jared703

Okay my car just got out of the shop they're telling me my tires are wearing unevenly on the insides which is true. I'm curious if i'm going to have to get 4 kits or just two for the fronts and rotate them more often. I'm about to put my ssr's on and I want to get this cleared up. They also told me my front left cv is about to go. SHould I correct this all at the same time? I have eibach pro-kits with koni(nuespeed version) yellows. THe car is pretty, very little fender gap if any in the front and only a little more in the back. Probably safe to say close to an 2" drop. Help!

jc836

From your description you will need to have the car aligned first. The amount of drop indicates that camber kits on all 4 corners will be needed. By example: the 5th gen Prelude has a tolerance of 0 degrees +/- 1 degree in front and the rear has a range of -1.8 degrees to +0.3 degrees in the rear. You want to be very slightly negative up to about 0.5 degrees. Toe-in is another setting you can adjust (without kits) and factory spec should be fine for most uses.
As to the CV joint-do not wait-do it now and then proceed to the alignment. Since you have a 4th gen the kits will all be the same type.
After alignment you will have a printout of the data and can order kits from Ultra Performance (or other source) as I did-they will want the info to help with selection of parts. I am using Ingalls on the rear of my 5th gen-these are also used on the front of 4th gen Preludes.
Good luck.


[Modified by jc836, 5:32 PM 5/14/2001]


[Modified by jc836, 5:32 PM 5/14/2001]

jared703

jc: i had my car alighned on friday and i forgot that i had a printout b/c it was hiding behinda a bunch of stuff. Front left camber = 1.5" front right, 1.6", left rear 1/4", right rear 1.6".. I need to get ingals but should i get the extreme one with like up to 3" adjustability or just the 1.5" one which seems like i can get. I think there is a big diff in money with the two. Do you know.?

My tires are falken grb's on the stock rims and they are wore down in the insides already, and i 've only had them since august. Ouch. I have my ssr's that are arriving tomorrow with 16" nitto 450's and I want to get my camber right.

As for alighnment i think they have these numbers now so they can adjust accordingly. My front end is shaking b/c the insides of the tires are so worn down. Does this sound right? It totally sucks now but hopefully things will be fresh after the camber correction. Thanks for the help. Did i miss anything?

Jared

jc836

Jared:

If you look at the Ingalls website (www.ingallseng.com) or call them, I think they will recommend the #3571 kit for each corner.
Those should do the trick- if your 4th gen factory spec. is the same as a 5th gen. Regardless, talk to them or Derreck at Ultra Performance (where I bought mine) and you will get the right ones. You do not need anything of the extreme variety.
As to the shaking-get that checked out-make sure everything is tight. I also suggest that you do not put the new wheels and tires on until the car returns to the alignment machine-make sure they are on then so that the alignment is set for them. Meantime keep a close eye on what you are riding on. Lastly--everything about doing camber correction is based on what Honda says it should be stock.




[Modified by jc836, 2:26 AM 5/15/2001]

jared703

3571 only adjusts between .75-1 deg. that is not enough.. I need 1.5 atleast.. so 3572 is going to be what I need.. 1.25-3.00 deg. If you saw i have up to 1.6 of negative camber. I think i'm going with that poly bushing ones too. I'm definantly going to get my car alighned with the new wheels.

Jared

jc836

Jared:

Allow me this observation and correction. First the 3573 kit is 1.25 to 3.0 degrees. You are negative ~1.5 on the front.
You really want a little negative camber and 0.25 is the most you can get this way. Consider the math. You are on the right track-talk to Ingalls.

jared703

JC: okay man more problems.. And I don't know where to go. I don't have a constant mechanic that I can goto b/c ppl around here assume b/c cars have been modified at all that they can't be worked on. It really annoys me.

Now bare with me if you can. if anyone can that could help me would be great.

Anyways, a while back I had my right wheel bearing and hub replaced b/c they were both shot. I hit ice a couple months before this repair and slid into a curb which i think caused the hub and bearing (they usually both go when one or the other does) to get some damage and eventually die. Before i replaced my hub and wheel bearing my car was vibrating really bad back and fourth b/c the hub was loose and the wheel was shimmying back and fourth. After that was repaired it wasn't completely fine right away, but in a week or so after drove like new.

Anyways I notice a very similar problem, same kind've feeling in the middle of last week.. (it's been about 4 months since i fixed the old wheel bearing and hub) and i took it back to the same reliable shop i've been going to and they said that the wheel bearing was fine and so was the hub. The side the inner wear on my tires was bad. "need to install front and rear camber kits. Front tires are choppy causing vibration and noise. WIll need a new inner cv boot soon. " Now the inner of the tires weren't that bad and I put on my new rims today to test my theory and it's not the tires that's causing this, b/c i have the same problem with my new rims and tires. It really feels like my car did before. They alighned my car and when i got it back it felt good for like a day.. then went back to this vibration.

Now here's my questions(s).

Could my alighnment be getting thrown out of alighnment really quickly and be causing this virbration.?

Could my inner left cv boot be doing this?

Back when my car was in the shop in jan for the hub the guy said my control arm bushing(s) were shot. Could this be causing it?

My car is really sucking to drive b/c with any pressure on the gas the car pulls hard to the sides and the wheel shakes violently god i really need some advice.

thanks all for hearing me out. i'm desperate here though..

jc836

I think you may have hit on your "new" problem. You say that you hit a curb-Honda and other cars sometimes have bent control arms if you hit hard enough. That and the fact that you need new bushings (they are part of the camber kit) are things to check carefully. Depending on your mileage and road conditions, it is possible that you have a bad ball joint. In addition there are other bushings on a Prelude that can and do wear out.

I will again say that mileage, age of car and road conditions contribute directly to how well the suspension will work. I seriously doubt the steering rack is bad-but cannot say for sure as you must also think about the curbing incident. Inner tire wear is generally caused by camber or toe-in. In your case only toe-in is adjustable at this time.

Hope this helps point you

jared703

hmmm well funny how the wheel bearing and hub were bad on the front right, where i hit. My mechanic said my control arm bushings were going bad too.. When i have my camber kit installed next week will they be able to tell me if my control arm looks screwy?

After i had my alighnment at the end of last week, where they alighned everything camber to fac settings the car drove fresh for 50 or so miles..

thanks for your help jc, let me know what you think of this.

jc836

Very interesting that the alignment is not holding. I think you will find that the kits will stiffen things up and help to hold the alignment. The alignment tech should be able to determine if there is any damage to the control arm. Then again-you could replace it and the ball joint and know that all is OK. I would still look at all of the bushings on both sides and make sure that everything is tight yet moves properly.

Keep me informed-I'm curious <G>

jared703

JC:

will do, i'm definantly interested what is going on too. The place i'm going had a really nice alighnment system and are pretty good with suspensions in general. That's good that the camber kit is going to make the whole control arm stiffer.. would it be a good time to change my control arm bushings now that they are doing this camber correction? I'd guess so... let me know b/c i know they are shot/going bad according to my mechanic... tell me what you think

jc836

Jared:
If we are on the same page <G> then by installing the camber kits you get new inner bushings on the upper arms. There are other bushings in the suspension that need to be looked at. These include the lower arm and shock mount bushings (in the lower arm). Your ball joints also need to be checked. I think that pretty much covers it.

mike

I installed a rear camber kit aqnd now my toe is out.

mike

jared703

hmmm my total toe is .18"

To be honest i really don't know what toe is or how it effects you if it's "out" could you elaborate mike?

jared

jc836

TOE - IN question

Jared: Toe-in is the setting of the wheels either in or out from the centerline of the car. The inner edges either face straight ahead, point inward toward each other or away from each other. The ideal street setting should be what the car was designed for. There is a value of "total toe-in" that is also listed. It is the combined amount from both wheels. There are differing opinions on what this setting should be for the track.
BTW: the toe-in can and should be adjusted in the rear of a Prelude before doing anything with the front of the car.

jared703

jc: what exactly keep the cars alighnment in place... the control arms or what. I don't know what exactly is making my front end shake.. I mean i think the camber correction will help and that contrl arm bushing will be replaced but i'm thinking it could be more. I really am not enjoying this point in time with my car.

jared

jc836

Jared:
Please be assured that the way the suspension is put together generally holds the settings. There are various nuts used that are torqued or otherwise locked in place. What you are describing "shaking" can be caused by incorrect wheel balance, bad wheel and hub bearings, warped brake rotors, etc. I amstill inclined to think that there are some rubber parts that have died with time. I do hope this points closer to the source of your problem.

jc836

Jared:
Please be assured that the way the suspension is put together generally holds the settings. There are various nuts used that are torqued or otherwise locked in place. What you are describing "shaking" can be caused by incorrect wheel balance, bad wheel and hub bearings, warped brake rotors, etc. I amstill inclined to think that there are some rubber parts that have died with time. I do hope this points closer to the source of your problem.