SolObsession

I just installed my OMNI Power Camber kit (Upper Control Arms) in my del sol. It is lowered about 2-3" (tucking maybe 1/2" of tire). The install was pretty straight forward, remove old UCA, install new one, which appeared to be the same in every aspect except the adjustable ball joint.

When I was done, I took it for a spin to see how everything was. I didn't get the alignment yet but that isn't my problem. When I hit a bump or anything in the road it felt as if there was no suspension in the front but all solid. So I take it home and pop the hood and just as I suspected the new UCA is hitting my shock tower. The old one never hit, scraped, etc. I didn't have any problems with it. So can someone please help me out and tell me what I could have done wrong that this one hits when I hit a bump? I looked under my car while it was sitting on the ground and the UCA is practically resting against the shock tower when the car is just sitting there.

The only thing that I can think of is that I didn't torque #13 (pivot bolts) to 22 ft.-lbs. I just did it hand tight. To me that doesn't seem like the problem. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I don't have pics of my actual car but you get the idea.

B_CRUZ!

your car is too low for a camber kit.

edit I just read your comment below and I find it ammusing on how you explained to me what a camber kit does....

I love how you(the typical ricer) slams his car and purchases a camber kit to set the camber to ZERO... while people who race their cars use the camber kit to 'dial in' the camber depending on how the car responds to the track.


Modified by b_cruz at 4:56 PM 6/7/2004

civic_tuned

i have ingall camber kit(knuckles) and mine does the same. Dont be alarmed its not something new. Mine always scrapes the inner wall especially on bumpy roads . The sound is very squeaky it sounds like an old 64 on the floo'. Try get it aligned or raise it a little so the u.c.a. wont stick out that much so it wont hit.

SkyeC

Ironic that you have to be very low to even need a camber kit on these cars... but once you are that low, unless you have very very stiff springs and shocks, you can't use the camber kit because it slams into the shock towers.

tough luck...

B18C5-EH2

Mine hit on my car until I realized that riding really low served no purpose, and I also installed stiff-*** 425F 550R springs.

I'll try to find before and after pics of the ride height...

SolObsession

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b_cruz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">your car is too low for a camber kit.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You my friend are a spaz just trying to get another post under your belt. The whole point of a camber kit is the adjust camber. When you lower a car it induces negative camber......get it?

civic_type_r - If I drive it around anymore it will puncture my shock tower...not something I want to happen.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C5-EH2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Mine hit on my car until I realized that riding really low served no purpose, and I also installed stiff-*** 425F 550R springs.

I would appreciate those pics. I am thinking of raising it up so that the fender is at the top of the tire. It wont be much but it will help, plus when I get it aligned it wont rub. My spring rates are 450 front and 350 rear. But my main concern is that this didn't happen before the install. I don't know what the difference is between the two UCAs, they looked the same.

I'll try to find before and after pics of the ride height...</TD></TR></TABLE>

B18C5-EH2

Before on smaller 195-50-15 tires and softer sus:



After on bigger 205-50-15 tires and stiff sus:

B18C5-EH2

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SolObsession &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

You my friend are a spaz just trying to get another post under your belt. The whole point of a camber kit is the adjust camber. When you lower a car it induces negative camber......get it?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Trust me B_cruz doesn't need one extra post - he speaks the truth.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">civic_type_r - If I drive it around anymore it will puncture my shock tower...not something I want to happen.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes it will, just like mine did. I was on the freeway doing about 80mph and a bumper cover flew into my path and I had no choice but to run over it. They had already dented my strut tower areas, but after that blow they tore through them slightly.

B18C5-EH2

Also let me stress at this time the true importance of the TOE settings. Toe ruins tires so much worse than camber ever will. If you corrected camber without having the toe set I guarantee you will ruin your tires within one month.

I do alignments on lowered Hondas a lot, and when I correct camber the toe settings go horribly out such as over 2 degrees per side!!! That's enough to cord some tires within weeks.

If I were you I'd raise the car up and run some 205 series tires, set your front camber at -1 or even -1.5 degrees and get the rears at about -1 or so. Then have the toe set dead-on which would be 0 up front and about .08 in the rear. Camber doesn't hurt tires like toe does - trust me on this.

I personally run my Skunk2 kits (same thing you have) to set my front camber at -1.5 up front. With zero toe I don't even wear Azenis unevenly.

SolObsession

b-cruz - I didn't mean to offend you, but you comment didn't really help much. I am not a "typical ricer", my car is as low as B18s in the first pic.

I know that toe is what eats tires, but everyone around me says my camber is too extreme for them to get a read on it with their machine.

So B18, you are saying to just let it rip up my shock tower? I am going to raise it so there is minimal fender gap like in the second pic and see if that helps it any. I am running 205/40/16s right now.

B18C5-EH2

Well if someone says your toe is off the register, then ask them to fix it. If it's that bad they could certainly see which way to start turning.



You must have some over 3 degree toe out in order for a good machine to not read. I've fixed stuff that bad before on my Hunter machine at work.

B20Vtec

You do realize that being as low as you are does not allow full stroke length of your shocks...Track cars are low and are still able to operate correctly because they have the appropriate springs, shocks etc...For instance a shock with a larger piston can move increased amounts of fluid needing less stroke length to achieve optimum handling characteristics. If you were to install a set of high quality coilovers that use a much shorter stroke length your problem would be much better...Unfortunately when a car is as low as your car is (up to 3" lower) there are many changes that must be done to your car in order to have everything working as it should. You need to either riase your car up a bit or install nice shocks/springs or coilovers ideally. Not to mention how much better the ride quality will be!

SolObsession

The problem was fixed by raising the front about an inch. I have had no complaints about ride quality or anything like that. The problem was that the OMNI UCA was infact almost 1/4" longer than my stock one, so it rubbed the shock tower. I had 0 problems slammed with the original UCA. No worries though, all I did was raise it up a little.

Jamez

You don't need a full UCA replacement on EGs, only the #7 part replacement.

And yeah, being that low is pointless and counter productive.

SolObsession

Umm....#7 is a bushing. If you are talking about an Ingalls type kit that is one thing. I heard alot of things about the Ingalls type and wanted to try out the Omni kit since he has a pretty good rep.