hey guys.
so i have a 98 civic hatchback, im in my last phases of finishing up my suspension. i am currently on eibach sportlines (-1.8" drop) on tokico illumina adjustable shocks.
i am running a Si 26mm sway bar in the front and a CTR 22mm sway bar in the rear on an ASR brace with function7 arms. also random tie bars up top, that dont really do squat. in the rear i have SPC upper arms and SRR toe arms, so i wanted to complete the adjustable arm setup by putting SPC upper arms in the front so that i can mount a new set of tires and get a new alignment with everything fully adjustable. the reason i chose the SPC arms are because they are the only manufacturer that makes that arm with caster adjustment.
so heres the problem...
after i installed theSPC front upper arms, i mounted my tires and got an alignment.
after that i noticed that when i hit bumps in the road, my car takes it a lot more harshly than it used to. it is only noticible like after 20-30mph...if i hit a small lump that the suspension would normally absorb...my car feels like i just cracked my front rims. the impact is very loud and unpleasant. and i am not exaggerating. it seriously feels like i hit a huge gaping pothole and broke a rim.

what could this be? my only ideas are bad ball joints? but i had recently replaced them. or maybe its a caster problem with how the shock body is positioned after the alignment. the caster is set to about 1.5 positive on both sides.
i thought it might have been my sway bar, but the endlinks were fine, and i even disconnected them and drove without them and its still the same.
so as far as i am concearned, this has something to do with the SPC camber/caster arms, because it started happening directly after i installed them.
any help would be greatly appreciated. thanx

 

look underneath and check if the front arm is hitting something...

it probably is.

 

that was the first thing i did.... doesnt seem to be contacting anything at all. no unusual rub marks or anything that i can see.

 

How low is the car? Is the camber adjusted to almost straight up 0? Most likely the SPC arms are hitting the seam in the front fenderwells.

I personally would have kept the stock front UCA's, and also the stock rear toe compensator arms. Some negative camber is good for handling and won't wear tires as long as the toe is set correctly.

Also those rear toe compensator arms allow the arms to be a different length on each side of the car, which can make for questionable handling characteristics, also.

 

*Edit: Er, are the SPC UCAs for the EK different than for the DC/EG?
These are for the DC/EG:



<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How low is the car? Is the camber adjusted to almost straight up 0? Most likely the SPC arms are hitting the seam in the front fenderwells.

I personally would have kept the stock front UCA's, and also the stock rear toe compensator arms. Some negative camber is good for handling and won't wear tires as long as the toe is set correctly.

Also those rear toe compensator arms allow the arms to be a different length on each side of the car, which can make for questionable handling characteristics, also.</TD></TR></TABLE>

The SPC UCAs clear the seam on my 2000 GSR perfectly fine, both installed correctly, and with them flipped left to right for added caster. Even adjusted completely out (positive camber), they won't hit the seam (I checked).

However, I do bottom the UCA itself into the shock tower under large compression, as the balljoint assembly and arm is taller than stock, and does place the arm closer to the tower.

I've also got mine adjusted for both max caster and max camber, and sadly it seems that the more negative camber you add, the less travel you have available, due to the way the end of the arm hangs past the balljoint as it is adjusted inwards.

For reference, I'm running GC sleeves on Konis, with a 400 lbs/in front rate, and nearly a "2 finger gap" up front (6" from ground to front side jack points). Front alignment is 0 toe, -4.0* of camber, and +4.0* of caster. Stiffer springs would allow me to run lower. I bottomed a lot more, when I tried to run with flushed tires, and only very rarely now.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beav &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that was the first thing i did.... doesnt seem to be contacting anything at all. no unusual rub marks or anything that i can see.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Check under the hood, next to the shocks upper mount. If you've hit enough, you'll see little dents from below, from the UCA trying to work its way into the engine bay. Just the corners of the arm will hit, leaving 2 small marks. If the metal isn't dented yet, you might be able to see small spots where the UCAs have removed any road grime from the impact points, but it will be way up in there next to the shock mount.

 

PROBLEM FOUND!

so i inspected again more carefully after more harsh driving and now there is visible damage.
turns out this specific arm, the camber is not a sliding adjustment, there is a 10mm adjustment bolt that passes through the top of the ball joint that you turn to adjust camber, and then you tighten the ball joint down tith the regular 4 bolts on the sides of the arms.
well...the adjustor bolt sticks out of the inner side of the arm, and it sticks out a little too much and it ends up hitting the top hat of the shock/spring assembly.
i am yet to take the arms off and cut the tip of the bolt. it seems i need to shave off about 4mm of the tip, which serves no function.
thanks for all the advice though. i will try to post pics when i take the arms off and do the cutting.