for driveshaft, torque arm, and axle) as well as a tape measure to adjust this monster.

Not sure the name of the manufacturer of the alignment machine we keep using, but it's at Sheehy Ford in Gaithersburg MD. Standard looking 4-wheel alignment machine that you drive on the ramps and can lift with bottle jacks. Clamped at 4 positions on each wheel and has a precise length of string between each.

Alignment of the rear is based on centerline alignment and toe in/out, which is why we adjust the front first then start on the rear. Camber is adjusted for whatever cornering is needed, along with the adjustable shock/struts. For the front, using Maximum Motorsports caster/camber plates which I highly recommend.

 

Richard, you can not do a rear factory OEM alignment on a cobra except the 99, 01, 03+ In fact here are the OEM specs of the cars
1994-1996 Mustang GT/Cobra
Caster 3.40 +/- .75
Camber .50 +/- .75
Toe In .13 +/- .13

1997-1998 Mustang GT/Cobra
3.20 +/- .75
(-).60 +/- .75
.12 +/- .12 .25+/- .25 Degrees

1999-01 Mustang GT/Cobra
3.40 +/- .75
.60 +/- .75 .70 +/- .20
.1 +/- .12 GT
.13 +/- .07 Cobra Front
.25 +/- .15 Cobra rear
Only the 99+ Cobra can have a factory rear adjustment.

Nothing on there talks about panhard bars, uca, and lca's. They are not factory adjustments that are done at all shops. They can be adjusted for specific needs and wants, but really there are no set specs from Ford themselves, or GM(for the F-Bods).

When you adjust a car with a 4 wheel factory spec alignment, you adjust the rear first, then the front. We use the same set up, but we do not use a string. That is old fashioned. We actually mount computer heads on each wheel that have a lazer that measures everything.

 

I don't work for Tire America/Sears.

 

ok you two...

UH, wtf! there is an order of adjustments.... camber, caster, toe... REAR to FRONT.

you HAVE to set camber (should be an equal distance between the top and bottom of 2 adjacent wheels on the same axle) and caster (a theoretical line that runs from the top of the strut to the center of the lower balljoint) before even attempting to set toe (which should be an equal distance between the front of a tire and rear of a tire adjacent to one another on the same axle) *and i don't want to hear shit from either of you. the above statements are for a near-perfect FACTORY set alignment. you can cater any vehicle to perform and steer to one's own liking with a CUSTOM alignment such as on a race car (of any type) or to accomodate for some dumbass that DUMPS or SKYJACKS a vehicle)


im the only one here who KNOWS how to do a fuggin alignment.

phil, in a sense you are right... but then again you are wrong.

solid rear axle vehicles DO have a way of adjusting camber and toe. for the most part you hope that the rear camber is correct, b/c if not chances are that you have a bent axle/housing or wheel.

rear toe is usually as simple as placing the rear housing perpendicular to the centerline of the vehicle. (for a visual... imagine trying to place a pencil 90* to another pencil, with one running down the center of the other.) in stock form, mustangs do not come with an adjustment for such (foxbodies came with 2nd and 3rd bolt-hole settings in the stock lca's to help with some of the above), but there are aftermarket kits that make it easier to adjust; albeit you can still adjust by modifying the rear lower control/upper control arms to gain the specific measurement you wish. i imagine that you could even use a shim between the axle facing and the drum to achieve the same result, but i dunno if i would want to f with that one myself.

and in a 'racing' style alignment, one would generally like to set the rear PINION ANGLE to between -0.5* and 0.5*... with the ideal setting being 0* or perfectly flat.

so, since neither of you has any real time on an alignment rack you each have 2 options:
1) suckonmabawlz

OR

2) suckonmybawlz.

how do ya want 'em?

 

the tires are mounted! you guys can take it to pm now thanks!

301 did a great job and only 25 bux. for the pair.

 

Mo, then why did you not set my rear when you did my alingment?
There were no specs for it. I paid a whopping 0 bucks for this mister!!

Like I said it can be done to please a want or desire with an aftermarket suspension, but not on a stock setting.

 

didn't i just GD say that it CAN be done you imbosilic bastard (you get the point )

you CAN adjust the rear of a vehicle, and the rear DOES have toe and camber adjustments in STOCK form. when u get some free time and want to learn how, HOLLA!

< bald people are retarted and should be strangled at the age of 15 >

 

... which is why I posted a how-to on adjusting the rear for a car which has lots of aftermarket parts since there is no factory alignment specs (since there is no factory alignment method). Need to align by adjusting the installation of the aftermarket parts.

Mo, on a typical car -- yes, the rear would be aligned first, then the front. Since my car has no factory alignment specs for the rear, I adjust the front first (modified alignment specs to compensate for my driving preferences), then use the centerline from those reference points to align the rear.

Trying to talk alignment to drag racers...