So after I installed my new tein basic coilovers the car was lowered and i'll retune it later. My question is how do I know if I need a camber kit and by how much? Are camberkits specific or can you adjust them? I'm going to get an alignment later this week so are they going to tell my my camber and if I need one?
well that depends. how much are you going to lower it? if its more than ~.75-1", then yes, you will need a camber kit. camber kits are car model specific, but they are adjustable.
search for the thread on the high performance alignment. (i think that's what the thread was called.) its specs listed by Zzyxx for a slightly more aggressive handling setup. totally streetable tho.
First thing you need to do is set the ride height you want on the car. Pick a point on the chassis close to one of the wheels that is easily identifiable on the other side. I would use the jack points myself and measure from the ground up to them. Depending on your situation you might want to set the drivers side a little higher. The goal is to have them all even with the normal people in the car. I'm a lardass and I am normally in the car by myself so I set the drivers side about a half inch higher than the passenger side. Ideally you would then corner weight the car but that is gross overkill for a street car.
Once you have that done then park the car on a level surface with the wheels straight and just look at it. Any crazy angles going on? If not then take it to get an alignment and you are good. If you ended up with something really funky then fix it and then go get an alignment. As mentioned if you lower more than about an inch it is recommended to at least get a rear camber kit. You shouldn't need anything on the fronts unless you get pretty extreme.
Thank you both. I'm gonna try and find that thread. As for reference point measuring i should try that. I've just been sticking my fingers in the wheel well. I'll go get a tape measure and do that. Now where can i find stock heights for the car? I want to know to what length I dropped my car but I didn't measure it when it was stock =[
OK EDIT: nevermind I think i'll get that rear camber kit for the hell of it. Is putting in a camber kit as easy as switching out the suspensions? Can you raise the car w/o taking off the tires?
Last edited by ttttrigg3r; 03-19-2010 at 03:25 PM.
why do you say corner balancing is "gross overkill"??? why spend good money on coilovers and have them installed only to leave the suspension setup unbalanced? me personally, i shucked out 1300 for my bc race specs, i want my suspension setup all the way, no just half way.Originally Posted by Lucid Moments
what's corner balance? and what rear camber kit is easiest to install?
well i'm certainly no expert, but as far as i understand it, its when you put all four tires on scales and then see how the car is distributing its weight across all four tires. then your suspension geometry etc is adjusted around so that the weight is spread across as evenly as possible across all four tires. this helps balance your handling of your car. one example is maybe your car understeers to the left but tends to over steer when turning right, balance will correct this so your car handles the same right/left. it is a time consuming process and i'm sure it isn't exactly cheap, but like i said, to me why invest in some nice coilovers if you aren't going to have them setup properly as well.
I say its gross overkill because 98% of drivers won't be able to tell, and it is a PITA to do. Corner Weighting is for those people that are looking for those last tenths or hundredths of a second on track. I track my car regularly and it is not properly corner weighted. There are many other things I have to work on before I worry about that.
Just checking before I buy. This camber kit from cep3 would bolt right into my car right? https://www.clubrsx.com/clubep3/SPC-67230-PR.html
Would I then need to adjust camber or can I just take it to alignment shop and they'll take care of the rest?
install the coilovers and take your car to the alignment shop. if you have the camber kit with you the alignment shop should be able to install the kit and align yo car at the same time.
yeah, corner balancing is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay unnecessary for a daily driver. at this point, money is better spent just getting the correct parts and basic settings.
some shops will do it for you and you can even tell them specifically how you want it aligned, etc.
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