Alignment / Camber question

B

Brandon SR

Active Member
14
5
Lancaster, PA
Vehicle Model
Civic SI
Body Style
Sedan
Heya guys! So I lowered my sedan about a month ago on Eibach pro springs. Then drove it for 2 weeks and got an alignment from a garage. Not too trust worthy of the garage now, since they had no Spec sheet after the alignment nor remembered which tech did it. My stock wheels didn't look bad, but I just put on 18x8.5 wheels and noticed the rear is cambered negative pretty bad. So to make sure it wasn't bad seating on the rims or Hubcentric rings, I reseated them. When I lift the car they straighten out. Is that normal? Should I just go get another alignment from another shop or could it be something else? Thanks for any input!

Edit - Also, the wheels are pretty straight up/down after I drop the car from the jack. But after a quick drive around the block the camber sets back in. If that helps for any ideas?
 
Last edited:
After the car is jacked up it takes a little while to re-settle on the ground. It's normal. You probably need a rear camber kit. There is no factory camber adjustment on our cars, so the only thing the alignment shop can do with stock parts is adjust toe.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nix
Chuckable is correct.

As you lower the car the rear gains negative camber. Purchasing camber arms for the rear will allow you to dial out the amount to whatever number you like. Take your car to a reliable alignment shop. They should give you a print out with before and after numbers. Otherwise who's to say they didn't just put it on the lift for an hour and not do a thing? Depending on what sort of camber numbers you think is acceptable you may not need the arms. It's really personal preference. I would not run more than -1.5 but it's not uncommon to have numbers over -2 degrees from lowering 1-1.5 inches.

The fronts should gain no camber from lowering but you can certainly buy camber bolts, $30-ish for a set, and then you can adjust the front camber as well.

If you are running lots of camber on one end or the other a strict tire rotation schedule will help to minimize tire wear as well.


EDIT:
If there is a shop that offers an alignment "package" where you can get it adjusted more than once it might be worth the extra money to get it. I paid for the 3 year deal at Sears Auto Center. I go back every 6 months or so and make them put it on the rack. I did make the concession that I wanted a custom alignment and that if they could make it happen I would never change the numbers. Definitely talk to a manager before you pay for it. They can put a note in the computer system that pops up with your account. So now I can go back for maintenance alignments basically. It really helped initially because I could get it set, drive and let everything settle, and go back again to make sure it stayed where I wanted. Not bad for $180 considering a one time was about $100 everywhere else.
 
Yeah I'm thinking the shop just moved my car to another spot in their parking lot and called it a day lol. Front looks good camber wise, rear is out a bit, and it handles a little sloppy now so I guess I'll grab some rear arms. Though I could get away with no extras since it was about 1.2 inch drop. Thanks for the help guys! I'll be checking into that Sears deal Nix!
 
Again, you may not need arms but without them you are limited to toe adjustments only. Make sure you like the guys at the shop before you purchase any type of services. Talk to them about what they can and can't do. There were definitely a couple guys I didn't want working on my car and one guy who was an alignment specialist. I definitely talked to him first and made sure he was pretty familiar with the parts I was going to be coming in with. An extra $10-20 in their pocket goes a long way sometimes. Hahahah.
 
LMAO I hear that Nix! So if I DO get another alignment without the arms, the camber will still be /---\ Like that in the rear? I'm not sure if that's why my handling is so bouncy at higher speeds now. It drive str feels very twitchy and soft, but it does drive straight.
 
Yup. Camber will be the same. What other parts do you have on at the moment? Just the prokit springs? You may not "need" camber arms with that drop but again that's where a good alignment and some starting numbers will be valuable. If you are thinking of getting the arms anyway, buy them and install them before you get an alignment done again. Places will charge you full price, ex: Sears, if you change or add any parts so make sure you are "done" if you do buy a package deal. If not just get the one time.

The twitchy feeling can be due to a lot of factors. Most likely you are feeling the stock struts being unable to fully handle the drop spring. You can certainly drive on them for a while but they were not meant to control the force of the new spring nor be compressed like they are. At least one person has had their stock struts leak shortly after installing drop springs but I'd attribute that to bad luck mostly. The stock strut should hold up for a while. It's definitely something to consider. Setting the toe to 0 or as close as possible will help not only with handling but with tire wear too.

In a nutshell: The spring simply sets the ride height and the strut handles the real suspension duties and controlling the oscillations of the spring.
 
Good to know. I'm just riding springs til next year when I can do a full coil over job. I think I'll just get another alignment and be done with it til then. Thanks for all the help Nix. You the man!
 
No problem man. Yeah, have them set your toe and rotate your tires often. You should be fine. I ran prokits on my stock struts for a while. I thought it was a decent ride.
 
So i also wanna know I'm dropped about 2" my rear is cambered pretty bad but my front seems fine now
since I have the d2 coils will I need front camber bolts since I can adjust camber on them? I'm just wondering how bad is the camber to the car? Will it increase tire wear that bad? I need an alignment anyways just to make sure everything's ok but I'm planning on getting some 17x9 wheels and won't I need camber anyways for them to fit? Just don't know If I should buy a rear camber kit soon or not
 
Scornio said:
So i also wanna know I'm dropped about 2" my rear is cambered pretty bad but my front seems fine now
since I have the d2 coils will I need front camber bolts since I can adjust camber on them? I'm just wondering how bad is the camber to the car? Will it increase tire wear that bad? I need an alignment anyways just to make sure everything's ok but I'm planning on getting some 17x9 wheels and won't I need camber anyways for them to fit? Just don't know If I should buy a rear camber kit soon or not
Click to expand...

With 2" low you should get a camber kit. Either Buddy Club or SPC.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top