This service is an extension to ride height correction but also incorporating weighing each corner of the car to understand and adjust the diagonal load distribution of the suspension. Assuming no unseen damage to the body, all cars typically distribute their mass within 3%. With adjustable suspension we can make fine adjustments to the preload of each suspension spring to obtain perfect 50%/50%. The effect on track is a car that feels symmetric when moving side to side giving the driver confidence in the reaction to steering inputs. This service includes a geometry service (see below) – From £380.00

This is by far our most popular service. It is something that all cars even the daily will benefit from. Using our extensive experience in suspension design and tuning, we are able to offer a completely bespoke geometry specification for any car to optimise its performance for the driver use case. It is important to remember, that what one car is set to, doesn’t mean that’s what your car should be set to. All drivers are different and their requirements and driving styles are seldom the same, so why should the setup be? Equally if needed, we can also adjust any car back to manufacturers exact standards. We have access to all major brand and model specifications – From £120.00 (average price £190.00)

Additional charges may apply for non-standard adjustments such as shims.

Toe: Toe In; In plan view, the front most edge of the tyre points towards the centre line of the car.  Toe out; the front most edge of the tyre points away from the centre line of the car. More often than not, we set cars up with toe in front and rear, however in some very limited occasions toe out front may be applied if ultimate cornering grip is required. Also for some ‘drift’ specs, toe out on the rear axle may be needed (See image). 

Caster: The caster angle is something that was originally associated to the kingpin axis.  Most modern cars do not have a kingpin but still have a virtual kingpin axis. The caster angle is the angle of the kingpin axis relative to the centre line of the wheel. In all cars this is typically +ve. Maximising the amount of caster will deliver a more engaging steering feel and improve on centre feel and steering wheel returnability.

Camber: Viewing from the end of the car looking along its side, the camber angle is the angle of the vertical centre line of the wheel relative to the vertical centre line of the car. In most modern cars this angle is -ve. The more the top of the wheel is towards the centre line of the car, the more negative the angle. We use camber to improve handling and corner grip. The theory is to maximise tyre contact patch load during cornering, the more lateral force against the body of the car, the more the wheel will try to straighten, so the more negative camber the more lateral load can be achieved and therefore the greater the cornering grip and speed.

That said, just having maximum camber doesn’t mean a faster car, it’s a balancing act between cornering grip and straight line grip and steering response and chassis balance. Some cars work their front axles harder than the rear and vice versa. Some axles because of their design don’t need a lot of camber because they have little camber loss / gain.

Thrust angle: This is an invisible force from the rear axle. Get this wrong and no matter what else you do with the set-up, the car will never drive straight. It is half total toe difference on the rear axle. Most manufacturers are OK with a thrust angle of +- 0.05dec/deg. We will ensure this is never greater than 0.01dec/deg.

Measurement units: We use Decimal degrees. 1/100^th of a degree. Typically 1 degree is split in to 1/60^th like the minutes on a clock, these are referenced as degrees/minutes. We want to be more accurate than that, hence decimal degrees. We do not use distance to measure or reference vehicle geometry.

We often have questions like “What toe and camber will you set it to?” then followed by a specification learnt from poor sources of information. “Can you set it up the same as a racing car?” Simple answer; No! Typically road suspensions are designed to cope with normal road environments not race tracks. They work differently and therefore should be set up differently. Some road cars when fitted with heavily modified suspension can achieve race car specifications, but that doesn’t mean they are set up the same.  Cars that are dedicated ‘trailered’ track cars can have lots of negative camber and minimal toe settings but would not work for normal road conditions, adversely if you use your car daily and take it on the occasional track day, it will never perform as well as a dedicated car. I can make compromises to achieve a middle ground but a compromise it is.

We offer a suspension installation service for most cars. It is a flat rate service assuming no other remedial repairs are needed – £336.00