Camber Issues
 

Hey Guys,

Since this is my first car and all, I'm learning slowly but surely.

I took my frs into the dealership for an alignment after lowering the car on BC coils. I came up with some weird results in my mind.

I have
0/-0.05 toe in the front
0.05/0.05 toe in the rear

Then it gets weird.
-1.10/-0.90 camber in the front
-3.20/-2.70 camber in the rear ?

The dealership didn't change my camber at all, fixed my toe and then still charged me the $100.

What do I need to fix this problem?

Aftermarket rear lower control arms w/ camber adjustment. You lowering the suspension affects the rear camber but it can't be corrected because there is no adjustment available with the factory arms.

The easiest way to get the rear camber in check after lowering the car is to install adjustable rear lower control arms. I have the basic SPC ones which are pretty inexpensive. If you would like to even out the camber in the front and maybe dial a little more in, try out front camber bolts. These will be the cheapest options to get your camber adjustable.

Thanks for the quick reply, I guess I'll have to order some arms and bolts asap. I'm trying to correct the camber because having over -3 in the back is off spec. Would the lower control arms be enough to fix this issue?

Rear arms should be sufficient to get the rear end where you want it.


Did you get the BCs without front camber plates or are there plates that the dealership just didn't adjust.


If you care about performance then "spec" isn't necessarily what you should be looking for. Also dealerships usually aren't the best place to go for a performance oriented alignment.

The SPC Arms are supposed to be able to correct +/- 2 degrees. The aluminum ones (lots of people that make them) provide more adjustability, but at a higher price.

This is a good point. What's your main purpose for the car? Daily driving? Will the car see any track events? Autocross? What tires do you have/use?

If daily, I would probably do something like -2 front camber, -1 to -1.5 rear camber. Will transform the car from stock spec and not really affect tire life.

On my track setup, I run -3F, -2R on street tires (Bridgestone RE71R).

lol

DOT says they are hehehe :lol: :burnrubber:

It's my daily car and I will keep it that way, until I feel comfortable tracking the car a few years down the road. I believe I will need the camber arms anyways because the camber is really off from the left and right side. I was looking at Megan Racing; because I know I could get them before the weekend and having everything on, ready for an alignment by Saturday.

Also yes I do have camber plates for the front, just not the rear.

Yeah, so no need to go super aggressive on the alignment. Just even camber left to right, 0 toe (some toe-in in the rear is good for stability), and you'll be A+. Honestly I'd probably just do -1.5F and -1R camber.

There's no camber adjustment stock, so I bet they didn't even look under the hood to see the camber plates in the front.

Skip the camber bolts since you already have plates, and get some rear LCA's.

Thanks guys,

I appreciate the feedback. I ordered some LCA today and hopefully receive them tomorrow.

I am having the exact same problem as yours :) what did you order ? and from where ?

Well I ordered some megan racing control arms (rear) from ft86motorsports.

Living in Ontario, it only takes them 2 days to have it delivered if it's in stock. Which is why I went with megan, as i couldn't wait to fix my camber and toe setup.

I will let you know how it goes. If you're not in a rush I would shop around and go through ft86.

You may have issues with the rear toe arms needing more adjustment as well. I bought the SPC Adjustable Control Arms that come with a toe arm bushing that needs to be pressed in with a hydraulic press. The alignment shop I took my car to said they didn't have a press & that I'd have to buy adjustable toe arms. Check with your shop first to see if they can work with the SPC kit.

Man If Nothing else I'm jealous about that shipping time, if I want to order something it's like 2-3 weeks out every time..:cry:

\So how was it ? I am still waiting :)

We don't know how low you went, because this would never happen with a 1". Secondly, you took it to toyota with coil overs. They don't know how to adjust non-oem stuff most of the time, unless you know someone there. Rear toe should be adjustable from factory. I always talk to people or forums before I buy and install, so this can be avoided.

Sorry for the long reply, I don't visit the forums too often with work being quite busy. The control arms solved my problem and the car is as solid as ever. Extremely happy with the purchase and very easy to adjust on my own. I drive the car just as hard as I did at factory settings and even a bit of forced sliding here and there.

The install was moderately easy and only took one other person and a driveway to complete. There is no real difference in terms of ride quality or noise compared to the OEM ones. They're just better made and feel more reinforced which helps with the confidence when I chuck the car into corners.

Have you received your LCA's yet?

Regardless if you lowered the car 1" or 4", when you lower the car an alignment is needed. My original question was what was needed to fix the problem - which multiple people have stated, LCA's.

I did take it to Toyota assuming they would know how to dial it in. Most mechanics know how to do this, however, it's against company policy so it was avoided - which is understandable. I most likely should not have assumed, however, I learned a little more about my car and got a lot of knowledge out of it.

This wasn't something necessarily that could be avoided for me. I wanted to lower the car to my current specifications - so I had to take a few extra steps to achieve that. It wasn't exactly a problem for me, I just needed the advice. If I had to rebuild the entire suspension...well then, that would have been done.

I also did ask the forum before I purchased LCA's this is what the post was about. How to fix my camber issues. :bellyroll::bonk:

Don't worry about being out of spec for alignment. You want the camber to be out of spec for cornering performance. There are some threads on alignment on this forum and good alignment shops will let you specify what you want for settings. I had to call around several shops before I found one that would do the alignment settings I wanted. I have stock suspension except for cambolts up front and SPC camber arms in the rear.

Sorry if I came off as obtuse bro. I had good intent. Most people that use coilovers go to specialized shops for alignments. I am glad that you were able to gain good experience from this.