Camber issues
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Camber issues
Okay, I know camber issues have been covered a dozen times. Debate of whether a camber kit is needed or not, toe versus camber causing tire wear and stuff like that.
Currently I have a busted front camber kit on one side and I am thinking of replacing both front camber kits with OE upper arms. My car has been aligned before and I have rear kits as well. After replacing the kits with OE arms, will it be okay to just get a front TOE done or do I have to realign the entire car front and rear? Since I am so busy everyday with work, will driving with a busted camber for awhile be safe before I actually get down to replacing the kits.
I also know my camber is going to be quite negative after replacing the camber kit with OE arms. Will this cause additional stress to my CV joints and their boots to get torn much more easily since the lower half of the boot will be more stretched now? Lastly, will the OE ball joints of the upper arms be worn out faster since they do not sit flushed to the part that connects to it, unlike camber kits which have been redesigned for this?
Currently I have a busted front camber kit on one side and I am thinking of replacing both front camber kits with OE upper arms. My car has been aligned before and I have rear kits as well. After replacing the kits with OE arms, will it be okay to just get a front TOE done or do I have to realign the entire car front and rear? Since I am so busy everyday with work, will driving with a busted camber for awhile be safe before I actually get down to replacing the kits.
I also know my camber is going to be quite negative after replacing the camber kit with OE arms. Will this cause additional stress to my CV joints and their boots to get torn much more easily since the lower half of the boot will be more stretched now? Lastly, will the OE ball joints of the upper arms be worn out faster since they do not sit flushed to the part that connects to it, unlike camber kits which have been redesigned for this?
Re: Camber issues (garyc17)
What about your camber kit is busted? Typically its unsafe to drive your car with any part of the suspension not working properly, but I'm not sure what you mean by "busted."
If you put your stock arms back in and go to get it aligned, it doesn't matter if you only need the front end aligned... they're still going to charge you for a four wheel align. They're just not going to adjust anything in the back if it doesn't need to be adjusted.
As far as your question about boots, the lower half of the boot is only stretched more when the car is sitting. When the wheels are turning every part of the boot is constantly cycling back and forth between stretched and compressed... twice per revolution. What may where your boots out a little bit fasterwould be the fact that your increased camber angle MIGHT increase the difference between these fully stretched and fully compressed positions, incresing the amount of motion and hence the amount of fatigue on the boots. Probably not any worse than the jacked up axle angles you induced by lowering the car in the first place affects wear. I would'nt really worry about it, but at the same time you can't really modify a car and expect it to act like/be reliable as a stock car. There are always consequences to changing things.
As far as the ball joints go, as long as they're not in a binding position at any point in the modified suspension's travel, they should be fine. They are designed to do their job throughout their full range of motion, and really aren't at any more of an extreme angle than the ones on your camber kits were.
My vote on what to do? Since your car is a daily driver, I would suggest getting (quality) camber kits and a proper alignment. Its true, you don't NEED camber kits. But if you drive a lot of highway miles and aren't flying around town hangin corners and then going to the auto-x on the weekends then you're still going to chew up the insides of the tires. Typically people who say they don't notice any adverse tire wear are driving the **** out of their cars and are balancing out the inner tire wear with outer wear and/or just burning through tires fast enough that it doesn't make a difference really.
If you put your stock arms back in and go to get it aligned, it doesn't matter if you only need the front end aligned... they're still going to charge you for a four wheel align. They're just not going to adjust anything in the back if it doesn't need to be adjusted.
As far as your question about boots, the lower half of the boot is only stretched more when the car is sitting. When the wheels are turning every part of the boot is constantly cycling back and forth between stretched and compressed... twice per revolution. What may where your boots out a little bit fasterwould be the fact that your increased camber angle MIGHT increase the difference between these fully stretched and fully compressed positions, incresing the amount of motion and hence the amount of fatigue on the boots. Probably not any worse than the jacked up axle angles you induced by lowering the car in the first place affects wear. I would'nt really worry about it, but at the same time you can't really modify a car and expect it to act like/be reliable as a stock car. There are always consequences to changing things.
As far as the ball joints go, as long as they're not in a binding position at any point in the modified suspension's travel, they should be fine. They are designed to do their job throughout their full range of motion, and really aren't at any more of an extreme angle than the ones on your camber kits were.
My vote on what to do? Since your car is a daily driver, I would suggest getting (quality) camber kits and a proper alignment. Its true, you don't NEED camber kits. But if you drive a lot of highway miles and aren't flying around town hangin corners and then going to the auto-x on the weekends then you're still going to chew up the insides of the tires. Typically people who say they don't notice any adverse tire wear are driving the **** out of their cars and are balancing out the inner tire wear with outer wear and/or just burning through tires fast enough that it doesn't make a difference really.
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spAdam, thats a very comprehensive reply you got there. Thanks. Answered alot of my questions.
I just got back from replacing my upper 'busted' camber kit and an alignment. No more strange noises coming from the front of the car, but the alignment guy says I had better get a camber kit soon. This is because my front left and right camber angles are different by 1 degree. He also reduced my rear negative camber to a more positive figure for safer driving in corners. Before my camber kit was replaced, the angles were like -2.0deg left and -1.5deg right. Right now they are -0.5deg left and -1.5deg right. He says this is a little extreme for a difference. Toe is dead zero for front and slight toe in for the rears.
Is this guy right or am I going to be fine? There is a very slight drift to the left on straight roads. It could be caused by the camber being more on the right. What should I do?
I just got back from replacing my upper 'busted' camber kit and an alignment. No more strange noises coming from the front of the car, but the alignment guy says I had better get a camber kit soon. This is because my front left and right camber angles are different by 1 degree. He also reduced my rear negative camber to a more positive figure for safer driving in corners. Before my camber kit was replaced, the angles were like -2.0deg left and -1.5deg right. Right now they are -0.5deg left and -1.5deg right. He says this is a little extreme for a difference. Toe is dead zero for front and slight toe in for the rears.
Is this guy right or am I going to be fine? There is a very slight drift to the left on straight roads. It could be caused by the camber being more on the right. What should I do?
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