Can someone give me their recommendation on what shims should be used as a starting place for the camber adjustment (front and rear)? I know that these will be adjusted in the alignment process. I am just looking for the best place to start. I understand that these shims are available in .036", .048" and .064"
Thank you.

Lin

 

Hi Lin, mine is set up with 3 X .064 both sides, what do you mean by front and rear ?

The shims are obviously for manufacturing differences, so this is not fool proof, my whole suspension setup had been bodged, so if other know what they have set up, then you could take an average ?

 

Thanks, Jon.
There are two sets of shims on each upright, one toward the front of the car and one toward the rear. I would assume that both of these use the same size and number of shims but I don't know that for a fact.
Lin

 

They must be installed equally front and rear, otherwise they affect the castor angle as they will throw the wishbones toward the front or rear of the car.

See service manual page J 17.

 

I note the service manual says setting should be 1/2 degree positive plus or minus 1/2 degree (i.e. from zero to 1 degree positive)

I'm curious to know if, when using modern radial ply tires, whether this is still the optimum.

I have set mine at 1.5 degrees negative, but have not road tested it as yet.
(I like the sexy negative camber look!)

 

These shims are cheap. What I recommend is to purchase a dozen or so to have on hand for whomever you have set up the alignment. Factory settings are NOT the best for handling. These Jags as well as most every car for a great balance of handling without sacrificing too much on tire wear would to have the camber slightly negative. I have set my car up for about 1 degree negative and that works well as when the very inside is about bald the rest of the tire is at the worn level for change. Most track cars are set up as far as 3-5 degrees negative camber as they do not care about tire wear. For street a good set up is somewhere between .50 to 1.2 degrees of negative camber. If your car is set up positive camber the handling will be very weak.

 

That's really interesting Primaz, is there a good Castor / Camber balance or for the Jag, or do you stick with stock Castor and slight negative Camber ?

 

Here are the settings I have used for my street cars, Front,Toe: 1/16” to 3/32” in, Camber: 0 to 1 negative with 1 being preferred. Caster:4 to 6 positive. The actual number between 4 and 6 is not important, only thatboth sides are the same. Rear Toe: 1/16” in Camber: 0 to 1 negative with 1being preferred.

 

OK, so 1 deg. negative at the rear wheels.

How does one go about achieving that? The only adjustment I'm aware of is the parallel tracking required by adjusting the Panhard rod.

(or are we talking S type IRS rather than Mark 2 live axle?)

 

My car is the S-type so front/back is done with shims. It will handle pretty decent with the fronts around 1 degree neg but you do not have to go as negative in the rears.

 

Primaz, how/where do you measure the toe in in inches, I've only ever done it in degrees ?

 

Here is a good overview. I really recommend for suspension adjustments to have a shop with all of the more accurate tools as it is not as easy without those tools. Basically on a street car you want most of the settings like toe, caster to be more neutral and just have the camber slightly negative for cornering. I would recommend to try the slight negative camber first with the toe and caster neutral and drive it. You should try the car out after alignment on roads you know and then have them retweaked as needed to your taste. Alignment tweaks are cheap and you really should expermiment to find what works best for you and your car's tire/suspension setup. Race cars have everything setup for easy adjustments as they go way more exacting trying to eek out the max handling specific to a track, for street once you find a good personal setting for your car most people just leave it at that one setup.


https://www.howacarworks.com/steerin...ment-on-wheels

 

FYI, that sexy negative camber look will wear the tire a bit more. 1.5 is not too bad as compared to drifters running 3-5 degrees negative. My experience is that around 1.2 and under does not create much excessive wear. 1.5 might be ok but you will have to try it out. For me I want to get the most handling so I try to set it up so that the first 1 inch or so of the tire might be bald and the outer is at the wear level for change and so far most of my cars that is around 1 to 1.2 negative.

 

Ah that's a load more basic than I was thinking, i can translate from the tire size into degrees, I always use a laser tracking setup, so it's measured in degrees rather than inches.

 

Noted with thanks. i have made some alignment tools (camber-using a Stanley FatMax digital level mounted on a 3 prong Y shaped frame, caster - using lubricated lino tiles mounted on swivel plates) so I can fiddle around to my heart's content.

Time consuming, but what the hell. There's SFA on TV here these days anyway!