alignment specs?


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By oldcarmark - 15 Years Ago
I need to take my car in for an alignment.After installing the Granada spindles and replacing a bent lower control arm its really out of whack.I know what the stock  alignment specs are but does anyone have suggestions to be used with radial tires(stock size and wheels)?
By speedpro56 - 15 Years Ago
They should stay the same. I still like my toe end about 1/16th. No less than 1/32nd.
By rick55 - 15 Years Ago
Caster and camber can be to personal preference with the standard settings being the starting point.

Radial tyres supposedly roll better than cross ply and do not need as much toe in as cross ply. This is why in the early days they used to say you will get gas better mileage from them and they generally last much longer - especially steel belted which most are today.

Tyre manufacturers will recommend O" toe in though a little cannot hurt I suppose. You can always tell with a radial if there is toe in as the tread starts to feather on the trailing edge. Something I don't recall cross ply tyres doing.

I was taught that toe in is actually there to overcome wear in the front end and because radial tyres behave differently toe in was unnecessary.

Here in Oz during the 70's GM introduced something called "Radial Tuned Suspension" and boy it transformed the handling of their cars. Their cars of the day had front ends very similar to those in our carsand were very heavy to drive before the modification.

Ford followed the example and played with their settings and the late '70s cars were much more responsive steering than the earlier cars. Earlly 70's Fords were very heavy in the front end, twitchy in the rear end pretty scary on unsealed roads at speed.

The GM solution to steering was brought about by relocating arms and adjusting settings.

Hope this gives you some help.
By paul2748 - 15 Years Ago
Zero toe in with radials.
By GREENBIRD56 - 15 Years Ago
The stock Ford spec's I found for the '56 are:

Caster- 1/2° to +1-1/2° / preferred +1°

Camber - 1/4° to +1-1/4° / preferred +3/4°

Toe In - 1/16 to 1/8 inch

As a comparison, for one of the early Mustangs :

Caster - +2° to +2-3/4° 

Camber - 0 to -1/2°

Toe In - 1/8 inch

The camber and toe in differences have more to do with the spring rate of the two vehicles - where the settings will go when there are passengers aboard and the A-arms are deflected upward. Because they are unequal length (upper and lower), collapse of the spring gives the system an ever-increasing negative camber. If you've got stiffer springs in there than original - cut coils for instance - then the OEM '56 set-up might be less than satifactory.  

Caster gives directional stability - more caster, heavier steering - less caster, lighter steering. Because a lot of the earlier cars had "full manual" steering and a heavy nose - the caster was tweeked downward to make it a bit easier to steer. Radial tires have a bigger "contact" patch and make the system behave as if it has less caster - so as the world shifted to radials, the typical caster specifcation got larger. The big radial tire contact patch and low caster angle of the earlier OEM arrangement can combine with soft springs and make a stocker fun to drive in a crosswind.

By Hollow Head - 15 Years Ago
Try to get 0 to1/2 deg negative camber and as much positive caster as you can with radials. An for toe in I suggest you to target to 10 minutes overall toe in. Toe out spoils your tires rapidly.

I have done several Mustangs, couple of Corvettes ( sorryyy...) and yfreak57's  '57 Country Sedan as close those numbers as possible and all have been happy with handling after that.Smile