is a front or even rear camber kit even worth it for a 1.5 inch drop on a 98 lude? I have tien springs w/stock shocks and was wondering if i should even worry about a camber kit to prevent uneven excessive wear on my tires? should i just have my toe alighned and leave it and hope my tires don't wear fast? just wondering.. i am new to the prelude world.. on my 2001 celica gts it had adjustable camber as stock.. pretty neat.. oh well i have a lude now.

 

First of all, congratulations on your purchase of the prelude, it's much more powerful than the GTS .
I got the TEIN s-tech springs (1.5'' drop) two months ago on my 5th gen prelude and my tires are still great. My alignment is also still good so no wheel alignment and camber kits should be necessary.

 

lude_roller, do you have pics of your drop? let me know
thanks
iCk

 

I was on a 1.75/1.5 drop for a while, and my tires were fine. I would say get a set if you have the cash, but don't worry about it if you don't.

 

my email is mohammi@cc.wwu.edu
I can't use the IM feature as i am a trial user. how do i become a normal user. thanks in advance for the pics
iCk

 

it takes a time period. the trial period prevents people from just joining the board and going on to buy/sell stuff and then just leaving.

 

remember to get an alignment after you lower your prelude. most people skip out on the alingment and blame their shitty tire wear on bad camber....when in reality its bad toe that just ate through their tires.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lOOkatme &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">remember to get an alignment after you lower your prelude. most people skip out on the alingment and blame their shitty tire wear on bad camber....when in reality its bad toe that just ate through their tires.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It would be better if you get your wheels aligned, that is if you have money layin around needing to be spent. It really isn't necessary for only a 1.5'' drop

 

i wanted to ask you guys if the koni yellows would work with the TEIN springs?

I know only certain applications will work with these shocks. The reason i ask is that i have a SH and they are a pain to find parts for. I even called koni persoanlly and they werent even certain if they would fit. The ones that they could guarantee were the neuspeed sports on the SH.

The reason being that they had compensated for the longer spring that the Sh has over the base model. I suppose that the SH has an extra coil on the bottom?

Im not sure, but if anybody knows about this or if the TEIN springs will work with the Koni yellow adjustables please let me know.

sorry i kinda got off the topic.

thanks

 

you should upgrade your stock shocks if you have lowering springs,
they're gonna wear out quick if you don't.

you should definately try to get an alignment and if they can't get
it aligned you'll probably need a camber kit

 

what are you talking about? its a MUST to get an alignment after lowering the car...regardless of drop.

if you take the stock springs out and put them back on....alignment is needed.

 

just remember that every inch you go your camber goes 2 degrees negative, but hell what would I know i have only lowered 2 or 3..............hundred cars anthing over 3 degrees negative camber your gonna have poor inside tire wear, you need to decide are you lowering for looks or performance

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Pulp Fiction &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just remember that every inch you go your camber goes 2 degrees negative, but hell what would I know i have only lowered 2 or 3..............hundred cars anthing over 3 degrees negative camber your gonna have poor inside tire wear, you need to decide are you lowering for looks or performance</TD></TR></TABLE>

negative camber is good for performance though...

on a 1.5" drop i don't think a camber kit is necessary. the tire wear won't be bad so long as you zero out the toe, so get an alignment. you definitely need new shocks. may wanna call koni and see if their shocks work with tein springs, but i think the konis probably have adapter hardware to make them work.

 

right negative camber is good for performance, but if you are driving the car everyday and have excessive negative camber your going to have to buy new tires every 6 months. the camber kit is good for a daily driven vehicle, you can adjust when you want the performance. also having too much negative camber will affect other parts like the wheel bearings, all sorts of noises will begin sometimes you lower a car and the noises never go away, you have to do it right, call the companys, dont belive what anyone tells you, do you think you would want someone to know you dropped a load of cash into your suspension and it handles great but eats your tires to hell

and yes i would go for the camber kit on the drop 1.5"=3degrees negative camber + what your stock camber spec is

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Pulp Fiction &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">right negative camber is good for performance, but if you are driving the car everyday and have excessive negative camber your going to have to buy new tires every 6 months. </TD></TR></TABLE>

my tires wear out in 6 months if i have zero camber... might as well make the most of it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Pulp Fiction &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">right negative camber is good for performance, but if you are driving the car everyday and have excessive negative camber your going to have to buy new tires every 6 months. the camber kit is good for a daily driven vehicle, you can adjust when you want the performance. also having too much negative camber will affect other parts like the wheel bearings, all sorts of noises will begin sometimes you lower a car and the noises never go away, you have to do it right, call the companys, dont belive what anyone tells you, do you think you would want someone to know you dropped a load of cash into your suspension and it handles great but eats your tires to hell

and yes i would go for the camber kit on the drop 1.5"=3degrees negative camber + what your stock camber spec is</TD></TR></TABLE>

having 5 degrees of negative camber is probably not a good thing, but the camber on a 1.5" drop will be more in the neighborhood of ~1.5-2 degrees, if i'm not mistaken. that isn't too bad. the tires won't die in 6 months on -2 degrees of camber (unless you drive a lot in that period of time.)

if it was me, i'd get a camber kit for sure, but i don't think it's an absolute necessity.

 

yeah, since I lowered my car using the eibach pro kit springs the negative camber ate the inside of the tires much faster, but then again that was w/ the 18" rims on. Now I have the stock alloys back on and so far the camber hasn't affected them much

 

What kind of BS is this.

I have lowered many vehicles myself. My car is lowered roughly 1.3-1.5 inches or so on tein SS coilovers. My printout from my alignment is -1 degrees front and -.5 rear.

That totally contridicts your theory. Your theory is complete and utter BS. I have one example of my ride with a personal experience....AND MANY MANY others on these boards.


From my knowledge....working with about 5 preludes on lowering. I would say the degree change would be more like this.


1.5 inch drop is between -1 to -1.5 degree negative camber for the front. the rear seems to vary more. 2 inch drop will get you closer to the -2 degree camber.

having -1 or -1.5 degree camber won't eat through tires. Moreover, it will help handling.


Like I will say again. I'd put money on these people wearing out tires due to bad <FONT SIZE="4">TOE</FONT> than camber. Most people drop the car and never get an alignment done after the drop. they visuaully see the bad wear on the tire...assume its camber....get an alignment done...and its all good. But in reality...it would have been just fine without the camber kit and aligning the toe in/out.


I made the mistake of this...and I am sure many others have too. I thought it was bad camber....when it was bad toe. There are no good front camber kits on preludes.....even the SPC (I had it) will hit the top upper mount on big bumps. I suggest picking a drop around 1.5 (which is street drivable 2inch drop isn't) and sticking with it without a camber kit. this comes from me...a person who experiences sooo many damn lowering springs and coilovers that I should be deemd drop pro.


My set ups in the past.

neuspeed sport springs on stock shocks (fine tire wear)
H&R race with KYB agx adj shocks (fine wear with camber kit, camber kit hit upper mounts cause it sticks above upper control arm (nut))
SKunk2 coilovers (suck ***....fine tire wear though)

Tein SS coilovers. (fine tire wear at 1.5" drop...cornerweighted)

 

^^^ i agree

i have neuspeed sport springs... 1.75 front and 1.5 rear.

i just got an alignment printout a few days ago and i have -1.3 front and -1.5 rear. that -2 degrees per inch dropped is bs.

 

yeap your right and im wrong if thats what you want to think.

 

Yea...most people who are dropped 2.25" on race springs have -4.5° camber





Maybe -2 or -2.5

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lOOkatme &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yea...most people who are dropped 2.25" on race springs have -4.5° camber





Maybe -2 or -2.5</TD></TR></TABLE>

his theory may be right, in that the stock suspension has slightly positive camber. it's definitely not 0 camber. whether it's positive .5 or +1.5 i don't know, but i do know that about 1.5" drops don't produce 3 degrees of negative camber.

anyway, 0 out the toe and you don't really need a camber kit, unless you want to adjust for more negative camber which some of us do. you're right about the no good front camber kits, i wish skunk2 would make their DC2 kit for the lude, even if it's hard to keep the camber locked on that particular kit.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by del_parker &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

my tires wear out in 6 months if i have zero camber... might as well make the most of it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

if you drive around with zero camber the car must handle like ****