Dark Horse HP Alignment Settings

[Cindy42]

Agree. Not sure. I might take your pics and send to the mechanic I talked to and ask for clarification.

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[Cindy42]

I got this from Vorshlag. He said same, drop the strut. " Look closely at my picture. There are 3 countersunk bolts that you loosen, then slide those buggers all the way in." Probably have to push that set pin on the far left through as well.

 

[w00tcamp]

I got this from Vorshlag. He said same, drop the strut. " Look closely at my picture. There are 3 countersunk bolts that you loosen, then slide those buggers all the way in." Probably have to push that set pin on the far left through as well.

Thank you! I’m still not sure I totally get how this works but that’s a great picture. I can show my alignment shop at least.

 

[Texas2017GT]

Dark Horse Track Use Addendum

 

[Opinion-Eater]

Can anyone advise what the Dark Horse Handling Pack wheel alignment settings are?

Absolute Handling Pack plebian here,
Had no idea why my tires were wearing out in the outsides but perfect on the insides, selling a DH/HP to a customer without telling them that this vehicle has negative camber from the factory is damn near criminal.. not teaching your car salesman about every in and out of the car is just sad and pathetic!
I love my car but how many sets of tires am I supposed to go through here?
Ford offers no instruction on this.

 

[GhastlyTT]

Absolute Handling Pack plebian here,
Had no idea why my tires were wearing out in the outsides but perfect on the insides, selling a DH/HP to a customer without telling them that this vehicle has negative camber from the factory is damn near criminal.. not teaching your car salesman about every in and out of the car is just sad and pathetic!
I love my car but how many sets of tires am I supposed to go through here?
Ford offers no instruction on this.

Negative camber would actually cause the opposite of the wear you're claiming to have. We use negative camber to keep the tire flatter and increase contact patch during cornering when the car's suspension loading is to the outside. In relatively straight daily driving you would wear the insides more as the outer edge is more often unloaded. Regardless, the front camber is fixed from the factory and to make it adjustable on an HP car, you'd have to remove the strut assembly, remove the set screws in the camber plate, then reinstall and adjust.

It's more likely that the toe alignment is off and is contributing to the wear you're experiencing but know that the Trofeo RS tires on the Handling Pack cars aren't going to last you long regardless. You can get a free alignment from Ford in the first 12 months to ensure toe is good. Then replace the Trofeos with Pilot Sport 4S tires if your HP Dark Horse spends more time on the street than HPDEs.

 

[Flyingtexan]

What a shame. Ford needs to get with it. I have a 2022 Camaro 1LE and it came with a separate owners manual for track use with all the track setting info, service intervals for track use, tire pressures etc. Anxious to see what my 2025 with the GT performance package comes with.

 

[Flyingtexan]

Absolute Handling Pack plebian here,
Had no idea why my tires were wearing out in the outsides but perfect on the insides, selling a DH/HP to a customer without telling them that this vehicle has negative camber from the factory is damn near criminal.. not teaching your car salesman about every in and out of the car is just sad and pathetic!
I love my car but how many sets of tires am I supposed to go through here?
Ford offers no instruction on this.

I'd get your car realigned, you don't have a negative camber problem. You have a lack of negative camber if your wear is on the outside. Most factory settings always have negative camber, something isn't right with yours. Calling Ford might be an option for you.

 

[Opinion-Eater]

I'd get your car realigned, you don't have a negative camber problem. You have a lack of negative camber if your wear is on the outside. Most factory settings always have negative camber, something isn't right with yours. Calling Ford might be an option for you.

Got an appointment on the 30th!
I'm no pro on this stuff, was a tire shop that mentioned negative camber, I wasn't sure if butterfly's was negative or the opposite direction was negative, all I know is with the Trofeos on it since purchase the car has pulled all over the road, (Possible Tram-lining), not any particular direction just random lefts and rights at medium strength, it back fires every time I'm slowing to a stop and has done that since purchase, I love this car.. but man, I'm scared it's got some issues. Nothing not covered by warranty it seems, but here we are lol.

Thank You for the Advice!

 

[Opinion-Eater]

Negative camber would actually cause the opposite of the wear you're claiming to have. We use negative camber to keep the tire flatter and increase contact patch during cornering when the car's suspension loading is to the outside. In relatively straight daily driving you would wear the insides more as the outer edge is more often unloaded. Regardless, the front camber is fixed from the factory and to make it adjustable on an HP car, you'd have to remove the strut assembly, remove the set screws in the camber plate, then reinstall and adjust.

It's more likely that the toe alignment is off and is contributing to the wear you're experiencing but know that the Trofeo RS tires on the Handling Pack cars aren't going to last you long regardless. You can get a free alignment from Ford in the first 12 months to ensure toe is good. Then replace the Trofeos with Pilot Sport 4S tires if your HP Dark Horse spends more time on the street than HPDEs.

Thank you VERY much for the advice!

 

[D/\rK•650]

Got an appointment on the 30th!
I'm no pro on this stuff, was a tire shop that mentioned negative camber, I wasn't sure if butterfly's was negative or the opposite direction was negative, all I know is with the Trofeos on it since purchase the car has pulled all over the road, (Possible Tram-lining), not any particular direction just random lefts and rights at medium strength, it back fires every time I'm slowing to a stop and has done that since purchase, I love this car.. but man, I'm scared it's got some issues. Nothing not covered by warranty it seems, but here we are lol.

Thank You for the Advice!

Opinion-Eater
I realize this was from awhile ago but what was your outcome on this? Mine has alot of tramlining as well and im hoping you had good experience getting this addressed. Just looking for any details you might provide. Thanks in advance

 

[Junkyard Dog]

This is the best I could do. Took the wheel off of the front driver's side, and this is what I found at the top of the strut. I have no idea what I'm looking at, but I don't really have the skills to take apart a shock and make adjustments. I'm not seeing how an amateur HPDE guy can adjust camber before an event and then return afterwards.

This picture's focused on the outboard aspect of it.

Trying to correlate with the top mount but I can't make any sense of it.

This is the inboard side toward the back of the car.

On this last photo, I tried to get a better shot but it looks like there's a nut there on the inboard aspect towards the front of the car - it's not in focus.

"but I don't really have the skills to take apart a shock and make adjustments. I'm not seeing how an amateur HPDE guy can adjust camber before an event and then return afterwards."

But you do!

It is done from the top. You open the hood, jack up that tire, loosen the bolts (at the top) and use a pry bar to shift that strut all the way over until you contact the sheet metal at the edge of the hold for the inner fender. Then tighten the bolts back down and lower the jack.

You do have to remove some things from underneath - once. Once those are gone, the adjustment to camber is easily performed at the track or at home before heading out to the track.

On the stock set up you cannot get more than about 2.5° anyway, so that is fine to drive to the track and back.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

https://www.mustang7g.com/forums/threads/how-to-adjust-camber-plates-on-dark-horse.172981/

Video on adjusting camber plates

 

[w00tcamp]

"but I don't really have the skills to take apart a shock and make adjustments. I'm not seeing how an amateur HPDE guy can adjust camber before an event and then return afterwards."

But you do!

It is done from the top. You open the hood, jack up that tire, loosen the bolts (at the top) and use a pry bar to shift that strut all the way over until you contact the sheet metal at the edge of the hold for the inner fender. Then tighten the bolts back down and lower the jack.

You do have to remove some things from underneath - once. Once those are gone, the adjustment to camber is easily performed at the track or at home before heading out to the track.

On the stock set up you cannot get more than about 2.5° anyway, so that is fine to drive to the track and back.

I have about -2.8 if I recall correctly. My toe is completely neutral in the front and just a smidge of toe in in the rear. I just keep it that way all the time; the car isn’t my daily. I’m shredding my tires up in track and they die from heat cycling before I lose enough tread to make them useless.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

What if you cut the hole at the top of the strut ?

Can you get 3.5° then?

The camber plate slots are limited (you can see it in the picture above), but do you run into interference at the edge of the strut hole before you run out of room with the slots in the camber plate?

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