It's called geometry. Plenty of reading in some of the previous posts to bring your understanding up to speed....

 

I understand the geometry but still cannot quite see how the body sits on the chassis has that much influence of the suspension alignment that is attached to the chassis. Seems to me like the two are not necessarily all that related.

Doug

 

Doug,
This is my visualisation of what fmertz and white bear are saying:

It's not the ideal image and I don't have any drawing tools on this laptop, but below A & X are the upper shock mount locations on the body and B & Y are the lower shock bushes attached to the control arms. The distances A-B and X-Y are the combination of spring length & upper shock mounts.




A to G and X to G are the ride height, and should normally be equal at around 15.75"

Taking A - B, if the spring sags and the upper 'degradeagunge'© shock mounts squash then this distance will reduce, A – G will also reduce and the wheel will follow an arc and the camber will change. The drawing shows the ground stepping up but the principle is the same.

Does that work for you? Should I consider entering an art competition?

Mike

 

Well so much for the ride height geometry theory. I picked up the car this afternoon and they installed the eccentric bolts and did whatever adjustments were needed in the front, as well as the rear. Voila--all of the alignment readings are now in spec (except for front caster which apparently is not adjustable) and the ride height I measure from the center of the wheel to the arch is EXACTLY the same as I measured previously.

Doug