First I upgraded the front suspension, lower inner rear bushing with Superpros, the variant that offsets the holes to increase caster. I liked the effect, and wanted more.

So I swapped the upper control arms. Surprisingly easy work. Getting the battery and airbox out took almost as much time as removing each control arm. I then set toe using a string to toe out 0.5mm per side.

Much better steering response and feel in the 2 to 5 inch off-center range.

 

Really hopeing this is for a track only car. Otherwise have fun buying tires.

 

Why would increased caster eat tires? Maybe others who saw increased wear didn't readjust toe. I noticed I got an extra 1.5mm or so of toe-in after the swap so I adjusted toe back to -1mm toe out.

 

Its the toe that will eat it, not the caster.

 

i just went through similar experience - installed most parts of a es master bushing kit. sort of an unrelated question, but since you just did it you might know. when torquing down the uca's, do you do it while car is still on jackstands, or once it's on the ground? doing it while still in the air didn't seem to make sense, so i did it once it was settled on flat ground. everything seems to be in order, so i think i did it right.

also, tell us more about your stringing for alignment - is it that $350 kit i see in grm, or a homemade method?

-chuck, who also was not happy that he had to remove the battery (left intake on though).

 

Any time you torque down a rubber bushing (i.e. factory bushings) the suspension has to be in the "normal" position. In the case of the UCA's, I still had the factory bushings, so while the wheel was off I jacked the LCA until the hub was about 13.5 inches from the fender lip which is about where my ride height is. Torquing it when the car's flat on the ground would be easier but I didn't think of that. You don't have to go through this for poly bushings, because the inner sleeve acts like a bearing surface - the rubber doesn't twist as the suspension articulates.

No $350 kit, just string and duct tape. I only checked toe because that's the only thing that's easy to measure and would eat the tires (there's no obvious excessive camber). I taped the string to the center of the rear wheel, then strung it forward, parallel to the ground, past the center of the front wheel, and a bit beyond the front bumper. I taped the end to a jackstand which I moved around until the string was taut and was barely grazing the front tires. I used the ***-end of a digital caliper to measure the distance from the front rim to the string at two points, front and rear. Difference is amount of toe out (or in). I did this for both left and right. Before doing this I rolled the car forward and back a few inches to settle the suspension, with the steering wheel pointed dead ahead. I made both front wheels toe out about 0.7mm - I ended up only adjusting the right. It should be close enough to not eat the tires. I noticed that both mods that added caster made the tires toe in.

If and when I finally get my ST sways which are back-ordered since forever, I will see how I like the balance of the car, then decide what needs changing, then go for an alignment. I may then decide to get a camber kit.

 

i imagine this technique would apply for the rear as well? i think the toe in the rear is way off, due to the rear disk conversion and now the bushing upgrade. the centers of both rear tires are quite bald.

thanks.

btw, i used to have a skunk2 rear sway that eventually tore my subframe - i have since upgraded to comptech. i don't know how the st bars attach in the rear, but definetely consider some form of reinforcement for it.

 

are you guys talking about caster or do you mean camber?

if you mean caster, can you inform me about these superpros or get a link?

 

Caster, baby. Caster's good for you:
http://www.whiteline.com.au/faqsusp01.htm

Here's the info on the Superpro distributor
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=613955

 

thanks

 

but alot of caster can cause tire run out because as the suspention move it will change toe.
then in a corner when you increase camber with all that caster and the toe changes (tire shread) but the car will be stable at high speed though.
it helps when you run 1/8 toe out front and rear to keep the car straight at 100 plus.
tony
sm 140

 

I'll watch the tire wear.

I noticed significantly higher cornering limits in low speed turns (<50 mph).