What specs is everyone running for autox?

I'll be getting an alignment shortly and would like to know where should I start. My strut holes are slotted so I'll have some freedom there.

I'm thinking of about -1.5* to -2.0* front camber and 0* toe. I think rear is not adjustable, correct?

 

Qwik suggested to me -1* of camber, 0 toe.

the rear is not adjustable safely. These cars don't need a lot of camber.

 

so is that what your running?

 

Good info. Just got coilovers and was wondering this.

 

yep. All 4 corners.

 

I would just keep adding camber until traction suffers. I've got about 1.3* now, haven't messed with it in the cobalt yet. But in a previous FWD mcstrut car with less power I was running 2.2* with 1/8th toe out. Toe out is nice for autox but not that great on the street of for track days 0* is a good compromise

 

This kind of depends on the rest of your setup. Running Stock with Hoosiers (225s or 245s - having ground the lower knuckle hole), I saw outside edge tire wear even at 2.0+ (to as much as 3.0 degree of negative) degrees of negative (0 toe). This was with both of my Saturn Redlines and later with the Cobalt.

Now in DSP with the Cobalt, with 500 lb front springs and 600 lb rear springs, I'm not seeing excessive outer edge wear with 285s at less than 1.5 degrees of negative (0 toe) -- the car just doesn't roll very much. The Hoosiers are wearing about flat up front and tire temps are pretty uniform across the width. Which says to me that I may have finally found the camber 'sweet spot' for this setup.

Scott

 

Installed the coilovers this weekend and got an alignment today. I set myself up for the following to start out:

Front:
Camber: -1.0*
Toe: 0*
Caster: 4.0* (kept stock)

Rear:
Camber: -0.5*

 

Let us know how it goes.

Scott

 

How did you fit 285s without fitment and steering problems? What size of wheels are you running?

 

i beleve you have to shim the rear to adjust them.

 

I didn't say there weren't any fitment problems -- this isn't a street setup.

Using AMR 18 x 8.5 rims (plus 35mm offset), on custom 20 mm wheel adapters, with lots of hammering on rear of the wheel wells (to fold the rear body seam down flat), and the tires regularly rub against the rubber inside wheel well pieces - no big deal. The tires stick about 1.5-2.0" outside the body line. Using Ground Control coilovers, 450-650 lb Eibach or Hypercoil 2.5" ID springs -- length of 6" up front and 7" in the rear, custom camber plates, Koni adjustables, the car's dropped about 1.5" (the body's about 1.5" off the tires).

But there's serious stick for running in DSP. I've tried several different combinations and I'm still experimenting to get the best setup. I'm thinking of going down to either 255/35 Hoosiers or even 245/30 Kumhos or Hoosiers.

I'm getting ready to buy a set 245 x 17 Hoosier Rain Tires. It rained last year at the Nationals.

Scott

 

I'm at -1.7* front camber with 1/16th of toe out. Obviously not much adjustment can be done to the stick with wheels in back

 

Why would you run toe out?

Just curious what your thoughts on it are...

 

So far it's been great and a ton of fun!

Still trying to get things dialed in. It looks like "click" position 15 out of the 30 max is a good mix of stick vs comfort for some of the DD I'm doing. With the current alignment specs listed above, I'm able to make 0.9 lateral g. I realize it's still a bit low, but at this point I think my All-Season tires in front can't keep up, so I may go with maybe NT05s, along with a sway bar and I'm thinking it should help. I've also still got corner balancing, more camber, tire pressures, and dampening to play with too.

I'm already hiking up a leg turning on inclines. If I add a rear bar (OTTP Street Bar in mind), should I also soften the back a bit to keep from overshooting neutral balance and then battling oversteer?

 

You could shim out the rear on the early models but not the late. I shimmed an 06 Ion Redline out to -1.5 without problems -- but the brake caliper mount was just bolted to the axle -- you actually shimmed behind the caliper mount. The factory specs (important if you're running SCCA) are -.80 and + or - .75 (that's how I got the net -1.5).

On my 09 Cobalt, the caliper mounts are welded to the axle -- no way to shim (you 'could' shim the hub but it would ruin your rear brakes).

Too bad, I liked the way the Redline handled with -1.5.

Scott

My OTTP Purple Bar finally shipped!!! I look forward to trying it out!

Added Note: I'm about to start SCCA Safety Steward training. Should be interesting.

Scott