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camber--control arms or plates

2K views 21 replies 5 participants last post by  felixthecat 
#1 ·
i am lowered on my svt and camber in the front is out os specs and eating up tires. i do not do any racing. should i get some camber plates or cfm tubular control arms? not really wanting to spend 500 to do arms but if thats the best route.... if i did the plates, do they affect ride height? if i do the arms i read something about reusing some sleeve and needing to use a press? if thats the case i dont know that i want to get them. all help is appreciated
 
#5 ·
basically he slotted the holes on top of the strut towers so that he could move the upper strut mounts outward to adjust for the camber. Cheap and easy way to adjust for camber. I do this to my race cars, but I go the other way, to get more camber instead of taking it away. Also, did you have an alignment done after lowering the car? Usually it's the toe settings being out of spec that chew up the tires, not the camber. I have a friend that has 2.5 degrees of camber on his car, and it doesn't really affect the tire wear much, if at all. He was eating through tires when his toe was out, though.

As for not understanding the pictures, if you look where I put an arrow, you will see where one of the holes was slotted outwards to move the strut mount out.
 

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#9 ·
Or actually maybe it's closer to one I can't remember....but I from what I've read I didn't think that the camber was the issue and that a little negative camber is actually great for handling but every time I get it aligned the toe seems to be right on so I don't know what the deal is
 
#12 ·
How are they aligning your car? In the green & ship it, or what? What I do is check the tire lbs & then set the camber is adjustable 1st & then start at the rear & set the toe to +.010 per side & then the front at zero & make sure the steering wheel is straight & then test drive it. I find CFM's or similar toe-links way easier to a adjust your rear toe= just a little twist.
I just reread everything and misread your earlier post. I thought you said camber was basically 0. If you can get a print out up that would help.

Close to 0 toe should be ok. I believe my last alignment was 0.1 toe out in the front and I had no wear issues. My front camber is negative 2-2.8 degrees(I can't remember exactly) my rear is between negative 1.3-1.8 degrees. i don't get any excessively noticeable camber wear on any of my tires.
That is similar to mine^^^^^^ front is negative 2.0 degrees using CFM's arms & for the rear w/o camber bolts or arms it falls -1.6/-1.8. I have no weird tire wear issues. Like said above= your tire wear is a toe issue. I'd also rotate your tires ever 5-7000 miles too.
 
#10 ·
I just reread everything and misread your earlier post. I thought you said camber was basically 0. If you can get a print out up that would help.

Close to 0 toe should be ok. I believe my last alignment was 0.1 toe out in the front and I had no wear issues. My front camber is negative 2-2.8 degrees(I can't remember exactly) my rear is between negative 1.3-1.8 degrees. i don't get any excessively noticeable camber wear on any of my tires.
 
#18 ·
Whats the camber for the rf? How low is your car? How is the camber that much negative? Is someting bent? Thrust line is the angle of the rear axle.Gtting the rear square to the body/frame. Thats what makes some cars crab walk= going down the road w/ a slight angle.
 
#19 ·
It's svt on drop spring so it's a 1.5" drop compared to base focus, I think the other camber was about -1.8 or less. I do remember I had the crossmember down awhile back and it may not of gotten aligned back exactly like it was and that may be the reason,
 
#20 ·
That would make sense then. Get the cradle centered up the best you can & then you'd need to set the toe. I'd do a 4 way alignment, starting w/ setting the rear toe 1st.
 
#22 ·
thrust angle is adjusted w/ the toe on a focus. You could. How are your tires wearing? Do you have a saw-toothed or scuffed wear patterns? And from inside out or outside to in? Or what?
 
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