Ok so I've searched on here and it seems like there's so much contradictory information when it comes to wheel camber and tire wear. I have a 94 Accord Lx that was previously dropped on Skunk 2's with Tokico Illumina's. I've since raised it up because of horrible tire wear and ridiculous negative camber. I've been debating on either replacing my upper control arm bushings with adjustable ones or replacing the whole control arm.

Can anyone speak to the drawbacks of doing just the bushing or replacing the entire arm assembly? Or should I just go stock and deal with the negative camber? This will not be a track car just a dd to commute to and from work.

Brands considered:

Ingalls - http://jdmultimate.com/ingalls/ingal...4/i-60163.aspx

SPC Performance - http://jdmultimate.com/spcperformanc...5/i-68799.aspx

Progress http://jdmultimate.com/progress-tech...s/g-50348.aspx

 

replacing just the ball joint will not have as much adjustment as an adjustable upper control arm. I was going to recommend a skunk2 camber kit but i don't believe they make a kit for accords.
when searching. one of the biggest things to look at is the clamping area. you want to be sure it won't slip which is why i love my skunk2's.

 

I'm going to ignore the post itself, and just answer the question asked in the title first.

No, you do not need a camber kit. You do not need one to avoid uneven tire wear.

I daily with -4* of front camber, no wear issues in 2 years (how long I've had this alignment setting). My weekend car has -4.75* of rear camber, no wear issues in 15 years.

To answer the body. The bushings do not reduce available suspension travel like an adjustable UCA does. However, if the alignment tech does not set each of the 2 bushings on a single side exactly the same, it will change the caster (which can be detrimental). When I had an Ingalls bushing kit, after alignment I had 0/1.2* caster left/right, which was not acceptable (he worried about setting the camber evenly and the caster was left funky) and the car would pull. Now, with SPC UCAs, I have dead even caster, but dents in my shock tower from UCA contact.

Either way, if you chose to add camber adjustment to the car, you're giving something up. Personally, I would never run a camber kit on a Honda if I wasn't putting the car on track (I want more negative camber than lowering provided).

 

Im using SPC on my 90 accord. go with that. you dont have to worry about denting the shock tower cause SPC redesigned the ball joint with a slimmer nut. if you dont like this go with the anchor style.

 

<- Anchor Ingalls in the front

<- Washer trick in the rear

fixed about 2o camber all around so I'm sitting at -1o now

 

you set your toe to 0". You should post a pic of your car.

 

Front toe was set to 0. Rear toe has changed from 0 to factory spec toe in (forget exact value), depending on who is aligning the car and how I felt at the time.

A pic of my car would be useless. Its a lowered red Integra, nothing special.

Even with the slimmer nut (which is nice) the ball joint itself is still taller than stock, and the UCA itself is thicker. This results in a total height taller than stock, which means reduced suspension travel before contact occurs. Same problem they all have, just less so. (I do love my SPC UCAs, so don't think I'm hating here. They're just not necessary for most people.)

 

So then how do u avoid massive tire ware cause of camber issues by getting a good aligment? Cause i was riding my civic pretty low on some coils and i had real bad tire wear and i swiched to springs.

 

i also run -2.5 camber in the front and -3.5 camber in the rear...been on the same tires for almost 2 years i never rotated the tires and i have completely even tire wear.

the key is to get a good alignment.

toe kills tires not camber...unless you only drive in straight lines

 

first time i lowered my cari did it on coilovers...ate through a brand new set of tire in 2 weeks...learned my lesson got an alignment and my new tires had complete tire wear....

all everyone needs to do is get an alignment when they lower their car...how hard is that? why even argue just do it and see the results...

all these people have tire wear havent gotten an alignment yet...not sure why people keep spending massive amount of money on camber kits and others trying to fix their tire wear when all it is is a 50 dollar alignment...

 

Yea i agree i was just wondering cause i always hear people talkin about camber kits and stuff and today is the 1st time i have read that all u need is an aligment. But this also the 1st time i come into the Suspensions Threads hahahaha

 

did u get an alignment after u raised or dropped it everytime
ride height changes >>>> camber changes >>>> toe changes

 

yea cause i when i had it on my coils my tires were goin in. Well i havent really learned anything about camber wear. Like the degrees and stuff. But when i had y coils on my had some camber. And i havent gotten an aligment. Imma put the coils back on and get an aligment and see if there is any diffrence

 

Unfortunately I did not get it aligned after it was dropped. I will be doing that after I replace the control arm bushings. From what I'm reading, you guys are saying that there is no benefit from going with a camber kit to avoid tire wear. Correct?

It sounds like I will be going with stock control arms and deal with the negative camber.

 

Yea thats wat imma do too. Your thread helped me out hahahaha

 

You really dont need camber kits unless you want to dial in your camber for autox or road racing or something.

People who tell you to get a camber kit to fix wear issues are not knowledgeable and just hear and repeat things without knowing why. I was one of those people my first car i did put a camber kit on...but i was also smart enough to get an alignment.

here i am negative camber completely even tire wear 2 years.

 

Imma go get an aligment on friday hahaha after i put my coils back on.

 

for the em2/es/ep3/dc5 i recommend the t1r rear camber arms in the back. the whole arm is built out of aircraft aluminum and is much lighter than the spc and skunk2 arms. also the poly bushing on the t1r arm will not rip out like the spc/skunk2 will.

 

For a daily driver street car, this is correct.

If the car is used in any form of motor sports, then this rule no longer holds true. For example, drag launching with negative camber will wear tires unevenly, but drag launching wears tires quickly anyway so its a moot point.

 

What if you have low profile tires? They don't "give" as much and if you have a lot of negative camber the outer side of the tire may not even touch the ground.

 

Only if you're dumb enough to "stretch" the tire over an unsafely wide wheel.

Tires are balloons. They will conform to the surface they are pressed against (the road).

 

good to know! thanks!!!

 

How would adding a sway bar affect ride quality? I mean I know the basics but will adding a stiffer sway bar drastically increase tire wear?

 

^ that picture i posted up 3 wheeling...see the even tire wear...

i am dropped and tucking an inch all teh way around.

i also run a 22mm rear comptech sway bar...

just go get an alignment after you lower your car and enjoy your even tires for the life of your tires...

 

No. It won't increase tire wear at all.