- ex-Honda Mechanic friend 1 installs camber kit
- current Honda Mechanic friend 2 aligns car at dealership (he did it as a 96-00 civic, but i wonder if he should've told the computer it was a 2k itr for the 5-lug and stuff i have on it)
- i drive the car and it feels squirly unless i'm getting on it... like, unless i am accelarating (and I imagine activating the 1-way lsd) it feels kinda all over the place left and right, yet as soon as i push the gas, the steering wheel snaps to center and i'm good
- friend 1 said with the camber fixed it would feel different on the highway because of the different way the wheels/tires are coming in contact with the ground

What did everyone else notice with their lowered cars and camber kits installed with the car in good alignment (all green according to honda computer, for 96-00 civic settings)?

Any input?

 

mine goes straight with no issues...but I did get it aligned and got skunk2 camber kit installed in some other place other then honda dealer...I dont know what kind of issues your referring too...

 

My girlfreind has her 00 si lowered on 17's with a progress camber kit and pro-kit springs. It drives just like it did before. Honda won't align it though, gotta take it to a special shop.

 

did your friend do a full alignment or partial? you need to do steering as well, not just chamber. Do it as what the car really is, not what brakes.

 

Full 4-wheel alignment (camber, caster, toe). K, good so he did it for the car, not the suspension.

 

was he using any bent portions of your rims (if you have any bends) to take measurements from?

after a 4 wheel alignment your car shoudl NOT be squirly at all.
sometimes a new to you alignment (like, now its correct) will make your tires track the road better and they may follow road imperfections more... thus feeling different than before, like it has a mind of its own.

 

Well, it doesn't matter that you are 5 lug or anything.

I dont know what your camber was set at.

But I will tell you what my settings are and how my car acts.

My Front camber is -1.75 (set and even l/r with camber kit)
My Rear camber is -1.5 (washers)
My front and rear TOE is ZERO.

The car has a tendency to wander a bit, and takes a little more input on the steering wheel to keep it straight. This is because there is no TOE on the car. Toe IN/OUT helps to keep the car tracking straight, but leads to tire wear.

On a lowered car with stiff suspension, getting the car "green" or into specs isn't good enough. Everything has to be exact because any differences are exagerated by the car being lowered and running stiff.

So next time you get an alignment, don't be content with simply getting "in spec", since spec can have a variance of -1/+1 Meaning that if your right front tire had -1 of camber and your left front had +1 you would technically be in spec.

Get everything EXACT and EVEN and you will notice a difference. I would also suggest having your front camber set to at least -1.5 if you want your car to handle. If you drag race more then anything else then the closer to zero the better.