Hi I mostly lurk here, but just bought new Toyo T1R's for my 2001. What would be the best compromise. Alignment with no weight in car, with my weight in drivers seat, or some weight in both seats, or does it really matter that much. This is just for street driving. Thanks
Peter
Lanny Chambers' specs are here:
Ballast it the way it's usually driven. Your weight in the driver's seat, and if you normally have a passenger, add that weight to the passenger seat. Tell her not to worry, alignment technicians are very discreet if you leave a box of donuts in the car when you drop it off.
According to the guy who did mine, "It's a motor car, sir, not a precision instrument". Mazda say the only ballast needed is a full fuel tank, but they do have amazingly wide tolerances for all the settings.
I would call it a horrifyingly wide range of what they consider acceptable tolerances. I would also walk away from anyone who works on cars and claims that the miata is not a precision instrument, especially in the handling department.
No, under normal street driving it is not going to go sliding off the road because it was not ballasted, and most miatas are aligned without having weight added, but I usually drive mine alone and when a 200 pound friend rides with me, I can really tell the difference in the way the car drives.
He is not far from 10% of the weight of the car. If this person was with me regularly, I would want 200 pounds of weight in the passenger seat and my considerably lower weight in the driver's seat when the car was aligned.
Pat
How about the difference between you two, in the pssngr seat (assuming you're under 200 lbs)
Probably not a huge issue when talking 60 pounds from side to side. We equal 340 pounds together. Throw in a few items of any weight and we are approaching the recommended weight limit of the car.
If we were both in the car regularly it would be better to have it aligned while loaded. Since I am usually alone while driving, it is better to have it aligned with only my weight in the car. I am talking about what is optimum, not what is absolutely necessary unless you are racing competitively.
Lanny, can you please explain why this is important and what happens to the alignment characteristics when weight is added to the miata? You are far better at explaining it than I am.
Pat
Ride height has a major effect on camber on the NA and NB. With stock springs, 150 lb in the passenger seat can change camber up to half a degree, but not evenly all around. That's more than enough to change the handling balance. It can even make the car understeer in one direction and oversteer in the other, a nasty surprise if you aren't expecting it and need all your evasive capability in an emergency.
If you only drive your Miata like a "motor car" (what's that, a Humber Super Snipe?), you may never notice. But if you expect it to behave like a proper sports car, pay attention to the alignment.
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