So I figured I would ask if anybody else running this Hotchkiss kit has any issues. I took my 70 GS for his first alignment after installing the Hotchkiss complete kit the old guy puts it on the rack. Looks at it for 10 minutes and tells me he can’t align the front end due to the fact the driver side is 1.5° Negative the passenger side is 5/8 Degrees negative and that that can’t work. I get a hold of Hotchkiss they give me the Alignment specs I go back to the alignment shop he looks at the specs I said this is going to drive like crap it’s going to wear tires really bad and that it’s junk etc. which surprises me Here is the kit I used And the alignment specs. Just wondering if anybody has the same suspension set up have you had any problems with it ? this guy kind of made me worry
I have UMI front suspension my Camber is -1 Caster 5.5 Toe in 1/16” Handles well but not enough miles to judge tire wear.
follow the manufacturer specs provided with your parts. They normally know what works best. The old timer is not knowledgeable on the technology of these new control arms.
I took mine to get aligned also, I told the guy there what the specs should be (according to the instructions) and he said they will wear your tires. so he didn’t use them. That’s been about 2000 miles ago no wear or steering issues. The shop has pits for alignments, I’ve been using them for over 20 years. The father passed the shop down to the son still quality work.
I don’t believe the specs supplied by the manufacturer of these suspensions will have much affect on tire wear. The fact we may push our cars a little harder after the upgrades is another story. Using the old alignment specs doesn’t let you take advantage of the reason for installing the upgraded suspension in my opinion.
this is exactly what hochkis tech support said to me . stock numbers defeats the purpose of the new set up ..the old & wise alignment shop tech sure tried to tell me otherwise and how tubular parts where junk ....LOL
A lot of alignment shops will struggle to do anything other than what’s in the computer (factory specs). They have to do some math to make adjustments to get the specs you ask for (especially true for caster). The screen turns green when it’s in spec and red when it’s out of spec. Custom specs throw it off.
When I took my first tubular A-arm car to the shop I use, I told them what I wanted and they didn't bat an eye. They didn't give me any guff and just did it. I had it set at -1/2° camber and +5° caster and 1/16" toe-in. It will corner like it is on rails and doesn't wear the outer edges of the tires any more like a factory alignment. Understeer is greatly reduced and oversteer is a blip of the throttle away. Good times. When I put upper tubular A-arms on my 71 350 car, I did the alignment myself with a pair of tape measures and a pair of 4' levels. Caster is a little harder to set but it wasn't bad. Camber is easy and toe-in is simple. No more than I drive the two cars, the tires will likely dry rot before they wear out.
Those specs sound great to me. Different animal but I used to run -1.5 degrees camber up front and -1 in back on my daily driver Subaru wrx. Also had a caster kit up front that I think was around the 4* positive mark up front. I daily drive that car for 7 years and 120k miles like that. Never had any issues with tire wear (other than just fully wearing them out).
I just got my daily driver (1987 Corolla AE86) aligned before attending a drift event, and had them do it to my specs which were actually almost identical to yours but my toe in was 0. Most shops will start charging by the hour when you get a "custom" alignment. In my case they had the technician who works on most of the track cars do the alignment, and he was able to get it done in 1 hour so it wasn't that much more than a regular alignment. I would find a more knowledgeable shop that has worked on modified cars.
