Should YOU get a camber kit?

[Rice-Rocketeer]

Should you? Or rather do you need one? I don't know, let's find out.

First off let me explain what "camber" is. In layman terms, it's how far the your rim and tire combo tilt in or out. Why would this change? Because a double wishbone suspension system is designed to change camber settings as load is increased or decreased on that corner. When you take a turn, most of the weight of the car is on the outside tires so the spring compresses, and the tires tilt in, giving it negative camber so that more of the tire's contact patch comes in contact with the road. When you straighten out again, camber returns to normal. But if you artificially reduce the height of the strut and spring combo, it has the same effect. It tilts the tires in producing perpetual negative camber. It does gives you better handling because the suspension is always in "heavy cornering" mode. But it also puts all the weight of the car on ONE side of the tire's contact patch when you're not turning. This wears out your tires MUCH faster than normal on that one side. This is where a camber kit would be needed to push out the lower control arm a little more and produce more positive camber so you don't need to get new tires every few months.

Now let me say this: suspension geometry is by no means simple. There are MANY variables that affect it and because of this, you can't oversimplify it. There is no magic number, no certain drop height that'll tell you with absolute certainty that your camber is not within the manufacturer's specifications anymore and will need to corrected with the aid of a kit. Camber, and indeed all of suspension geometry is affected by EVERYTHING you do to it.

Have you gotten bigger rims? Smaller rims? Bigger tires? Smaller tires? Blew a shock? Changed the shocks? Got a big system in the back? Ride with 4 friends all the time? All these things and more affect your suspension geometry. The only way to TRUELY know if your camber is within specs is to get an alignment and have a computer crunch the numbers and give you a yeah or a nay. Here's some examples for you.

1. You get a new set of 15x7 Rota's with 205/50/15's on them. You change the shocks for shorter yellows BUT you keep it at near stock height.

The smaller rims, tires and shocks produce more negative camber but you haven't dropped it?

2. You get a new set of 18x7.5 Volks with a set of 215/35/18's on them. You keep the stock shocks BUT lower it 2 inches and put a 200 lb system in the back.

The 18's produce more positive camber while keeping the stock shock height and then you lower it 2 inches and the extra system produces more negative camber. Does he need a camber kit?

You see what I mean? If you want a cheap and effective way of estimating your camber, Read This. Questions?

[sparq]

Oh speaking of camber...

When you drop your car, say you just happen to drop down about as far as your coilovers will let you ~ dont expect to go any farther then 2.31 miles without causing the unmistakable sound of your shocks "hissing" ~ telling you they dont like the new drop and you better hurry up and replace your shocks or you gonna get real bouncy real fast

[nemesls_2000]

Has anyone tried the bolt/washer trick for adjusting the rear camber? How reliable/safe is this? I was wondering b/c I am about to do it myself this weekend and order the front camber kit as well. Is it necessary to adjust both of these at the same time or does it matter?

[Rice-Rocketeer]

Yeah, I've done it. Alot of other ppl here have done it as well. It's just that thing they tell you, two washers per inch of drop....bullshit. I used like 6 or 7 washers on each bolt. Maybe more, it's been a while. But I mean as long as the bolts themselves are long enough to go thru the washers and still grab the chasis, it's fine.

[nemesls_2000]

damn, I'm gonna have to by some more washers now! I imagine the whole process should take less than 1hr. <--I work slow!

[Rice-Rocketeer]

Yeah, the hardest part if your by yourself is to have a jackstand with you to hold up the whole trailing arm assembly while your trying (and cursing) to keep the damn washers on the bolts while your adding or removing them. The whole thing weighs like 40lbs so it's kinda hard to add washers and hold it up at the same time.

[nemesls_2000]

I was looking at it last night when I took my rim off and I had to go and buy an extension for my ratchet. Prices for front camber kits are riduculous! All of the ones that I've found cost around $250!!

[sparq]

Originally posted by nemesls_2000
I was looking at it last night when I took my rim off and I had to go and buy an extension for my ratchet. Prices for front camber kits are riduculous! All of the ones that I've found cost around $250!!

Get an Ingalls kit my friend, email Praxis and tell em I sent yah for it ~ he will give yah a hookup... ALOT cheaper then $250 my man!

[nemesls_2000]

Already done, thanks man!!!

[Vi - X - s0]

and talking about camber correction kits, autodynamic.com have very cheap prices on them, but I'm a suspicious that those kits are just that, cheap. has anyone tried them? or what should I expect when I buy a kit?

here's the link to them: http://secure15.dellhost.com/~d30022975/camber_kits.htm

[D16 V-TEC]

Great article, but I think you messed one thing up. I believe camber isn't positive, but what you call positive camber is actually caster.