about a month ago, i installed camber kits and got an alignment...hated the job they did... it still pulled a tiny bit to the right, they didnt even give me a print out...but i saw on the screen that my camber was at .8 and he said that, that was fine....now i put on some Sh wheels and now the alignment is totally off, is this normal? what's recommended for the camber and toe specs?

 

.8 camber is fine. yeah, you'll probably wear a little faster than stock, but that's gonna happen if you lower your car. I don't really remember what stock camber or toe is supposed to be for any of the preludes... not even mine. As far as pulling to the right, it could be the alignment, but it could also be your tires, since i'm assuming you probably drove on them for a while before you had your camber kit put in.

you can find out what your alignment should be pretty easy. Take it to a good place and tell them not to just "set the toe and go". they'll probably let you go supervise so long as you don't get in the way. But remember, they're not going to be able to make everything perfect to 10 decimal places, so long as it's all roughly right you're good to go.

 

NO!!!!!
0.8 isnt good. thats pretty bad. your camber should be set at 0%. it might not seem like alot... think about it though. most camber kits adjust up to 2.5%.... your chillin at almost 1%.
would you let the alignment slide if it was at 1%???? i sure as hell wouldnt. take it back to them and tell them that the alignment is still fucked up. the pulling steering wheel could be your alignment... could be brakes... could be a number of things.

if you dont want to buy new tires in 3 months then i say re-align. an easy way to test if your tire has camber is look at the front end from a distance. do your tires point inward?
try running your hands over the top of the tread. starting from the outside running toward the engine... does the tire start to get smooth near the inside????

 

.8 isn't bad...do a search on the net...you'll find that out! you're not gonna get 0.0! anyways a tiny bit of negative camber is totally fine!

 

wo wo wo... there are specs.. i dont know what the newer ones are but usually there is a stock spec range of .5 say if stock was 0 then +.5 and -.5 would still be in specs. i know cause i do them all the time at my shop the program will tell u the tolerance and the range

 

yes i drove on the tires w/o camber kits for a bit..after the alignment, it still pulled to the right a tad bit, didnt bother me, but now that i've put SH wheels on, it pulls to the LEFT...i guess i should go get an alignment and tell them to give me a print out at another shop, any advice as to wat i should tell them wat to set it at?

 

the car can be perfect with the alignment alot of it comes down the to grade of the road.

 

what year is your prelude? ill look up the alignment specs in class today

on my prelude the camber is at around -0.6deg in the front and -0.5deg in the rear, i set the toe to 0.01inch in on the front and 0.01 inch out in the rear. my suspension is competly stock and setting my alignment like that almost competly got rid of that pesky understeer at the limit

 

really, .8 degrees isn't that bad. at least for camber. there are cars that have even more than that out of the box. What REALLY wears you tires quickly is toe. If your toe is out you can go through tires faster than a fat chick through chocolate on prom night.

I personally drive around with about 1.5 up front and ~1 in back (autocrossing) but with my toe set to 0 both front and rear and have experienced no abnormal tire wear. Admittedly, i do drive around on super hard cheapo tires, and only bust out the azenis when i go racing.

If you're really concerned, find the specs it should have (if you tell me what year you have i'll look it up at work), and go to a shop and make them set it to that. But so long as your toe is ok, you won't ruin your expensive tires in the next 3 weeks.

btw... i once drove a car that pulled to the right because of a bad axle. and this thing pulled like a mother! you had to fight that wheel to keep it on the road. In fact... it was an old prelude now that i think about it.

 

You can have up to -2.0 degress on a street car, and be perferctly fine, if the toe is set correctly.. Make sure if you have a lot of negative camber, to get the toe close to 0 as possible, front and rear.. The car will wonder a little, but your tires will wear fine..

I have seen cars w/ camber kit eat of the insides of the rear tires, just because the toe was way off..

 

I have a 98 Prelude, so it goes to the left a bit, that doesnt matter? i dont know if putting on the new SH wheels messed up my toe or not.

 

Changing wheels will not effect alignment

 

its not camber that is a fast tire eater... its toe... toe is way worse tire wear wise... u deff want that at 0...