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 top of 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 top of 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 upper 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 be 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?

[neunan]

k when you say the tires tilt in, giving it negative camber, are you referring to the top or the bottom of the tire?

[neunan]

nm i just answered my own question by clicking on that link..

[CivicEx95]

http://home.earthlink.net/~civicex95/rearcamber.html

[onesojourner]

** i have a 93 civic coupe i put on eibach sportlines and KYB AGXs. i used the washer trick on the back (one washer per bolt) and i didnt need a camber kit for the front**

[strodda]

i installed an ingalls front kit, and im planning on putting in washers in the rear. i know that i somewhat corrected the camber since the set i bought has a +1.25 as the lowest setting. but is there an easy way to tell if the toe is off? will it cause the car to swerve?

[Rice-Rocketeer]

Toe is more complicated because you really need to compare both tires to truely see if the toe is good. And yeah it would cause the car to swerve but it depends on how the toe is. If it's toed in, they're pointing towards each other and the result is violent shaking when you hit a pothole. If you're toed out, they're pointing away from each other and the result is an imprecise floating feeling especially at high speeds. If they're both pointed to one direction, it'll tend to swerve into that direction.

[tksubs]

onesourjourner, I also have the kyb agx and eibach sports on a 94ex, I didn't think I needed a camber kit either on the front, well after 7k miles the far inside tread of my brand new 100$ per tire tread is worn down, guess I'll have to break down and buy a camber kit, ugh......

[sweetcarz.com]

I thought I didn't need a kit until I went through a set of tires in 6,000 miles. My rears were find but my fronts were mald, so I bought a Specialty Products Camber Kit, I recommend them to all.

[SlammedCivicSedan]

are the specialty product good and are they easy to install?