I just took my car in to get an allignment, and the results showed quite a bit of camber.
Front Left--- -1.6
Front Right--- -1.6
Rear Left--- -1.9
Rear Right--- -1.5
He suggested buying a camber kit, but then again he is a salesman. I know the camber kit would be a good idea, but is it really worth it? in otherwords, should i invest in one?

 

The answer is simple.... if you want it fixed buy one... if you dont.... then dont.

 

If i dont, will the tires really wear that much worse?

 

yeah, if you're in need of camber kits. if you're at stock ride height you can use the ball-joint kits which can be used to adjust for some caster or the cam bolt kits. if your car is lowered go with the cam-bolt type kits. the guy who installed mine too less than ten minutes for each corner from wheel off to wheel on for the ball-joint kits. just make sure whoever does the alignment is experienced.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Alibi86 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If i dont, will the tires really wear that much worse?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The kind of camber you've quoted will not cause excessive wear.

If you really want your car to turn, though, you'll go ahead and get a camber kit, and increase the front a little and reduce the rear a little.

 

So the camber kit will help my car to handle better?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Alibi86 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So the camber kit will help my car to handle better?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The simple answer is yes, it will. A weakness of all our cars is the tendency to understeer.

With a little more camber in the front, and a little less camber in the rear, the front end will take a bite harder in a corner because you will tend to keep more of the tread on the ground when the car begins a high G turn.

My track car is -2.5 on the front and -1.6 on the rear and that adjustment is a part of an overall handling package that makes the car very nice to drive.

 

So do you think my numbers are too bad not to get a camber kit?

 

Who am I to argue with someone who has posted over 150,000 posts in five years. Grandpa certainly sounds like someone I could invest a lot of time listening to.
But I need a little more convincing that running negative camber is prefered on a chassis designed for static values of zero(0) (or close to it). It makes sense for a vehicle built track specific to use negative camber where a professional driver can adjust for track conditions, but excessive lateral bite can be lethal for the uninitiated and deviating from stock specifications can drastically alter the over / understeer equation, if you're not careful.

 

By "shop specifications" it should be between 1 and -1 degree camber, so i am at most .9 degress off (on only one wheel for some reason) but it doesnt seem like alot to me. I dont run my car super hard, jus a daily driver with a little bit of aggressivness. The tires arent that nice either. Something like 75 bucks each.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by P_Adams &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...deviating from stock specifications can drastically alter the over / understeer equation....</TD></TR></TABLE>

The idea is to alter the car's attitude under load, yes, that's true, and the user should know about it and be prepared for it.

That I have a lot of posts doesn't necessarily mean that I know a hell of a lot about Accords, of course. Perhaps you should drop a line to posters with whom you're more familiar in this forum.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by George Knighton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
That I have a lot of posts doesn't necessarily mean that I know a hell of a lot about Accords, of course. Perhaps you should drop a line to posters with whom you're more familiar in this forum.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes but you understand how suspension works and you also regularly participate in auto-x events if memory serves me correctly .

To the OP, that much camber won't cause excessive tire wear; toe is usually the culprit. Like George said, increasing the front camber slightly will help turning/handling but you may not want to go to an extreme if this is your daily driver .

 

No,no,no you completely misunderstand (which is quite common with this communication venue). I've learned LONG ago that there's a wealth of information out there to be had for just listening, and I'd look forward to listen to anything either you (or anyone else) would contribute. Under no circumstances was I being sarcastic, I was hoping my question would illicit furthur discussion.
Darn, this is worst than using EMail !!

P

 

My toe isnt bad at all. .01 degree in the front and .12 degress in the rear. Obviously my car isnt sitting "normal" right now and im sure my tires will wear down faster as is, but is it really worth spending all that money for a camber kit when my camber issued arent really TERRIBLE. I am new to suspension, in fact i just started working on my car all together and i dont have people around here for me to ask, thats why i come to these forums. It seems like you all know a hell of alot more than me, so any info you can give me is good info.

 

So has the dead horse been beaten enough yet?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .bagged &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So has the dead horse been beaten enough yet? </TD></TR></TABLE>
I dunno. The guy wanted a direction, and I don't think he feels that he has it, yet.

Only one person suggested something specific, and that was countered by somebody else's fear.

So somebody needs to tell the poor guy what to do.

Does he have to buy a camber kit? No. Personally, however, I would, and I would put more camber on the front.

 

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

Does he have to buy a camber kit? No. Personally, however, I would, and I would put more camber on the front.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I did something simlar to what you did George, however it was increasing the rear so that when i body dropped the rear the 19's would camber earlier and clear the fender well when the air was released.

 

George, i understand why ud put MORE camber on the front, cuz like u said it handles better. im jus looking as a daily driver like i said. nothing for competitions and no reason to wear my tires down any more than i need to. I guess ill just leave it as is. Im sure illbe fine. Like i said, the tires arent anything special. Thanks

 

leave it as is mate, as long as your toe isnt out by a lot your tyre wear wont be too bad.

 

Alright thanks alot

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by poid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">leave it as is mate, as long as your toe isnt out by a lot your tyre wear wont be too bad. </TD></TR></TABLE>
What he said. My camber is -2.2 (forgot what it was in rear)....so I did end up buying the camber kit....$45 for Spring Tech branded ones and installed them myself. Even by naked eye it looks A LOT better than it was before. I'm running an Ingalls rear kit (got really cheap). Anyway, both camber values "look better" but I haven't had another alignment done. HTH.