Lowered!!! Now how to get rid of the ricer look out front?
#1
Lowered!!! Now how to get rid of the ricer look out front?
I have had my WS6 lowered for more than a year now and I'm trying to figure out how to remove that slammed Honda look the front wheels give. I purchased Strano Re-valves, Eibach pro-kit(the ones that lower the least, sorry sam you didnt have your springs out yet) from Sam. I love the handling and stance but just cannot stand how the front tires sit inwards on the top......alot of negative camber. I think a adjustable upper control arm will fix it but I'm not sure. Have any of yo'all fixed this or found a way to correct it.
I would appreciate a answer and Sam if you have anything for me I will buy from you and only you.
Thank you
I would appreciate a answer and Sam if you have anything for me I will buy from you and only you.
Thank you
Last edited by 99wssixm6; 10-17-2008 at 10:01 PM.
#3
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first of all, if you're talking about the tops of the tires being farther inward than the bottom, that's not caster, that's camber.
any alignment shop that's any good should be able to correct the camber fairly easily. although, if the drop is big enough, there may not be enough adjustment with the stock parts, so in those cases, adjustable front control arms may be required to get enough adjustability to bring them back to spec.
any alignment shop that's any good should be able to correct the camber fairly easily. although, if the drop is big enough, there may not be enough adjustment with the stock parts, so in those cases, adjustable front control arms may be required to get enough adjustability to bring them back to spec.
#4
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Mine looked awesome when it was lowered. I think It is an optical illusion, what style and size wheels are on the car? The top of the wheel well is quite wide. My wheels have a lower offset so the stuck out more than stock. I never had to adjust camber or caster only the toe. -1.0* camber +4to +5 caster and 0* of toe.
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Mine looked awesome when it was lowered. I think It is an optical illusion, what style and size wheels are on the car? The top of the wheel well is quite wide. My wheels have a lower offset so the stuck out more than stock. I never had to adjust camber or caster only the toe. -1.0* camber +4to +5 caster and 0* of toe.
If 99wssixm6 had his car lowered, and never had it aligned, he could have some pretty good negative camber, and it WILL make the front wheels look tipped in at the top, esp. in comparison to the back wheels (~1° is visible to the naked eye ).
I have my car setup with about -2.5° of camber in the front, but I WANTED that much camber!! Yes, it's QUITE noticable, but I don't care ... the car performs awesome on the track (and in auto-x) which is what I was going for, and it takes corners on the street quite nicely too .
The stock spec is something like 0.4° of positive camber, so that the tires follow the crown of the road while driving in a straight line. Doesn't do much for the tires around corners though .
99wssixm6, have your car aligned, and get them to set the camber to about -0.5° on both sides. Max out the caster (positive) and somewhere around ~0 toe, or slightly toed-in (for high speed stability). If you put suspension into your car, you might as well get SOME of the benefits of it .
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My old Sportline springs had that negative camber to it, looked retarded. I took it to a shop to have them align it as much as possible, it got better but never 100% better. I just went back to WS6 springs
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#8
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I have had my WS6 lowered for more than a year now and I'm trying to figure out how to remove that slammed Honda look the front wheels give. I purchased Strano Re-valves, Eibach pro-kit(the ones that lower the least, sorry sam you didnt have your springs out yet) from Sam. I love the handling and stance but just cannot stand how the front tires sit inwards on the top......alot of negative caster. I think a adjustable upper control arm will fix it but I'm not sure. Have any of yo'all fixed this or found a way to correct it.
I would appreciate a answer and Sam if you have anything for me I will buy from you and only you.
Thank you
I would appreciate a answer and Sam if you have anything for me I will buy from you and only you.
Thank you
They are $159 a set, replace the upper control arm bushings and should allow you to get rid of about .5 degrees of camber. Not a ton of change, but in my experience with these cars and the amount of camber you get on a lowered one, they will get the alignment back to, or at least a lot closer to stock specs.
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www.stranoparts.com --814-849-3450
Results matter. Talk is cheap. We are miles beyond the success anyone else has had with the 4th gens, and C5, C6, C7 Corvettes,
10 SCCA Solo National Championships, 2008 Driver of they Year, 2012 Driver of Eminence
13 SCCA Pro Solo Nationals Championships
2023 UMI King of the Mountain Champion
#9
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You think that -1.0° of camber is an optical illusion???
If 99wssixm6 had his car lowered, and never had it aligned, he could have some pretty good negative camber, and it WILL make the front wheels look tipped in at the top, esp. in comparison to the back wheels (~1° is visible to the naked eye ).
I have my car setup with about -2.5° of camber in the front, but I WANTED that much camber!! Yes, it's QUITE noticable, but I don't care ... the car performs awesome on the track (and in auto-x) which is what I was going for, and it takes corners on the street quite nicely too .
The stock spec is something like 0.4° of positive camber, so that the tires follow the crown of the road while driving in a straight line. Doesn't do much for the tires around corners though .
99wssixm6, have your car aligned, and get them to set the camber to about -0.5° on both sides. Max out the caster (positive) and somewhere around ~0 toe, or slightly toed-in (for high speed stability). If you put suspension into your car, you might as well get SOME of the benefits of it .
If 99wssixm6 had his car lowered, and never had it aligned, he could have some pretty good negative camber, and it WILL make the front wheels look tipped in at the top, esp. in comparison to the back wheels (~1° is visible to the naked eye ).
I have my car setup with about -2.5° of camber in the front, but I WANTED that much camber!! Yes, it's QUITE noticable, but I don't care ... the car performs awesome on the track (and in auto-x) which is what I was going for, and it takes corners on the street quite nicely too .
The stock spec is something like 0.4° of positive camber, so that the tires follow the crown of the road while driving in a straight line. Doesn't do much for the tires around corners though .
99wssixm6, have your car aligned, and get them to set the camber to about -0.5° on both sides. Max out the caster (positive) and somewhere around ~0 toe, or slightly toed-in (for high speed stability). If you put suspension into your car, you might as well get SOME of the benefits of it .
click pic for bigger
Last edited by spaz1; 10-14-2008 at 07:26 PM.
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For a purely street driven car, absolutely ... I wouldn't have run this much. But I take my car to the track a fair bit, and I don't drive it to work 5 days a week, so I was willing to sacrifice a little bit of excess tire wear for improved handling ..... and it works well .
#11
Thanks for the replies. I have corrected the Camber/Caster error. Sorry I guess a few too many beers when I typed it. Anyways, I did have the alignment done, actually I'm a Service Manager at a Dodge Chrysler Jeep dealer and had our lead suspension guy do it. He used to work for Hunter Engineering (made alignment machines) and a BMW race team. I guess he isnt used to the F-body. I'm sorry to ask this but how do I "we" adjust the Camber on these cars....is there any top mount adjustment.
Thank you
I think I'm gonna go with Sams bushings.
Thank you
I think I'm gonna go with Sams bushings.
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There is no access for any adjustments to be done with the factory upper control arms (except installing offset bushings like Sam's, which is a "static" modification).
It's all done strictly from the bottom where the control arms mount on the K-member. The Hunter machines usually had a guide on them for how to adjust them. They list a "special tool" used, which I advise to get in order to make the job significantly easier, however it can be done without (just will be much more labour without them).
On each front lower control arm are bolts that mount the control arms to their respective slots in the k-member. The front bolt on each arm are for the "camber bushing" and the rear bolt on each are for the "caster bushings." Bear in mind that these bushings have lots of loads applied to them (especially the caster bushing). Since the last 4th Gen F-body was produced in 2002, those bushings listed you know may be severely worn, which you know will cause more frustration with adjustment and retention of alignment settings.
You may want to source these bushings just in case (rubber is recommended, poly is NOT).
It's all done strictly from the bottom where the control arms mount on the K-member. The Hunter machines usually had a guide on them for how to adjust them. They list a "special tool" used, which I advise to get in order to make the job significantly easier, however it can be done without (just will be much more labour without them).
On each front lower control arm are bolts that mount the control arms to their respective slots in the k-member. The front bolt on each arm are for the "camber bushing" and the rear bolt on each are for the "caster bushings." Bear in mind that these bushings have lots of loads applied to them (especially the caster bushing). Since the last 4th Gen F-body was produced in 2002, those bushings listed you know may be severely worn, which you know will cause more frustration with adjustment and retention of alignment settings.
You may want to source these bushings just in case (rubber is recommended, poly is NOT).