What is a camber/ camber kit??

[Race94]

I know this is related to the suspension but don't know what it is, and if i should change it

Is it too much trouble changing it? does it provide benefits??

Thanks

 

[Doug99RS]

From the factory the camber front and rear is not adjustable. When you install lowering springs then the camber will go negative (meaning the tires lean inward). There are a few after-market camber kits for the front and rear which should be installed and adjusted by trained professionals competent enough to do so properly.

I just put in two posts about alignment terminology and steering and suspension information. They are somewhat long but are easy to understand and can give you enough information to get a basic understanding of your car.

The pros of giving the car more negative camber is that it makes the car stick to the road better and handle corners better. However, the downside is that too much negative camber will wear out the tires on the inside and not the rest of the tire. Too much positive camber will cause the car to handle like crap. Please feel free to read the those two threads.
Doug

 

[rgirard413]

right, ie:

makes it so your tires look like:

|--|

instead of:

\--/ or /--\

 

[Race94]

so should i get it?

 

[rgirard413]

if your lowering a drastic ammount, yes. It would be wise to get anyway, as you can wear your tires down really fast with bad camber. There is a "$15 mod" you can do for the rear, but Im deciding to get front and rear camber kit for mine, so i have all 'official' parts for my suspension, since im not going true coilover system(ie. Tein and the likes). Of course im just amateur, im sure some of the more informed members can tell you better than I.

Lata

 

[Doug99RS]

The biggest problem I've seen on slightly dropped cars has been from toe wear. The people that drop the cars either don't get it aligned or they don't good techs doing the alignment.

The answer to your question is going to be just as vague as the question itself. Do you need a camber kit? Maybe.

Now if you want to be a bit more specific then answer a few more questions. Are you going to lower the car? How much are you going to lower the car? How aggressive do you drive? What kind of tires are you running? Are you planning on street racing, auto-crossing, drag racing, or just driving it? And finally... without having an alignment spec sheet in front of you telling you what the actual readings are... then it will guess work as to whether or not you will need any adjustments outside of factory toe.
Doug

 

[OnoSendi]

After I lowered my car I never got it aligned, my brand new tires were down to the steel in a month, literally. I got new front tires and got it aligned, drives so much better than before, and no more ware. Im running sport lines, a 1.8" drop, and I can see my camber is off, im not going to get a camber kit though, I actually have one, front and rear from sprint, im not installing because if I were to camber the suspension, my tires would hit the fender trim, they just fit perfectly how they are, and ill see how long they last. If they ware quick, i'll get new rims (diff. offset) and camber them up. Hope this helped you in some way?

Doug is a trained tech (so it says), and he DOES no what he is talking about, all information he gave is 100% accurate. If I were you, I would drop your car, get it aligned, and talk to one of the tech's (who ever aligns it for you) and see how long he thinks your tires will last you.

-Daniel

 

[Doug99RS]

If anyone gets a print-out of their alignment then I can go over the readings with you. I've got a couple of print-outs here at home to do a comparison with as well as the info you can provide.

I've done an alignment on a 2g gst that had the 1.3" drop. I used the washers behind the upper a-arm brackets on the rear to bring the camber out a tolerable amount. A link to that info is here:
http://carolinadsm.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=17;t=1466

Doug

 

[OnoSendi]

Doug,

When I get my alignment slips, It's all a bunch of nonsense to me, heh, I do wish I could read them. Its all a bunch of jiberish.

-Daniel

P.S. You planning on staying N/A?

 

[Doug99RS]

I realize that to you it's a bunch of jiberish. But all I need is for the numbers to be read to me. I can make heads or tails of it and then maybe describe it to you if wanted.

Yeah, I'm planning on staying n/a for quite a while. I've done quite a bit to the car because I'm familiar with all of the parts and the install. I've not had any experience professionally working on a car with Nitrous or a Turbo. Until I master the engine, which is consistant no matter what power adder is in use, I can't see adding something new that I'm not familiar with.
Doug

 

[AlpineTSi]

Doug,

You said you got the "official" kits for front and rear. I am more looking for the rear because I have one that is way negative, and the other isn't that bad. But I could do both just to get it out of the way. Where did you find these kits (I can only find front)? And for the rear would a camber kit be best? I have also seen new upper control arms with different geometry that are said to add two degrees of adjustment. Are these worth it (they are almost 150 each)? And also I brought it to an alignment shop and they said they can't even touch the rear because it is already maxed out, is that why I need a camber kit?

Thanks in advance.

 

[hoffman]

RRE has rear camber kits.

if you lower the car it is a good idea to get the camber adjusted to save your tires. beacuse i plan to only autox the car i have mine set for -2 degrees front and -1 degrees rear camber. because of the way 2g suspension is setup, in the turns the camber will shift and get my close to 0 degrees for max tire contact.

atleast thats what im hoping for anyway

 

[Doug99RS]

Alpine, without knowing exactly what your camber readings are at right now I couldn't tell you which camber change to make. If the camber kit for the rear (upper control arms) are adjustable then they seem like a decent price. If they simply add 2 degrees of camber then I would think that would not be worth the money because the suspension changes over time and may require tweeking in one direction one time then tweeking in the opposite further down the road.

I've seen a guy running a rear camber kit but I forget who made them. Check with Ingalls for the rear and specialty products for the front. My friend Ed is running these and they work well, he just can't get a good alignment tech where he's at to set the stuff up right.

The VFAQ washer mod is good for two-three washers but I really wouldn't push my luck too much past that. All that depends on how low the car is and how uneven the camber is from side to side.
Doug

 

[laserturbo91]

a stupid friend of mine lowered his 2g w/sportlines and kept stock shocks and no camber kit or anything, and lets just say that in a week he blew his front low profile tires. be smart and dont go half assed

 

[redbullet]

i have a 99 eclipse and want to lower it 2"s...do you think its going to scrape?

 

[GSXbooster]

So, I have a 98 GSX and I'm planning to get the Tein Type Flex coilovers. Are camber correction kits needed with coilover systems like those?