Hyper Chick

I have a 2002 Camaro SS with Hotkiss lowering springs and Bilstein shocks. Never had an alignment problem until now. The passenger front tire will not allign. The camber is something like +6 camber. I've taken it to three different shops and noone can get the alignment right. Anyone have any suggestions as to what's wrong?

leadfoot4

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like something wasn't installed correctly when the springs were swapped. That's a LOT of positive camber....

Hyper Chick

I've had this shocks and springs in for a long time I just now had problems with the alignment

The_Bishop

iTrader: (10)

Bent knuckle, possibly?

leadfoot4

iTrader: (1)

I agree.... SOMETHING is wrong, then. Hit any potholes lately?

Hyper Chick

little ones not anything that would have caught my attention

fasteddy

Having just rebuilt the entire suspension on an 02 I have to say there is NOT much adjustment possible with the OEM upper and lower A-Arms....there is some but not much.

If the alignment shop has maxed out the - camber adjustment of the lower a-arm (the only adjustment point), then the next place to look would be a bushing failure......on the upper or lower arms or a strut mount failure.....those could create camber issues.

When I took my 02 lower arms off, some of the bushings were so deteriorated I could see through them......

Ask them to inspect your front bushings, mounts and ball joints.

+6 is big.....like dune buggy big.

Hyper Chick

Thanks

BMR Tech2

iTrader: (5)

6 degrees is alot. Do you have any vibrations or sounds while driving? Sounds to me like a control arm bushing has gone bad, possibly an upper strut mount. Get that checked out

Hyper Chick

Actually no. The only reason I even took it to the shop was because of the uneven tire wear.

camarokid91

+6 Degrees is very bad you are gonna want to go through the front end. Otherwise you will be going through tires faster than anything.

BMR Tech2

iTrader: (5)

Are you running stock control arms still? Is the tire noticeably leaning outwards? Can you post pictures of the suspension, and one looking down the side of the car at the front wheel area? I'm trying to figure out if the top of the tire is leaning out, or the bottom is pulled in.

Hyper Chick

Yes I am running stock control arms. The only thing I changed were the shocks and springs. I put Bilsteing shocks (stock size) and Hochkis lowering springs (for the Camaro) in it both front and back and rear lower contol arms. Thats all I did to the suspension. I did that 100,000 miles ago. Yeah believe or not, she has 190,000 miles on her. That's why I know it's not what I did. I'm trying to find out what went wrong now. It's not noticeable to the eye. The only reason I caught it was because of the tire wear. I've gone to 3 shops and noone can tell me what's wrong. They just say that's the best they can do. I will try and get some pics and post them. It's just on the passenger side. The driver side is fine. I don't get home till late tonight and tomorrow but I will see what I can do. I stopped driving it until I could get this problem straightened out.

leadfoot4

iTrader: (1)

Let's assume, for a moment, that the people that you've had look at this car are legally blind. They'd have to be, not to notice something wrong, as +6* of camber is HUGE! If they've adjusted the lower control arms to the furthest outboard position, as they would in an effort to reduce positive camber, and the measurement is 6* positive, then the problem quite possibly is with the spindle itself being bent, the upper a-arm is somehow damaged, the upper ball joint is ready to fall apart, or the upper control arm bushings crumbled and fell out.

Does the car shake and/or vibrate when you drive it? Does the steering have a lot of play?

Hyper Chick

No not at all - I must be off on the amout the camber is off I'm going to have to look up the number now. I know it's off enough to wear the outside of the tire bald.

BMR Tech2

iTrader: (5)

look at the lower control arm bolt position in the mounting hole. is it pulled all the way to the outboard position? If they have been trying to take the camber out, assuming they have half an idea of what they are doing, it should be all the way as far to the outside as it can get. If it is already there, then you have a damaged/worn component somewhere in the setup. if not, take it back and point this adjustment out to them and see if they can get it dialed in with that.

Hyper Chick

Yes the adjustment is all the way out. I talked to my brother last night. He said I'm off on the number. He said the number was between 3 and 4 when he looked at the machine. (not what the tech told me) He said it was more like 3.6. Here are the pics I took last night. This was all I could snap since it was so late and I didn't feel like digging out a jack:

camarokid91

So the bottom two slots on the lower control arm are maxed all the way out? I assume.

BMR Tech2

iTrader: (5)

this is the are you should be looking at. I have circled the mounting area, the arrow is pointing to an exposed gap in the adjustment slot on my car in the normal position. Is this gap present on yours or is it to the inside of the bolt head?

Hyper Chick

I don't know. I'll have to look. No one ever messed with that so I'm assuming it's in the stock position.