Mazda Rotary Club

Andyp and I met up on Saturday to have our wheel alignment etc checked out and adjusted, shame we couldn\'t play really because it was pissing it down with rain

Went to STS in Bedford, guy appeared to know a lot about what he was doing, and I\'ve got to say my car feels SO much better after its all been set up

No vibration on steering wheel at high speeds, cornering is smoother etc, less twitchy

Well reccomended guys, common fact that most cars are out of alignment and you don\'t even know it

Dave

Coincidence, picked up my car from Geff at RE:Worx on Saturday and he suggested I get the alignment / tracking checked out and there\'s me thinking it was supposed to be all twitchy :rolleyes:

Will be getting it sorted ASAP, at JPS (Milton Keynes) probably.

I don\'t think JPS do laser alignment.........

I\'ve got mine booked in @ WGT for decat, mapping and suspension setup, should be fun when I get it back!


Iain

Ummm, >noddy hat on< I phoned them and asked if they do wheel alignment and tracking, they said yes.  Does that mean there are different types of alignment?

I stand corrected if they do, I just assumed that they didn\'t as Andyp has been talking about them recently and I presumed if they did it he would have booked us in there

perhaps they do then :)

Noticed my front wheels are badly worn on the inside (ie - totally smooth)...  Yet my tracking is fine, so either:

a - my wheels are causing my camber to be wrong or

b - there is a problem with my suspension...

or is there a \'c\' I haven\'t thought of???

Thats what I had, camber setting and tracking was out

There\'s a trade-off with camber from what I\'ve heard and read and the balance between grip and tyre logevity is the main thing...

From talking to Glenn a little while back he was advocating up to -1.5 degrees front and -1 degree at the back for fast road/track use.  Obviously if you\'re just doing road driving then closer to neutral will give less wear but less cornering stability.

I guess you must have an aggresive setting on your OJ - would the bling wheels mak much difference?  I\'d have thought the width, not the diameter would be the main factor...

Iain

hehe their faces as we both rolled up.. kinda just stopped what they were doing and starred hehe and they do all sorts of sports cars so that\'s an achievement to take their breath away :D

Chris I\'d ask JPS if they do laser aligning. From what I saw in there I seriously doubt he does... didn\'t see anything to suggest he did.. may send ya down the road to another unit afiak.

That STS in Bedford ain\'t far from ya don\'t think... my car feels like a dream now, no more twitching round the corners, mine was set up REAL odd, think mr drift kind had it before me hehe

AWW I wanna find out who owned my car hehe

Okay, I\'ll check if they do laser aligning.
So, there is laser aligning and some other kind of aligning?  With laser aligning being more accurate I suppose?

Do you have contact / adress details for STS in Bedford?

How long did it take?

as far as I\'m aware, when I asked about, you can get regular wheel alignment which any old tyre place will do but as soon as you start putting on aftermarket suspension and so on, no one wants to touch it at all and you need to bring out the old lasers. Ours were tested on computers and customised to our requirements. I asked for Road and track settings.

I think it\'s basically a case of there being more factors into the equation than the regular places can/will handle

Took about 35 mins and cost £58 inc vat

here\'s their card hehe

(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robert.pogmore/sts.jpg)

Had my car Laser tracked on saturday before travelling over to Geffs for a little tinkering here and there.

existing tracking was all over the place, a mile out and not one corner was the same. Requested that the short track setup was used ala
http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1573

Ill let you know how I get on, although the car already feels hugely different. Front camber setting maybe a little to aggressive though for road use. The more camber the quicker the tyres heat, so I may need to back this off a little.

Ian

Thanks for the details, I\'ll give them a ring and get myself booked in (and get their postocde so I can find the place!).

cool stuff. If ya need directions gimmi a shout and i\'ll do ya a map :0)

Hi Ian, see you are in Soton same as me. Where did you go for your wheel allingment, was it local, is it expensive? wow three questions in one sentence. Have been thinking of doing mine for ages, just need somewhere trustworthy. Cheers Leigh.

Come on the saints
Si

QuoteOriginally posted by Rotorboy65
Hi Ian, see you are in Soton same as me. Where did you go for your wheel allingment, was it local, is it expensive? wow three questions in one sentence. Have been thinking of doing mine for ages, just need somewhere trustworthy. Cheers Leigh.

Watcha bud!

Went to Protyre in Fareham opposite the magistrates court. £49.50 all in. Will set the car as you want it or as Mazda intended!

YOu going to Japfest or Rotorstock? Ill be going to both, so if ya wanna convoy gis a shout!

Si, wrong shaped balls for me matey!!! :p  Give me the oval shape and fifteen a side anyday!

Ian

Hi Ian, will give them ago very soon, car is going down too Geff next Monday for some bit\'s and bob\'s. Will be going too Japfest hav\'nt even thought about a leaving time yet. What time you going, anyone else in our area going that you know of?. Would be good to follow someone else up, I\'m in the Bursledon area you very close?Not sure about Rotorstock defo want too go but not sure which day too turn up. Would like too do all three but alas must choose just one. I was thinking of the Monday, what I can work out this is going to be the best looking day for action (correct me if I am wrong lad\'s) I know all three look brilliant but can only do the one day anyway will see you at Japfest cheers Leigh.

NOt sure what time im gonna leave, but I expect it to be  around 8am, (ish!!). IM in Park Gate so just up the road from you.

Will be going to Rotorstock on the Sunday and staying over.

Ian

PS what car/colour etc you got then?

Have seen your car, red one am I correct?. Saw it parked near garage in Park Gate some time ago. Mine\'s a  silver auto R Magic body kit 18 inch black 5 spoke chrome lip alloy\'s a few engine mod\'s but mostly exterior mod\'s working on interior next year. Just up the road from Nathan with his yellow one soon too be TVR Blue that\'s if he has\'nt changed his mind again. He\'s going too Rotorstock if his new and very nice bodykit is fitted in time. Should be nice when it\'s finished. Cheers Leigh.

Nah, got a black beasty mate! This ones mine.........

Have seen Nathans around, I know its been rebuilt a couple of times as a mate of mine ia a friend of his fathers. If you follow!!

Ah a black beauty looks real mean, is that carbon fibre on the wheels?. Got many performance mods under the bonnet?. Yea Nathan has been a bit unlucky with his car you are right regards rebuilds 2 in a year. I keep telling him it\'s jinxed even had a hose split 2 weeks back, gotta feel for the guy been very unlucky. Saw another black 3rd gen 2day near St Marys stadium(yep as Scooby sez come on the saints) white alloys and white Viper stripes seen it twice now could  be someone on here. See ya soon Leigh.

Carboned Mazdaspeed MS-01\'s. Dont looka much in that pic, but they look the dogs in the flesh!

Yeah lots under the bonnet, making between 320-350bhp

If your in the Park Gate area look me up, Im in Duncan road, just behind the bank.

Later bud!

45 mins at £90 later and my wheels are now laser aligned according to Mazda.

The setting I got from a recent thread elsewhere on the forum were in inches but STS use degrees so I didn\'t use them in the end.

Thanks to davefrith and andyp for the heads up on STS.  Found it in the end, after driving back and forth along Shuttleworth road a couple of times ;)

Car certainly seems less twitchy now, yey!  Feel a bit more confident going into corners now.

glad you got along with it mate, makes a heck of a difference doesn\'t it :D

Yeah not the most obvious of places is it hehe

£90 ?! should have mentioned our names and got it for £50 !!

Yep, was a bit miffed it was more than you guys, but they were quite a bit out, lots of red on the monitor :(

i think it was because there were two of us last time

but I\'m suprised he didn\'t contunue the discount especially as I took loads of cars to pass on to club members

Dave

£90 is steep! Paid under £50 for mine and not only was it a mile out, (looked like it had been set up for oval racing!!), but they set all values to what I wanted! Bargain!!

Ian

B*gger, why do I feel like I\'ve been bent over and taken up the tailpipe? :P

Guess the morale of the story is turn up in groups!

How adjustable is the suspension?

Exactly what can or cant I specify?

Thanks
Lee

Camber Toe in and tracking ? terms thast sound familiar

Yup, spent ages last night thinking of settings.

If I go and ask for say 1.3 neg camber front, 1.5 neg rear is this something that can actually be acheived?