whats ACTUALLY needed?
 

So far in my searches on here all i've found about what is needed when lowering the car is spend all the money and buy ALL OF IT! I see a lot of people buying camber bolts to get back to zero camber(which blows my mind) and buying 500 dollar rear lower control arms to do the same.

How far out does the alignment get when you lower the car 1-2"? I've always been under the impression that some negative camber was a good thing. i'm just curious if i'm going to end up with 2* of rear camber if i put H&R Super Sport springs on the car or if i'm going to end up with 4.5* of camber. also at what point do you actually need new toe rods in the rear?

I ask because the cheap rear control arms and ecentric toe bolts for the rear dont seem like they'd hold up to abusing the car. they seem like something you'd run on one of the yoloswag stance cars that people ruin and the next step up is amazingly expensive for such a cheap car...

I just put ST coilovers on my car and lowered it about 1.5". The front coilovers have a wide mounting hole to alow for camber adjustment up front. I was able to adjust to about -0.5 degrees on both sides in the front.

For the back though there is essentially no camber adjustment and I ended up at about -2.2 degrees of camber (which is right over the high end of the stock camber specification)

I need to spend about $150- on upper rear camber bushings to bring it back within spec (to about -1.2 degrees of camber)

The ST coilovers feel great! very comparable to stock ride quality with the lowering capability for about $800. Great buy for just lowering a car. (The lower the car anywhere from -0.2" to -2.0")

My sport line drop (1.4") took me to 2.7 if I remember right. I occasionally ride some harsh roads (like the Dragon) and my SPC's haven't been an issue.

Edit:
And no we don't granny drive.

Why would you pull it back to only -.5 after installing coilovers? Thats counterproductive, I for one would rather tune out the understeer.

I tried to bring everything back as close as possible to factory spec. what is counterproductive about that?

I an not looking to "stance" my car, nor am I looking to track my car. My goal is even tire wear.

Counterproductive because why would you spend a bunch of money on coilovers and then retain the stock alignment spec which is very weak up front. Since the factory spec allows for decent camber in back you already know that amount of camber isn't going to mess with tire wear. The lack of camber up front on this car allowed you to easily overload the front end even in spirited street driving, running just a little ~ -1.4 will dial out that remaining understeer without any noticeable tirewear. Anyone with real knowledge on alignments woudl tell you that you could run even more than -1.4 without tirewear. My 135 stock rear camber was -1.8 with zero inner tire wear.

lowered on h&r my car ended up with -2.6 degrees of camber on the rear. then used camber bolts to get the car to -1.0 degrees in the front

You'll spend the difference on installing the bushings compared to buying some LCA's.

The rear end adds camber as you lower the car.

From what I've gathered about our cars, you want a little rear camber and more front camber. -1.5 to -2 up front and -1 rear is a good starting point. You won't get uneven wear to any extent with this, and you'll have a good, balanced car.

Even "spirited" driving can benefit from camber. Stock alignment is actually horrible for tire wear if you do "any" spirited driving, being the outer tire section will wear and scrub...

-1 even up front is huge improvement IMO. It's about balance, -1.5 all around without tracking will wear even and add a lot to the experience. If you knew how many other sports cars had camber all around from factory it may shock you.

I put Ohlins R&T coilovers on the car and got it aligned.

End of conversation.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48679

-alex

Toe has a larger effect on tire wear than camber.

so the front doesnt have anywhere near as an aggressive camber curve as the rear? thats what i was wondering. I was considering leaving the rear at 2.whatever and figuring out how to deal with the front. i have ZERO chance of running a camber bolt up front if i lower with springs as i'm sure i can BARELY fit a sheet of paper between my tire and spring perch now. the car def needs more front camber after a drive this weekend on super sports.

These camber plate prices astound me... the last time i bought camber plates i bought the baddest ones that were available at the time and they were a whole 200 bucks...
http://www.maximummotorsports.com/Mu...2004-P256.aspx

does no one offer this sort of steel plate setup? I would much rather have a quality functional cheap steel part rather than something that is CNC'd and anodized aluminum.

If you drive the car hard at all in corners, you'll have more even tire wear with more negative camber.

What most people call camber wear is actually toe wear. With zero or very little toe you won't see wear from the camber at all.

For a track setup, you want about -3 up front and around -2 in the rear. If you want something more mild, go with -2 up front and -1.5 to -2 in the rear. Zero out the front toe and run a very tiny amount (1/16" toed in) in the rear.