For you lowered caddys out there. I bought my car with cut springs. The rear camber is way off and the alignment guy in my town said there is no adjustment. What do you guys do about aligning after a drop?

 

Find an alignment guy that knows what he's talking about.

I'll be honest, I don't know how the camber is adjustable, as I've never done it myself, but I know without a doubt that it is adjusable.

 

seems strange??? cut or not I'm not seeing how it will effect the alignment. As long as they appropriately adjust the control arms/tie rods etc to the rotor the wheels should sit straight... Unless, the guy that cut them, cut them off too much and they are rubbing all over the fender you'd be forced to run a funky camber in order for it to fit in the wheel well. Never have any alignment issues at NTB. Regardless cutting springs is never the best idea unless you drive a civic! Springs are cheap to begin with. Try another larger shop in your town man...good luck.

 

Lowering increases negative camber, period. (until you get it adjusted of course)

The adjustment is a bolt on the lower control arm where it meets the frame. Basically it's bolted in a curved slot. To get more positive camber, the bolt is loosened and the arm is moved further inward, which pushes the top of the wheel out. For more negative, the opposite.

You can diy but chances are you'll foul it up since its a matter of degrees.. But if the camber is egregiously negative and causing the car do dart like a cracked out greyhound, it might be worth a shot. Just understand that every adjustment affects the others...its a nasty journey on our cars, especially when lowered. If on a budget and will keep the car for a while, just get the lifetime alignment at firestone. It will pay for itself quick if you change suspension alot..

Depending how low you are, you can only get so close to a positive number at certain heights without making that slot longer... You're probably screwed is what I'm saying..

 

Well I'm gonna buy some stock springs or at least some lowering springs and then go from there. I'll snap a couple pictures tomorrow morning and post them up and y'all can see how low it is. And yea I always thought this guy was good until he said there wasn't NY adjustment at all.

 

There isn't, unless you plan on putting a custom solution together. I've heard whisperings of people using the Eibach 5.81260K kit, but looking at it, I have no idea how to apply it.

 

At least I can raise it up a little to where its not as bad. The driver side rear is the worst one.

 

content blocked due to EXPIRED TOKEN.

 

Are you confusing camber with corner balancing? It sounds like you're talking about trying to equalize your ride height but refer to it as camber.

 

With H&R springs and MM spacers my camber adjustment is bottomed out and still around -2.4* (IIRC) which is still more negative camber than the stock alignment calls for.

 

I had that problem on my car, over 2 deg negative in the rear. I bought my car already lowered, but should have know it had a problem bc inside edges were worn badly. I removed my LCA and cut/ground the extra material around the bushing that mounts in the sub frame. Then I boxed them in with some 3/16. Had to go threw all that work bc I extended the slots in the sub frame where the LCAs mount, but then the extra "meat" around the inner bushing would bottom on the sub frame. I used an angle finder and tape to get it close enough to drive to a shop to have it aligned, but would not recommend trying to get it close at home. One day, I'm going to have the rear aligned to maybe 0.5 positive to see if it helps with straight line traction.

 

My driver rear is like this / and passenger isn't near as bad. I'm exaggerating a little but you can definitely tell its angled more than the pass side

 

So as long as it's aligned back to normal settings then lowering the car won't affect the alignment? In other words, lowering the car will affect the alignment.

Why would be the best idea for a Civic?

I know the rear camber is adjustable (even without buying aftermarket parts), and Cadzilla has already posted how it works:

With that said, I concur that I don't know what the Eibach kit is for, but I've seen it listed on a couple sites as an option for the CTS/CTS-V. Maybe it's just a matter of using a smaller diameter bolt to allow the adjustment to slide more in that slot?

I wouldn't necessarily blame the negative camber - usually uneven wear on the inside edges is due more to improperly adjusted toe, which causes the tires to be continuously dragging as the car is driving straight. I run more than -2deg camber on all 3 of my cars without issues because the toe is set properly.

How would positive camber help straight line traction?

 

The factory alignment is set negative, top of the tires leaning inward to the center of the car. When the suspension compress under accelretion, it will go even more negative. Thought about setting the rear slightly positive so under acceleration it would be closer to zero, even contact patch across the width of the tire. Don't know how much camber changes at different ride heights, but it does change. Just thought it might be something to try.

 

AAIIIC, unless I completely missed something in the rear end, I don't think we have a sliding bolt either front or rear. Do you believe otherwise?

And yeah, the comprehension level on this thread is lower than a 60 second foray into Google. Frankly, if someone wants to run negative camber in the front and positive camber in the back to improve straight line traction, I'm inclined to let them. That's where cheap parts on eBay come from.

 

Know for a fact. Front and rear lower control arm mounts.

 

You completely missed something..get out there with a flashlight and a mirror...

 

Roger that.

 

Yup the rear control arm bolt is in a slot. Loosening the bolt allows the lower control arm to move in or out and you tighten the bolt to something like 120ft/lbs to lock it in.

At -2.4* camber in the rear I haven't noticed any abnormal tire wear in the last 10k miles (275/35/19)

 

Excellent. I'm bummed that I missed that, but very happy to learn that I can tweak that setting. Slightly more rear end negative camber, coming up!