i am about to lower my civic coupe and i was wondering if i get an alignment before or after i lower my car?

 

after and are you going to get a CAMBER KIT?

 

drive a good hundred miles on some crappy tires to make sure everything settles out check and tighten everything then take it to get it aligned

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Frickr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">drive a good hundred miles on some crappy tires to make sure everything settles out check and tighten everything then take it to get it aligned</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

no camber kit, not enough money for that right now, but i have heard that sometimes if your car is to low they wont do the alignment or they ll try to charge more

 

what do the camber kits help do? ive lowered my car and its doing fine (knock on wood)

 

It depends on how much you want to lower. Ever seen cars that have been dropped alot, and you can literally see the big rims tilting inwards. Camber kits work by correcting this. You'll wear the inside of your tires if you drop too much without a camber kit. I keep hearing you can you spacers/washers to correct camber as well.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but if you look at the picture of the wheel, the top is leaning inside

 

how low of a drop? i had springs on my ej1 which dropped the car 2.5" and the camber was fine with no alignment.

 

As has been said before, its not the camber so much as the toe. When the car is lowered the front tires get more toe out which chew up the inside edge. When they align it make sure it ends up at close to 0 toe. then maybe 2 deg negative camber front and 1 deg rear. You dont need a camber kit unless youre going much more then 1.75inches Anything more then 2 inches will only hurt handling and driveability.

 

well i got skunk2 springs with a 2.5 drop in front and a 2.0 in back, so i guess by what you are saying i would need a camber kit. but then do i lower my car first or after i get an alignment?

 

modify then correct, do your drop then get it aligned, if you come about some extra cash the camber kit is always a safe idea, tires arent cheap

 

ya i would get the chamber kit to be safe either way, it's not going to hurt you and it could save from some headaches down the road

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by alphalanos &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As has been said before, its not the camber so much as the toe. When the car is lowered the front tires get more toe out which chew up the inside edge. When they align it make sure it ends up at close to 0 toe. then maybe 2 deg negative camber front and 1 deg rear. You dont need a camber kit unless youre going much more then 1.75inches Anything more then 2 inches will only hurt handling and driveability.</TD></TR></TABLE>

good info.


TOE is what eats tires. i want to punch people that say a little bit of camber hurts your tires. idiots.

people get camber kits to add camber for the track, or for that dead even look. the only cases of needing a camber kit is for when you are DUMPED. then you would have a bit too much camber.

 

i had lost hope for this thread till the last couple post...

You dont need a camber kit even if its a big drop...im dropped 4 inchs and approaching 4 years and my tires are still evenly wore.

i got an alignment the NEXT day i lowered my car. Learned my lesson the first time. I waited 2 weeks and i ate through a completely new set of tires.

i am running -3.5 camber in the rear no problem what so ever...even tire wear...

 

[QUOTE=The Lobster]I waited 2 weeks and i ate through a completely new set of tires.QUOTE]

mhmm once you start getting un-even wear on your tires they are done for. they start getting worse and worse because of the wear that the TOE caused.

and lol @ lobster i agree, seriously i wish people would search a little bit. people get camber kits to add negative camber to track cars. it make the car hug the turns better. get an alignment 0 the toe and call it a day.

if you want to drive around a little bit to make sure nothings loose and everything settles right throw some junk tires on there and drive it. or else you could do what i like to do, lower the car when you need new tires that way i can drive it around a bit to make sure everythings good then take it to the shop get some spankin new tires and get my alignment