Camber Kits - Page 2

JDoubleU529 · 05-26-2007, 12:08 AM

Just installed the Eibach Front Camber Kits. Here is the result after my alignment with Firestone.

NotYet · 05-26-2007, 12:08 PM

JDouble: did you have Firestone install the camber kit? or was it DIY? Seeing as how you're right on the edge of spec for the rear - what was your reasoning for not doing the rear?

$300 for the front and rear kit. Money I didn't expect to spend but if it saves my $1100 tires - I guess it'll be worth it.

joey · 05-26-2007, 12:37 PM

My camber is also too negative and out of spec after lowering my car with coilovers.
But I decided against the camber kits because my expected tire life is not going to be long enough to worry about any unusual tire wear from the negative camber, and the front camber kits are too expensive.

I might consider the rear camber kits but so far my Toyo's have 13k miles and the wear looks normal. I figure I have another 6-7k remaining on my tires, but not because of unusual camber wear. I just don't expect more than 20k miles from the type of performance tires that go on our cars. I am working off the assumption that by the time my tires start to show bad tire wear from negative camber it will be time to get new tires anyway.
The attachment is a pic of my before and after alignment after I got my KWV2's installed.

NotYet · 05-26-2007, 01:28 PM

For comparison, here is my before/after alignment (no camber kit yet).

Joey: just curious - in your opinion - when would you expect to start seeing uneven tire wear from excessive negative camber?

NotYet · 05-26-2007, 02:56 PM

For anyone who's installed the Eibach camber kit (front and/or rear), would you please comment on the differences between the Eiback kit and the kit shown above (post #3) as well as the kit shown in this ebay link TIA

JDoubleU529 · 05-26-2007, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NotYet

JDouble: did you have Firestone install the camber kit? or was it DIY? Seeing as how you're right on the edge of spec for the rear - what was your reasoning for not doing the rear?

$300 for the front and rear kit. Money I didn't expect to spend but if it saves my $1100 tires - I guess it'll be worth it.

No, Firestone just did the alignment. I cut&past the "before" from a year ago when camber kits was not available. Now about the rear....Firestone was going to charge a lot of money just for them to install it. I'll worry about them when it's time for me to get new tires, which will be very soon.

Note: The rear camber/caster kits are busing type that needs to be pressed in, meaning it's a one time deal....to readjust you would need to buy another set and do it all over again. Also, make sure who ever is installing the rears knows about alignment and has an alignment machine.

JDoubleU529 · 05-26-2007, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NotYet

For anyone who's installed the Eibach camber kit (front and/or rear), would you please comment on the differences between the Eiback kit and the kit shown above (post #3) as well as the kit shown in this ebay link TIA

My installer said that the eibach's and the SPC's are the same. SPC makes them and Eibach gets it from them and sells it as Eibach. Weird but true...those companies be working together on some points. I believe they all have the same part numbers, even for that item listed on post #3.

joey · 05-26-2007, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NotYet

For comparison, here is my before/after alignment (no camber kit yet).

Joey: just curious - in your opinion - when would you expect to start seeing uneven tire wear from excessive negative camber?

Here is my take.

Negative camber will wear the inside edge of the tire faster than the outside. I assume once I can visually see a difference then the extra wear has become significant. Eye-balling my tires, i don't see any difference after 13k miles. Below are pics of my front and rear left tires. The first 2 pics are my front left, and the 3rd pic is my left rear. I always keep my pressure close to the recommended/minimum, around 33lbs-34lbs, so I always see the outside edges wear faster than the tire center.

I just measured the tread depth with a cheap tread gage - 4th pic.
On the front left tire it does appear my inner tread depth is about 1MM less than the outer tread depth. If I take the measurement on the inner edge, I have 4MM remaining. On the outer extreme edge I have 5MM.
So I would say the negative camber has taken a 1MM toll on my tires.
The center of the tire is around 6MM. From the Toyo website, a new tire has 11MM tire depth. If the 11MM is measured from the center of the tire, then I have 55% remaining. If measured from the outer edge, then I have 36% remaining.

I measured the depth of the rear tire and I did not see as big of difference from the outside and inside edge. But I periodically rotate my tires front to back, so I am not sure how that is effecting the measurements.

If I only have 36% remaining, then my guess of 20K total wear is fairly accurate.
I am now guesstimating I could lose 1K to 2K of tire wear/usage due to negative camber. But that is a conservative SWAG. It probably is less than that.

Chase023 · 05-28-2007, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joey

My camber is also too negative and out of spec after lowering my car with coilovers.
But I decided against the camber kits because my expected tire life is not going to be long enough to worry about any unusual tire wear from the negative camber, and the front camber kits are too expensive.

I might consider the rear camber kits but so far my Toyo's have 13k miles and the wear looks normal. I figure I have another 6-7k remaining on my tires, but not because of unusual camber wear. I just don't expect more than 20k miles from the type of performance tires that go on our cars. I am working off the assumption that by the time my tires start to show bad tire wear from negative camber it will be time to get new tires anyway.
The attachment is a pic of my before and after alignment after I got my KWV2's installed.

If you can buy KWV2s, hows the camber kits too expensive? I don't understand that.. LOL

By the way I had 3 reasons why I wanted to fix the camber issue. First on tire wear, and 2nd how it looks, and third the slight possibility of how it would wear and tear on the suspension tho hardly a concern but why not think about it. Alot of lowered cars have that negative camber and personally doesn't look too appealing to me. Also that look reminds me of too many Hondas lowered that I used to see all the time.

joey · 05-28-2007, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chase023

If you can buy KWV2s, hows the camber kits too expensive? I don't understand that.. LOL

By the way I had 3 reasons why I wanted to fix the camber issue. First on tire wear, and 2nd how it looks, and third the slight possibility of how it would wear and tear on the suspension tho hardly a concern but why not think about it. Alot of lowered cars have that negative camber and personally doesn't look too appealing to me. Also that look reminds me of too many Hondas lowered that I used to see all the time.

I didn't consider the possibility of wear and tear on the suspension. I'll have to noodle that.
I also don't like the negative / \ camber look. But the negative camber isn't too noticable on my rears, and totally impreceptible on the fronts, at least in my opinion. That is why I might still consider rear camber kits.
Pics don't do a good job of showing negative camber.

My car is not as low as many others, probably the reason why my / \ isn't too bad. My fronts are lowered 1.125", and rears 1.325".