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Ziploc posted:Any recommendations?
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Apr 17, 2008 00:52
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Edit: Nevermind.
aksuur fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Apr 20, 2008 |
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Apr 19, 2008 21:18
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I've officially decided to get a Miata. Looking a 1990 tomorrow with 83k miles. Looks like it's in good shape, but I probably won't buy it since the price is a little high and 90's have that crankshaft issue.
jromano fucked around with this message at 01:31 on Apr 25, 2008 |
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Apr 20, 2008 03:17
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Considering my sister in law picked up a '95M (which was - at the time - absolutely pristine) for $300 more than that '90, with less miles, and a couple years ago - $5500 for a low-option '90 is loving insane, regardless of condition. Enjoy the test drive but don't have any hope of talking them down, in my research the people asking those prices for very early Miatas are generally the first or second owner and think that since the car is old enough to smoke it's some sort of rare classic. Additional content: This morning, instead of sleeping in to work on a cold that's been nagging me for the past few days, one of our neighbors was kind enough to inform me that my wife's Miata had been vandalized in our driveway. Some douchebag kids decided that it needed a quick coat of home-canned raspberry jam, ranch dressing, yogurt, and baloney with mustard. Only now do I wish I had the foresight to pick up the leftover bottles with gloves - a part of me hopes that if I could have convinced the cops to come out they could have gotten some prints off of it. Luckily for us they picked a day to do this that started out remarkably cool and lacking in sunshine so I was able to wash it all off before it baked into the paint and damaged it - all it did was de-wax a few spots, so ultimately I'm not out any money. The reason for this long post is that where the ranch got on the top, it did a better job of picking up the embedded dirt than Meguiars car wash soap and microfiber wash mitts did. While ultimately we need to bite the bullet and buy a new top, tires are due first - so what cleaners do you guys recommend so I can remove the last evidence that some bored douchebags took advantage of our recently gateless gated community? (Part of me suspects that these kids may be the same ones who are repeatedly ramming through the gates and driving up the HOA fees.)
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Apr 20, 2008 06:07
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Some rear end in a top hat's been vandalizing my car too, putting stickers for some gay hockey team onto it. I've peeled off like 5 of them now, and I have to wash off the papery residue they left behind. loving college kids.
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Apr 20, 2008 11:05
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IOwnCalculus posted:Only now do I wish I had the foresight to pick up the leftover bottles with gloves - a part of me hopes that if I could have convinced the cops to come out they could have gotten some prints off of it. Heh, the cops would probably laugh, I can't see them getting prints for anything less than a felony. I would install a cheap infrared security camera if I were you, if cops have video evidence they may pursue the little fucks. I want to know why no one ever catches faggots vandalising their cars. It blows my mind how many AI goons are victims of this, yet never seem to nail anyone in the process. You would think the law of averages would play out and one of these bastards would get caught but it seems like they always get away with it.
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Apr 20, 2008 17:09
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leica posted:Heh, the cops would probably laugh, I can't see them getting prints for anything less than a felony. I would install a cheap infrared security camera if I were you, if cops have video evidence they may pursue the little fucks. The goons that do catch them usually go to jail after the altercation.
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Apr 20, 2008 17:26
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IOwnCalculus posted:While ultimately we need to bite the bullet and buy a new top, tires are due first - so what cleaners do you guys recommend so I can remove the last evidence that some bored douchebags took advantage of our recently gateless gated community? (Part of me suspects that these kids may be the same ones who are repeatedly ramming through the gates and driving up the HOA fees.) I'm having similar troubles with my top, and it's tan, so it's even worse. I have found that slightly diluted Simple Green and a stiff brush work pretty good.
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Apr 20, 2008 18:23
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einTier posted:If Ranch did such a good job on removing the dirt, why not coat the top in Ranch, let it sit, then rinse? Just a thought. Hahaha. Given the...porosity of the top we've got (aka two big holes and pinholes around the window...10 years of AZ sun has hosed this thing good) I wouldn't want to have to deal with any that managed to seep through to the interior. I like the Simple Green idea, though. I thought you had sold your last Miata? Guess not 
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Apr 20, 2008 20:58
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Hello - I am an idiot. From closest to last - My 96, my 94, my dad's 96. My 96 -  JRSC w/ big boost (9psi), megasquirt, water injection, rollbar, tokico illuminas and racing beat springs. There's archived threads on the Supercharger and Megasquirt installs. Originally bought off craigslist for $3000 w/ 120k miles. Excuse the front wheels - I cut a tire and tirerack had the Exclaim UHP's backordered for 6 weeks, and I haven't had time to get them mounted and balanced. My 94 -  Just picked this up last week. My 96 is an A package that I've slowly been turning into a C package. (power mirrors, power windows). But I hate dealing with OBDII, which isn't terrible but I'd like to go full megasquirt and stop loving with the stock ECU altogether. Snagged it off craigslist for $2800. All the leaks are in the right places, the previous owner was a 39 year old woman (2nd owner) that had it for 12 years. She said she promised herself she was going to buy a BMW before she turned 40 and handed me about stack of receipts about an inch thick. The car does have it's issues, cosmetically. A hail storm that rolled through last month installed about 20 holes in the soft top.  That's what a 400$ paint job looks like on the rear deck and hood. But my 96 has a full on maaco paint job (previous owner) that just will not take a shine, and some cracked bondo. This is a great base car - I can't wait to start really tearing into it. All it neeeds to be perfect body-wise is a new passenger side fender and paint. I've already ordered a top, rollbar, and stereo for it. Going to swap alot of the go-fast bits from the 96 to it, though I'm looking for a motor to build up for turbo. The car drives so great I'm reconsidering my suspension set up, as this one is stock and a real blast to daily drive. My 96 is my current daily driver an a hell of a kidney puncher. And finally - my dad's 96.  This is what 1500$ of miata looks like - plus some upgrades. His primary car was taking a huge dump (98 catera) despite my efforts to try and revive it, just became a money drain - started with a misfire that was valve-cover related, then coil pack, then injector, now it's throwing codes on both O2 sensors and won't pass emissions so it has sat. This is probably the cheapest miata I've seen on craigslist, and had its share of problems - most notably, a lack of first gear. I thought - oh, easy fix, slave cylinder!.. wasn't that lucky. So far it's had a tranny swap, rollbar and hard top installed. Last week it overheated and my dad limped it home (dammit dad we have towing, don't risk a head gasket). The car had, for a few weeks, immediatly pegged H on the coolant gauge but a quick little jerk on the steering wheel would immediatly bring it down to normal range then spike back up. We were thinking bad sender or wire getting grounded out - but after I tore into it - checked compression test, leakdown, oil, coolant - no traditional signs of headgasket - ended up with a HLA swap, timing belt, water pump, thermostat (which was stuck open), radiator hoses, spark plugs and wires - and the root cause - one of the coolant bypass hoses had shat itself (same thing happened on my 96 as well). 220k miles on the body, 120k on the engine. He used to own a Bugeye Sprite and really, really, really loves the miata - though he is the atypical near retirement driver (look what i got off ebay! it's one of the original miata advertisements and a poster too!). And of course I had to paint the valve color - it's ford blue although my dad insists it's Miller blue. So - in summation - I'm an idiot. iscariot fucked around with this message at 04:30 on Apr 21, 2008 |
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Apr 21, 2008 04:28
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IOwnCalculus posted:
I'll really miss it. I spent a full tank of gas last night just saying goodbye.
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Apr 21, 2008 05:49
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iscariot posted:A hail storm that rolled through last month installed about 20 holes in the soft top. So next time it hails I should try to keep my car protected? Last week it hailed (pea sized) in DFW and I didn't get any damage. What size hail are we talking about? Golf ball?
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Apr 21, 2008 09:05
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The top is old and busted anyway - I know it was replaced in 2001. Since I know I'm getting a new top I went ahead and laid it down without unzipping the rear window, which resulted in cracking the window. Whole top is fairly dryrotted and in need of replacement. By the size of the holes? Golfball would be my estimate.
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Apr 21, 2008 09:11
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Hey should I pick this car up y/n http://raleigh.craigslist.org/car/635611650.html
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Apr 21, 2008 20:28
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I saw that when I was looking for my replacement Miata back in January. Seems really sketchy, and I'd steer clear. If you need somebody to tag along with test driving and checking out used ones in the Raleigh area, I'm up for it.
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Apr 21, 2008 22:02
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What seems sketchy about it?
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Apr 21, 2008 22:29
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0-100mph in about 5 seconds? Really?
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Apr 21, 2008 22:41
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Ziploc posted:0-100mph in about 5 seconds? Really? No poo poo, that's faster than a Veyron, which does 0-100mph in 5.5 seconds. The seller is talking completely out of his rear end. He's just making poo poo up.
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Apr 21, 2008 22:50
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Aegri Somnia posted:What seems sketchy about it? First, he claims it's a "pre production" model, but in fact almost all 1990 Miatas were built in 1989. It's nothing special and the seller is a loving liar. Second, he has a bunch of mods that I wouldn't really trust. Mods decrease the value of a car drastically. Last, it's a respray (!!!!!) and those stripes look ugly as poo poo. Rice alert: 0-100 in 5secs?  Rice alert: RIMMZZZZZ Rice alert: look at the air filter GOLDMAN SACHS PARTY fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Apr 21, 2008 |
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Apr 21, 2008 22:50
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What seems sketchy outside of the physics breaking unit he has install (hint: its the blue box)? - The car looks like poo poo - The owner is asking about 4000$ too much - Greddy turbo - It's been on the market for a while Crappy examples of Miatas get picked up and even wrecked ones, too. There's a reason why nobody will buy that flaming turd of a car, and frankly, it is because it's a flaming turd of a car.
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Apr 21, 2008 23:33
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Phone posted:Crappy examples of Miatas get picked up and even wrecked ones, too. There's a reason why nobody will buy that flaming turd of a car, and frankly, it is because it's a flaming turd of a car. Yup. I've even seen some cheap Miatas sit forever - one locally was for sale for $1700 for months on end. Usually, at that price, no matter how terrible the car is it gets bought - so something had to be SERIOUSLY wrong with it.
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Apr 21, 2008 23:52
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Maybe he meant kph  He sent me this: quote:If you'd like you can call me at ###-#### to see it, I'll be home all evening. Actually I just turned a guy down who wanted to get it for his son as a first car, this ISN'T a first car, he would have wrecked it in no time.
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Apr 21, 2008 23:53
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leica posted:I want to know why no one ever catches faggots vandalising their cars. It blows my mind how many AI goons are victims of this, yet never seem to nail anyone in the process. You would think the law of averages would play out and one of these bastards would get caught but it seems like they always get away with it. The guy on the sidewalk was the lookout; the second made his way behind the car. It was a slow and deliberate process of looking around, hopping a few steps closer, and repeating until the one behind was just about close enough to touch it. He leaned in towards the car, started to reach for something in his pocket, and may or may not have been in the process of thinking about doing something inappropriate, when an immense, bald-headed black man (in a really tremendous suit) rounded the corner, stopped dead in his tracks, and just bellowed out "WHAT THE gently caress????" That guy's voice was several octaves lower and several times louder than that of an ordinary man; he sounded like a steam locomotive pulling an open car of tubas through a huge cave. The kids just froze where they were standing with their mouths wide open while he walked straight towards them. They could not convince the man that they were just "looking" at his car. He yelled at them until I'm pretty sure they literally dissolved. It was essentially the best possible outcome I could have imagined.
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Apr 22, 2008 00:17
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How tight should the latches be for a hardtop? I'm getting some rattling noise in the top front left latch, and when I unlatch/relatch it seems to go back in place easily without much force being applied. Should I adjust them so they need some force applied to be latched?
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Apr 22, 2008 03:06
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Yes. They should be fairly snug, but you don't want to have to put a lot of force in it.
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Apr 22, 2008 17:28
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I ordered some hankook RS2's in 225/45/15 just now, yay!!! I'm researching swaybars right now... I'm pretty much dead set on a RB tubular front with the stock rear bar (11mm), I'll be using superpro Poly bushings for the rear sway, and For the rear I'm planning on just getting the block kit, and not the whole bracket. Anyone got any reason why I should be running the full brace kit? My friend who worked at RB and Emilio both told me just to use the block kit.
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Apr 24, 2008 09:05
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Some videos, for your viewing enjoyment. (boostu inside) 0-60ish 4.9 seconds 60ish-120ish 14.7 seconds Times are datalogged confirmed. Both pulls made on a closed circuit. The speedo and tachometer are both off; 7400rpm=7000rpm and 130mph=136mph.
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Apr 24, 2008 10:23
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Dicker posted:I'm researching swaybars right now... I'm pretty much dead set on a RB tubular front with the stock rear bar (11mm), I'll be using superpro Poly bushings for the rear sway, and For the rear I'm planning on just getting the block kit, and not the whole bracket. Won't the front bar overpower the rear one and lead you to understeerville? Savington posted:Some videos, for your viewing enjoyment. (boostu inside) Wow. Wonderful. The engine sounds silky smooth. You must be proud. I was expecting it to be all over the place and sound like it was falling apart. That almost makes me want to boostu.
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Apr 24, 2008 14:29
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Savington posted:Times are datalogged confirmed. Both pulls made on a closed circuit. The speedo and tachometer are both off; 7400rpm=7000rpm and 130mph=136mph. Why are both gauges so far off? Got some Hankook RS2's coming my way, in 195/60/14. Should be a nice upgrade from bald Kumho 716's.
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Apr 24, 2008 16:35
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IOwnCalculus posted:Why are both gauges so far off? Transmission + tires/wheels are not stock. His speedo's only off by 4.5%. Hey, I have some RS2s coming my way, too.
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Apr 24, 2008 16:45
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Phone posted:Transmission + tires/wheels are not stock. His speedo's only off by 4.5%. I take it there's no easy way of recalibrating it with speedometer gears and/or reprogramming? Doesn't explain the tach either
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Apr 24, 2008 16:52
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IOwnCalculus posted:I take it there's no easy way of recalibrating it with speedometer gears and/or reprogramming? Doesn't explain the tach either Isn't it normal for tachs to be off by 5% or so?
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Apr 24, 2008 17:03
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lets say that i'm out on the highway with my top down and it starts to rain, is it safe to close the top at 70mph? this is regarding both hard and cloth tops.
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Apr 24, 2008 17:28
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phootnote posted:lets say that i'm out on the highway with my top down and it starts to rain, is it safe to close the top at 70mph? this is regarding both hard and cloth tops. Try it out and report back  . But seriously, don't. Just pull over for the 45 seconds that it takes to put the top up.
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Apr 24, 2008 17:32
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phootnote posted:lets say that i'm out on the highway with my top down and it starts to rain, is it safe to close the top at 70mph? this is regarding both hard and cloth tops. I'd love to see you try to put on a hard top at 70mph... But i'm pretty sure as soon as the soft top got up into the slipstream it would rip your arm off and slam back down breaking the rear window. You shouldn't get much if any rain in the cabin at 70mph anyway.
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Apr 24, 2008 17:44
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I've done it at 35mph, but I don't think I can muscle it at 70mph. Probably wouldn't want to either. My buddy didn't latch his down completely once by accident and the top came flying open on the highway. The twisting force ended up bending the top frame. Unless your forehead pokes out past the windshield frame or it's really pouring outside, just roll up the windows and turn on your wipers. The rain isn't going to get you at 70mph.
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Apr 24, 2008 17:48
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What are the current thoughts on alignments for a '92 stock Miata, just typical street / not racing/autoxing. I am thinking of going with the Flyin' Miata alignment since I've read it has good tire wear and is decent for street driving. http://www.flyinmiata.com/tech/alignment.php
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Apr 24, 2008 19:15
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IOwnCalculus posted:I take it there's no easy way of recalibrating it with speedometer gears and/or reprogramming? Doesn't explain the tach either 6-speed thinks there's a 3.9 rear end back there, but there's a 4.1. So it should actually read fast by a few percent, but  The datalog says I lifted off the gas at 7000rpm in 6th on the 60-120+ pull, and 7000rpm with a 22.7" tire, a .846:1 6th gear, and a 4.1:1 rear end is 136mph.All Miata tachometers read high, as well, by 300-400rpm at redline. Go run your car into the rev limiter sometime; it's set at 7000, but the tach will read like 7200+. Savington fucked around with this message at 20:14 on Apr 24, 2008 |
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Apr 24, 2008 20:07
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Savington posted:All Miata tachometers read high, as well, by 300-400rpm at redline. Go run your car into the rev limiter sometime; it's set at 7000, but the tach will read like 7200+. This I have noticed, I figured the tach was accurate and that the limiter was around 7200. Go figure  I don't have any serious datalogging tools for the Miata to confirm that for myself, anyway - best I've got is an ElmScan 5 since I doubt HPTuners will scan the Miata. It's better than nothing but it's far slower than a setup like HPT.I know some tachs are more accurate than others. Fourth-gen F-Body tachs have the opposite problem, they're hilariously low - they can be behind as much as 600-1000 RPM in a very fast first-gear pull. Wild-rear end guess - how much tire expansion (if any) is there at 130MPH? I wonder if that is affecting your calibration at the extreme high end.
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Apr 24, 2008 23:20
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n8r posted:What are the current thoughts on alignments for a '92 stock Miata, just typical street / not racing/autoxing. I am thinking of going with the Flyin' Miata alignment since I've read it has good tire wear and is decent for street driving. That looks pretty good for the street and it will do fine on the autocross too. You can even go a touch milder on the camber, but honestly, that won't give you any funny tire wear. However, the mechanic may have problems reaching -1 degree camber on the front wheels with the stock suspension. Some alignment places like to start from the back wheels. Have your mechanic dial in the front's to -1 degrees or whatever is the maximum that he can get (if he can't reach -1) and then set the rears to 0.5 degrees less (more negative camber). I've seen lots of mechanics reach -1.5 in the back without any issues, but then leave the car with -0.6 in the front because that's all they could get.
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Apr 24, 2008 23:27
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