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I cut the stock springs and installed the MM spacers a few days ago. I cut a hair less than the pictures in the "Lowering CTS-V with stock cut springs" thread shows. The car looks great; however, I brought it in for an alignment at Firestone today.
The tech came in and said that he can only pull the camber to -2.6 and -3 because the bolts are maxed out. How are you guys that are even lower getting -1.5??
Tell them to get longer bolts. Some suspension manufacturers call this a "camber kit" for the CTS-V - its just 2 longer camber adjustment bolts.
What? The bolts' length don't affect camber. They're maxed out against the camber slots. The slots can be lengthened with a dremel or similar rotary sander. The bolts simply hold the control arms snug within these slots. Just take a look at how the lower control arms attach to the sub frames and you'll see the slots I'm talking about.
The front camber should be able to be recouped to within spec at -0.9*. The rear typically bottoms out around -2.3*
That seems like a pretty reasonable ride height in the picture, they shouldn't be having that much trouble getting you back in spec. They may need to sacrifice some positive caster in the process.
Originally Posted by SmokeyCheese1
Tell them to get longer bolts. Some suspension manufacturers call this a "camber kit" for the CTS-V...
Some suspension manufacturers apparently don't know what they're talking about, because longer bolts aren't gonna do dick for changing the camber adjustability on a CTS-V.
The Kent-Moore J-45845 (and OTC knockoff) are what you'll hear recommended to help adjust camber in the front. However, having owned two of them, I can tell you that they should never have been recommended for use with this car.
What you actually want is a SPC 83785 ($95), which reaches across the subframe and grabs both lower control arms simultaneously.
Let me clarify though. The front is dialed in to -1* on each side. The caster is 3.6* on the left and 6.2* on the right. The tech said that if he moved the caster any more towards factory spec, the camber would go more negative. Toe is 0.07/0.06 left and right.
In the rear, camber is -2.4 left and -3.0 right. Toe is 0.07/0.09 respectively. Thrust angle is 0.01.
I will see about lengthening the slots to give them more adjustment room so I can get this straightened out properly.
If you cut less than me (using my write up) I am at -2.0 in the back and -1.8 in the front, everything maxed out. I may look into lengthening the slot to try to get around 1.3-1.5 camber to get even tire wear.
yeah that's a little less than I did in back. Interesting. A lot of shops struggle to adjust our camber because they don't know what they're doing, or it's too difficult for them without the adjustment tool.
Yeah.. -3 will just eat tires. I went lower than you and I'm maxed at -1.5. which is not terrible. Would have like a teeny bit more but I think I can live with my -1.5
So I'm guessing that something didn't get tightened enough during the alignment.
On the way to work this morning, my steering wheel progressively went off center during a 40 mile trip. Pic attached. I attempted to pass a vehicle on a back road and the car was all over the road to the point that I almost lost control. Not good.
04-25-2017, 09:21 AM
Lowered and too much camber 
