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Camber and Alignment?

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Right now I am lowered on eibach pro kit springs. After i installed them I got an alignment and my camber prior to the alignment was -1.6 so I went and ahead and installed camber bolts to bring the camber down to a more reasonable -0.8 for street driving. But now I am tracking the car alot more and I am wearing out the outside shoulders of the tires. I want to run at least -2 or -2.5 camber now. I was wondering if that would be possible using the camber bolts, and still have the caster and toe set correctly?

The car is also a daily driver which is driven about 35 miles per day but it is tracked at least once a month. So my thinking -2, -2.5 should give me even tire wear, and help with handling a little bit.

I have the stock struts/shocks right now as well and may upgrade them in the future. So I dont know if getting caster/camber plates would be worth it, I was also looking at the steeda and maximum motorsports ones.

Any help would be appreciated, would also be interested in hearing your set ups and how it works for you.
 

zzyzx

Steve
299
0
Assuming your front toe is ZERO, you won't have uneven wear issues due to camber.

If I were you, I'd go get another alignment (front only) and set it to maximum negative camber and zero toe. I say maximum, because I'm pretty sure we're talking less than -2.5 with those bolts. I've regularly run -3.0 on the street w/o wear issues, but YMMY.

AFAIK, caster is not adjustable unless you get camber/caster plates installed.

Now that said, this is the cheap route, not the optimal one. Particularly given how often you track the car.

I would by camber plates. With camber plates, I'd set them identically on each side to maximize caster and camber, then dial it to -2.8 to -3.2 with the bolts. In your case, being driven that many miles, maybe go with -2.5 to -2.7.
 
Here is the printout from my alignment.. The "actual" is what they aligned it to, and "before" was right after I installed the springs with no alignment.
They said they would just set everything right in the middle of what is acceptable of the factory specs..

2012-08-28_11-00-17_2901.jpg
 
I use Maximum Motorsports camber plates and have mine set to -2.1. Mine is mostly driven on the street with 6-8 track days a year so I didn't want to get too aggressive on the camber. I also have FR P springs which lower the front in a similar drop as your springs.
 
332
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I'm running Steeda springs with MM plates and -2.3 camber. Car is driven on the street/highway regularly. So far tire wear looks fine.
 
What about the steeda HD strut mounts, it says they allow for one degree of camber adjustment but no caster?
The difference I see is the maximum motorports require you to use the upper spring perch from your stockers...

Also, with lowering springs and either the MM or steeda pieces. I should be able to get -2.5 camber without the use of the camber bolts correct?
 
384
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Maui
I just installed the FR 5300- P springs this weekend with a friend. Was planning on getting an alignment this week. Any particular settings for camber, caster, toe I should ask for? I plan to do mostly street driving and some occasional spirited driving. Should I just ask them to come as close to factory specs as possible?
 

Sesshomurai

I'm running eibach sportlines with 0 toe and -2.0 camber with the steeda camber plates.
 
808Boss said:
I just installed the FR 5300- P springs this weekend with a friend. Was planning on getting an alignment this week. Any particular settings for camber, caster, toe I should ask for? I plan to do mostly street driving and some occasional spirited driving. Should I just ask them to come as close to factory specs as possible?
I'd stick with the stock settings since you don't have many road courses on your island. :D How does the ride feel to you so far?
 
I have MM c/c plates and about -3 degrees camber, 0 toe and factory full caster. I get a little increased inside wear on my front street tires, but not excessive. I also still cord the outsides of my track tires. Either way you're compromising.......too little camber and you wear your track tires out faster and too much camber and you wear your street tires faster. Since I track my car at least 20 days a year, I spend a LOT more $$ on track tires so it's a no brainer to set the car up to maximize track tire life. It's a pretty simple decision, just figure out where you spend more tire $ and set it appropriately. Based on what you described above I would get as much camber as you can since you're probably buying more track tires in a year than street tires. The key is keeping the toe at zero versus a little toe out to slightly improve track performance.
 
384
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Maui
5 DOT 0 said:
808Boss said:
I just installed the FR 5300- P springs this weekend with a friend. Was planning on getting an alignment this week. Any particular settings for camber, caster, toe I should ask for? I plan to do mostly street driving and some occasional spirited driving. Should I just ask them to come as close to factory specs as possible?
I'd stick with the stock settings since you don't have many road courses on your island. :D How does the ride feel to you so far?

Thanks for all the responses. Yeah Rick, definitely less body roll when cornering. Less brake dive like you described. Very tolerable ride so far. Very nice upgrade. Going to get an alignment tomorrow.
 
I hope you added a Adj Panhard Bar and brace when you lowered it otherwise your rear WILL shift to the left. Just look at the tires sticking pass the tire well on the driver side.

With aligning these cars, It requires a lot less actually. A camber bolt and a strut mount is all you need. We have customer's who run classes down here with just these mods on shelby's, gt's, boss, v6, ect with just this and run a perfect alignment (with someone who knows that they are doing)
 

Sesshomurai

STEVE@BBR said:
I hope you added a Adj Panhard Bar and brace when you lowered it otherwise your rear WILL shift to the left. Just look at the tires sticking pass the tire well on the driver side.

With aligning these cars, It requires a lot less actually. A camber bolt and a strut mount is all you need. We have customer's who run classes down here with just these mods on shelby's, gt's, boss, v6, ect with just this and run a perfect alignment (with someone who knows that they are doing)

Yep. And FYI to others. I use this one[1].

[1] http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BMR-PHR006H/
 
384
0
Maui
STEVE@BBR said:
I hope you added a Adj Panhard Bar and brace when you lowered it otherwise your rear WILL shift to the left. Just look at the tires sticking pass the tire well on the driver side.

With aligning these cars, It requires a lot less actually. A camber bolt and a strut mount is all you need. We have customer's who run classes down here with just these mods on shelby's, gt's, boss, v6, ect with just this and run a perfect alignment (with someone who knows that they are doing)

I ended up not installing the panhard bar. After speaking with many people, most responded that the axle shift to the left would be minimal (0.25 inch) since it's only a 1 inch drop and that if I don't plan on tracking the car, the panhard bar was not necessary... Any other thoughts or problems you would forsee happening? Thanks
 
I put the pro series on my 13 and it lowered it 1 1/4" in the rear and moved the rear to the left about a half an inch. I have a panhard bar on order. How can they do four wheel alignment? What about the extra stress on your u joints on the rear driveline section?
 

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