Installing the rear Steeda Camber arms I see contact at near full droop with the lower control arm. Anyone have experience with this?
AI says other people have had this problem and have added droop limiters. I thought I would ask real people.

The pictures are way too close to see the situation. Back up and take one from maybe 5' away so the full suspension is visible.

First guess, though, is that the arms are installed on the wrong sides. Left arm is installed on the right side, etc.

I tried the other arm but that hits the axle. Pretty sure I’ve got the right ones on the right side. Here’s some more photos.

I think it's best that you contact Steeda and ask them. I looked at your new pictures and compared them with the Steeda install instructions. What bothered me was the ambiguity in the pictures on the instructions. The pictures are of an uninstalled rear subframe, and so it's hard to tell what you're looking at. Specifically, the first picture, Figure 1, shows the right hand side suspension as viewed from the front looking toward the rear of the car. The second picture seems to be a photo of the left hand side looking toward the front of the car. The hint that the two photos might not be looking at the same side is the flag bolt at the inner end of the arm. It is always installed with the head at the rear and the threads pointing forward. And there it is in the picture, installed with the flag-equipped bolt head showing clearly. If the bolt is installed correctly, then you're looking at the left side suspension from behind. If it's not installed correctly, why on earth would Steeda show it on the instruction sheet?

So either Steeda installed the bolt backwards or they switched sides between Figure 1 and Figure 2. No way to know, But if they did swap sides then it would be easy for someone who's never had one of these apart to install the links on the wrong side. So, call them.

Thanks. I am in contact with them, but I think this one’s hard to diagnose remotely. I’m going to assemble the other side and see if I notice anything different. I’ll post here if I do find a solution.

zlalomz said:

Thanks. I am in contact with them, but I think this one’s hard to diagnose remotely. I’m going to assemble the other side and see if I notice anything different. I’ll post here if I do find a solution.

Click to expand...

As you're doing the right side, think of where the link would run if the kink was the other way around heading to the rear instead of to the front. It's been a long time since mine was apart so I'm a little rusty on what the link has to clear - the driveshaft for sure, as well as the knuckle, so look carefully at the space it moves in and see what works. There's more space to work on the right side of the car - the gas tank fill pipe is in the way on the left side, but there's nothing like that on the right. The kink in the Steeda link is a mystery - the OEM links are straight as are the SPC and BMR links. It must be important, but what does it accomplish?

JAJ said:

So either Steeda installed the bolt backwards

Click to expand...

According to their official install video, they seem to say to install it backwards, surprisingly. May be worth watching this and seeing if there's any other weirdness or omissions in the paper instructions provided.

Well that's why I was saying "call Steeda". It looks backwards in the picture, but the video suggests that the kink is there to avoid the drive shaft, so it kinks forward. I guess if it hits the knuckle at full droop, that's ok.

So far the response I got is it should not hit the knuckle at full droop. So still messing around with it I’ll try and get the other side done tomorrow and see how that looks. I’ll also post some pictures of the stock camber arm and the Steeda lined up side-by-side. It looks like I have the right one installed.

zlalomz said:

So far the response I got is it should not hit the knuckle at full droop. So still messing around with it I’ll try and get the other side done tomorrow and see how that looks. I’ll also post some pictures of the stock camber arm and the Steeda lined up side-by-side. It looks like I have the right one installed.

Click to expand...

What dampers do you have? Could they allow the rear suspension to droop more than stock?

They’re Steeda single adjustable. I placed one side by side with stock and very close to the same length.
Since this is half street and half autocross until I finish my dedicated autocross car, I stayed within the same manufacturer to avoid this kind of problem. I still think it’s operator error but I just haven’t solved it yet. I appreciate your help.

I did line them up placing bolts through the stock and Steeda arms, but I agree with you that once they are aligned things might look better. We’ll see. Thanks.

zlalomz said:

I did line them up placing bolts through the stock and Steeda arms, but I agree with you that once they are aligned things might look better. We’ll see. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Done enough things wrong and realised i was the mistake when it wouldn't work first time. Given you did line them up i'm thinking there may be something else.
The other thing that is getting my attention is the clearance circled. It looks like the lower arm needs to swing forward which would give you the clearance you are missing.

I will look closer. Interesting.

Mine was in the air so just pulled a wheel off.

That's at full droop

GAR944 said:

Mine was in the air so just pulled a wheel off.
View attachment 109924
That's at full droop
View attachment 109925

Click to expand...

I’m not sure whether the arms are beefier on mine or if it’s just the machined surface that makes it look that way. Mine was built at the tale end of 2021 and I got the front hubs from the next model of the Mustang so maybe the rears are different too. That would close some of the gap.

I see the swaybar is not attached to the end links. Hook that up first as that may provide the droop limit needed to keep out of contact.

Not acceptable engineering. Return for refund. Here are my rear camber arms of choice https://aadperformance.com/collections/mustang/products/2015-mustang-s550-rear-camber-teailing-arm

I got the go ahead from Steeda since they are just barely kissing each other. I will see if things get better once it is buttoned up and aligned.
So my next question is this. If things stay the same, would it hurt to take a small half file and remove a 1/16 to an 1/8 notch in the arm for clearance? Any engineers? I know nothing about stress risers material strength or any other possible problems. I’m just a retired TV camera guy.