I recently bought a 98 civic EX coupe that's been lowered about 1 1/2". Can anybody tell me the best camber kit to buy so that I can quit ruining tires?

 

If you're not lowered more than 1 and 3/4 inches, you don't need any kind of camber kit. You need a full alignment: camber, caster and toe.

 

It may be lower than I think. All I know is that when I checked my alignment, It was about 1 1/2 degrees negative camber at all four wheels, and camber on a 98 civic is non-adjustable.

 

http://progressauto.com/store/...age=8

This is what you need or it's on that page. Find your car. Call them and talk with Joey, tell him Ryan Smith sent you.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ke98248 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you're not lowered more than 1 and 3/4 inches, you don't need any kind of camber kit. You need a full alignment: camber, caster and toe. </TD></TR></TABLE>

While this is true the caster part isn't adjustable without special upper control arms that allow for camber and caster adjustments anyways, so I'd basically take the car to have an alignment done and get the print out of the camber settings along with the toe.

If the camber is more than -1.5 to -1.8 at any corner then you might want to consider some sort of camber kit for the front, or shimming up the rear.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ke98248 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you're not lowered more than 1 and 3/4 inches, you don't need any kind of camber kit. You need a full alignment: camber, caster and toe. </TD></TR></TABLE>

well you cant do a camber angle adjustment without a camber kit.

OP: You REALLY dont need a camber kit. I mean, you'd be wasting your money. You can just send the $200 to me, and it would have the same effect....except for the money would be going to me and not a control arm company or performance shop

1.5'' of lowering will produce probably -1.5 to -2 degrees of camber. That's nothing. Just get it aligned for toe. Toe is why you're eating up tires. Toe changes when you change any other angle. It is the leading angle for tire wear. Camber would be towards the tail end as far as tire wear rates....err...unless you're doing burn outs or you have like -5 degrees or something (I.E. broken control arm lol).

Get new tires. Get an alignment without the camber kit. They will adjust only toe. That's the only adjustable angle on 92-00 civics (stock). You will hardly see any irregular wear from -1.5 to -2 degrees. Trust me. There might be a half a 32nd inch to 1/32'' difference from outside to inside edges. That's very negligible. Tires come with 10/32'' of tread new as an average. A half a 32nd is ....nothing. The top of the head on the penny measuring trick for tires is 2/32'' just as a reference.

 

My beater 91 civic currently has -1.8 degrees of camber up front as a result of using Tein S Tech lowering springs that claim -1.5 of a drop.

I align the car myself at my shop, and I shimmed the rears camber to be -1.0, but intentionally left the front camber alone because that much front negative camber actually HELPS the handling.

I see ZERO inside edge wear on my tires because my toe is set dead center of the alignment specs.

As B serious stated toe kills tires far worse than camber. -2.0 degrees of camber will certainly exxagerate tire wear if the toe is out, but -2.0 camber alone isn't going to kill tires if the toe is dead set.

 

skunk 2 makes full adjustable upper control arms... i highly recommend

 

Listen to me here - I'm not saying other peoples' opinions don't count for anything here, but you really NEED to take the car to a good alignment shop and have them do the basic 4 wheel TOE alignment and then get the printout.

Be my guest and buy a camber kit if you want the bling bling status, but the front kits cost over $200.00, someone has to install them, and the alignment must be done by someone who knows what the fuuck they're doing or it will be far WORSE off.

Also my shop charges TWICE as much to do an alignment with camber adjustments because it takes longer.

Spend the $60.00 and have the alignment done before you buy any parts. Remember -2 is the number you want to stay above when it comes to camber. Anything less than that and fuuck what anyone else says - alignment shop employees included. Many of them think ZERO camber is best, when in fact the car handles horribly like that.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C5-EH2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Listen to me here - I'm not saying other peoples' opinions don't count for anything here, but you really NEED to take the car to a good alignment shop and have them do the basic 4 wheel TOE alignment and then get the printout.

Be my guest and buy a camber kit if you want the bling bling status, but the front kits cost over $200.00, someone has to install them, and the alignment must be done by someone who knows what the fuuck they're doing or it will be far WORSE off.

Also my shop charges TWICE as much to do an alignment with camber adjustments because it takes longer.

Spend the $60.00 and have the alignment done before you buy any parts. Remember -2 is the number you want to stay above when it comes to camber. Anything less than that and fuuck what anyone else says - alignment shop employees included. Many of them think ZERO camber is best, when in fact the car handles horribly like that.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i agree with b18c5-eh2... toe is the most critical tire wearing angle... if you are looking for a camber kit the skunk 2 arms are nice but it is NOT necessary. its possible to set the toe yourself with a tape measure and some basic know how but i would just get the front end alligned by a good shop.... GOOD LUCK!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C5-EH2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">&lt;Everything I said&gt;</TD></TR></TABLE>
I agree, and also have the similar personal experience to back it up.

Good to see you around

 

I had bad camber problems cause my civic was in a minor accident and threw a bunch of alignment out. A regular alignment helped but couldnt fully correct the alignment so i bought skunk2 adjustable upper control arms and that was the last of my alignment problems!

 

fix your toe. set toe to zero on the front and rear. spend the $$$ for the camber kit elsewhere.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by j-specB20sol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

i agree with b18c5-eh2... toe is the most critical tire wearing angle... if you are looking for a camber kit the skunk 2 arms are nice but it is NOT necessary. its possible to set the toe yourself with a tape measure and some basic know how but i would just get the front end alligned by a good shop.... GOOD LUCK!</TD></TR></TABLE><TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Targa250R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I agree, and also have the similar personal experience to back it up.

Good to see you around </TD></TR></TABLE>

woah woah. Let's not forget the big picture here.
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I said that **** first

 

skunk 2 camber kits are good i prefer spw threw my experience

 

Shim the back, get an alignment.

Done.

Listen to b18c5_eh2

 

Thanks a lot for all the help, guys. Hunter finally got off of their lazy a$$es and fixed our alignment machine, and my toe was horrible. I zeroed it, so now all I can do is make myself fork over the cash for new tires... Any suggestions? (I'm new to the whole tuner thing... I've lately been spending money on my camaro)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jonthepirate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks a lot for all the help, guys. Hunter finally got off of their lazy a$$es and fixed our alignment machine, and my toe was horrible. I zeroed it, so now all I can do is make myself fork over the cash for new tires... Any suggestions? (I'm new to the whole tuner thing... I've lately been spending money on my camaro)</TD></TR></TABLE>

1) either get rid of the camaro...or buy a shirt that says "bitchin camaro".

2.) Discount tire is having a $100 off sale till saturday.

3.) Falken Azenis, Hankook RS2Z212, Bridgestone RE01-R...the list could go on and on.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1992Si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">http://progressauto.com/store/...age=8

This is what you need or it's on that page. Find your car. Call them and talk with Joey, tell him Ryan Smith sent you.</TD></TR></TABLE>

lol... i was able to get the progress 53.1004 camber kit for 50 bucks shipped from the discounttiredirect ebay store. I think they misprinted the price.. but still gave me a tracking number. LOL

 

did somebody say something about setting the toe in the rear??? uhhhhhhhhhhhh what?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by j-specB20sol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">did somebody say something about setting the toe in the rear??? uhhhhhhhhhhhh what?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Yes. What's the problem? The dynamic toe curve of the suspension causes the rear to toe in under compression, so it should be adjusted for lower static ride heights.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by j-specB20sol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">did somebody say something about setting the toe in the rear??? uhhhhhhhhhhhh what?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes to properly align Hondas (except for solid rear axle/panhard bar style old-*** ones) you must FIRST adjust the camber (if adjustable), then the REAR toe, and then the front toe. The front toe readings align with the rear toe, so if you fail to adjust/set the rear toe in spec the front readings are garbage.

Basically a front wheel alignment on any of these Civics is worthless.

To adjust the rear toe the 88-00 Civics have a 14mm bolt that secures the front of the trailing arm into a slotted portion in the rear subframe. you loosen the 14mm, pry the leading end of the trailing arm in the appropriate direction (in or out) until the toe is in spec, then tighten the 14mm bolt back.


On my 1992 Civic I didn't like the slider on the left side of my car, so I replaced the stock style fixed toe link with an adjustable toe link from SPC. It replaces the fixed arm with one that looks like a tie rod style arm that is adjustable much like the inner tie rods up front. It allowed me more adjustability, finer adjustability, and replaced rubber bushings with heim joints, which is always an upgrade. I also welded the formerly adjustable slides so that they would never come loose again.

I'll post pics for anyone who might be interested.

 

Here's an exploded view of the rear trailing arm assy:



The toe link is #5 and the actual bolt you loosen to adjust the toe to slide #5 is the #27 bolt seen in the pic.

#27 is the bolt seen circled here:



In that pic the actual slot can't really be seen because of the washer on the #27 bolt, but it's there. If you look closely enough you might see that the area around the #27 bolt is kind of messed up in that picture, thus the toe was always hard to adjust on that car until I replaced the fixed #5 toe link with this:



...and now #27 is welded in place so that the sole adjustments are made with the SPC toe links.

 

oh hahaha im an idiot SORRY lol... CASTER is the only adjustment that cant be made on most vehicles... insert dunce hat here!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by j-specB20sol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">oh hahaha im an idiot SORRY lol... CASTER is the only adjustment that cant be made on most vehicles... insert dunce hat here!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wow....you made him do all that typing and posting pictures for nothing.