I would like to get a performance alignment for my car but I don't know what I need. I do know that the car is an auto-xer and sees some street use but is not a daily driver...sort af a weekend toy. Here's what I have done to the suspension so far(not all of the parts are ideal but I got them cheap):

eibach sportline springs front and rear
st 35mm front bar, stock 19mm rear bar(both with poly bushings)
slp bilsteins front and rear
hotchkis lower control arms
slp strut tower brace

I know I need some camber and castor but how much should I go with? I don't need the most agressive alignment...something a little better than the middle between stock and race would be nice.

 

Mine is my daily driver but it sees an autocross event once a month and a couple of track events per year. I'm running the following:

Camber 1.5*
Caster 4.3*
Toe In 1/16"

For autocross it is better to run a little bit of toe out but since mine is a street car mostly I compromised there. General rule of thumb is to get as much camber and caster as you can dial in. My settings are maxing out my adjusters.

 

I run these settings on my car. It's both a daily get back and forth to work driver and an ESP autocross car. Because you have been lowered you should be able to achieve the -1.5 camber setting.

-1.5 camber
4.7 caster
0 toe

Actually I have 4.8 caster on one wheel. Camber is probably just about max'd out.

 

If you use race tires you'll definately want that -1.5 camber, maybe even -2.0 if you can get it. You will get tire wear on the inside edge of your street tires with more than -1 camber. Maybe even with less camber. I went straight to -1.5 and have noticible wear after 10,000 miles. It's not bad but I think the inside edge might wear out before the tread for the first time in my life. I rotate every month and keep the alignment accurate.

 

I ran the following specs for 5 years & 40K miles on a car used primarily on the street with aftermarket control arms with rod ends. The tires always wore evenly across the tread.

Camber -1.5
Caster +4.5
Toe 1/16th in

I ran Yoko AVS, Advan A032R, & Nitto 555RIIs on this setup and never had the inside of the tire wear. Maybe the solid suspension prevented deflection that might have normally worn the inside of the tire out.

I recently had the car re-aligned, after some suspension damage from road construction and bumped it up to:

Camber - 1.7
Caster +6
Toe 1/16th in

I am hesitant about the radical Caster setting, but that was the closest the alignment tech could do in the 2 hour window. He says that Mercedes specs a Caster setting of around +8, but that they chew up the tires bad too. I would think that for autocross, that excessive amounts of Caster might not work, as a fat tire (275 - 315mm) would not be as flat on the ground (too much tilt on hard turns).

Rick R