hey there, I think I have a serious problem.. Okay, I bought the car slammed on tokico red springs/tokico blue shocks.. Its about a 4 inch drop and is just making 1.5" clearance at the front. Just recently I had my upper control arms replaced (cuz they had really bad ball joints) and also got my front passenger side axel replaced, along with my front passenger side wheel baring.

Anyways, the guy told me that no matter what I do, I will always have problems with my ball joints because I have negative camber & the car is too low. Another guy told me that I can get my negative camber fixed and that will take all the stress off my balljoints - thus allowing me to drive this low & have minor repairs to do....

So I'm not sure, which is the correct thing to do.. Yes, eventually I plan on raising my car, but for now I just want less repairs & less tire wear, so what should I do about my suspension, and which guy is right? Thanks.

 

camber kits and a good alignment should do, i have a moog camber kit on my db2, and look at my pics, mine is pretty slammed too, i dont have any tire wear other than normal

 

A camber kit won't do anything for the ball joints.

Unless you buy a cheap kit that didn't take into account the full suspension travel, in which case you can bind the upper balljoint and break it.

Really, you don't need or want one, especially in the front where they cause interference issues.

If you want less tire wear, find a shop that will correctly set the toe and ignore the camber. Run the correct tire pressure (written in the door jamb) and rotate the tires periodically.

I've been driving for 2.5 years with -4* of front camber. My tires are wearing just fine, and are just over half worn now. I'll get 40k miles out of them at this rate, which is about right for Toyo Proxes 4.

 

Even if you get a camber kit, good luck findin a shop that has an alignment rack your car can drive on

 

im pretty sure toe setting is key. dont let the alignment guys tell you your car is too low bcuz theyr usually trying to find some way to sell you **** you dont need.

thats why i go to my ghetto *** alignment shop (ghetto meaning the neighborhood its in) and the guy never complains about the stance, he just always reminds me he cant offer me the guarantee becuz the suspension has been altered. honest work for a fair price

 

These issues would not be occuring if you weren't slammed so low, is there a reason you have it that low still?

The axle will most likely need replacing again soon because of how low you are. The axle is meant to be parallel to the road. When you are that low your axle is under more stress, this goes along with the other problems your having. GL OP

 

ok, so basically from wat everyones is telling me - i can drive as low as i am right now (about 1 to 1.5" clearance at the front) and just get my wheels aligned?? Cuz what I hear is when you drive this low, your ball joints have to be replaced every six months and u **** up ur suspension....

 

Yeah, thats what I hear from people... Basically, just last week I got my passenger side axel replaced, both front upper control arms (which include ball joints) and I also got my passenger side wheel baring replaced... So yeah, all that for $430.

Wheel Baring = $80 for the part + $130 labour
Upper Control Arms = $20 (used) + $100 labour
Axel = $50 (used) + $50 labour

So yeah, its pretty big in repairs, but it rides much, much smoother now.. I'm just worried that these problems will come back to haunt me someday, according to what some people tell me... But I hear that it is possible for me to drive this low if I get my camber aligned and get my spring compressed so my shocks will be working properly... I dunno, what u think I should do??

 

That's actually not all that low.

You do have insane camber up front though. You should not have that much from just lowering, something is either bent, a camber kit installed and set for more negative camber (I do this), or the wrong parts were used.

At that height, you should not have ball joint, axle, or wheel bearing issues (never ever heard of anyone having bearing issues from being overly lowered, but who knows?). Unless you are regularly bottoming out the suspension, which can wreak all kinds of havoc on the parts from the sudden impact.

 

...a lot of camber kits come with ball joints. Even if they didn't, The less neg. camber, the less lateral stress on the ball joint.


-4 deg of camber is probably not very good for anything. It puts a lot of lateral stress on ball joints. There are camber arms that come with ball joints. You can just move the camber a little bit positive so that the ball joint sits more in the position that it should.

I always say that camber isn't a major tire wearing angle. And it isnt. However, at -4 deg, you're probably going to get some uneven wear for a lot of different reasons.

It's not really great to have a DA that low since the DA doesn't have a lot of suspension travel. You're probably going to be bumpstopping pretty easily. I would just raise the car up. It looks ridiculous.

DAs and EFs also seem to have a more agressive front camber curve. A camber kit would probably be a good buy for you.

I also hope you or whoever put on your parts clocked your bushings when they did it. Or you're going to be doing bushings on a 16-19 year old car that's been in Candian weather. I'd rather do 3 motor swaps around a hive of angry bees.

 

wrong no matter what honda/acura always have stress on the upper and lower balljoint no matter its dropped or stock... camber kit are for more contact on the pavement it toe that wear tires out..its a old car it will have problem like that its no biggy just maintaince stuff

 

It don't matter what you do, as long you keep that type of drop...raise the car up and then add a camber kit in the front, and rear of the car, and a good alignment, on a DA teg, anything more then 1.75" drop causes serious problems to the sway bushings, upper and lower ball joints, tires and wheel bearings. Toe isn't always key, when your slammed...

 

i never said anything but toe being a problem in ball joints etc i said its whats wear tires out more than camber im certified in alignment and suspension conpanants i know how they work ........ like i said its a old car some cars will have problem like that even newer car have problem with bearing etc it just how you drive etc and yea being low wwill cause more stress on the ball joints

 

Okay true true.. I love the way the car sits right now though (I bottom out the front chasis ocassionally - you know, like on those ridiculous roads that have these weird dips in them??) But honestly, I dont think its bottoming the engine cuz the engine sits right above the wheels (thus, protecting the engine) And below the engine, it has a metal bar that streches across the front, so there is minimal damage done to the engine... I just dont wanna spend mad money on repairing the ball joints/wheel barings/etc.... And by the way, its a GSR guys, not a DA, if that happens to make a difference for anyone.

 

raise your car up /thread