WARNING: DO NOT use 14mm OEM camber bolt in slotted hole

[switchlanez]

Originally Posted by Calum

It looks like a layer of powder coating was removed. That layer missing would have lowered the clamping force. Was it missing from both holes, on both sides?

It's the other way around. Slipping caused some paint to scrape. I bought these coilovers brand new and there was no paint missing when I first installed them. And if some paint were initially missing, the bolt/nut would just clamp down a few microns closer. 114 ft-lbs is still 114 ft-lbs.

Originally Posted by Calum

Edit, it also looks like the side of the hole is mushroomed, that wouldn't have happened if the bolts was torqued.

As I stated multiple times, all bolts were torqued to their rated spec. Any tighter poses the risks of snapping or cross-threading. The problem was a shrunken bolt should not be used in an enlarged hole.

[wparsons]

I fail to see how a smaller bolt and oval hole has any effect on this since the head of the bolt is still the same size and that is what is applying the clamping force, not the diameter of the bolt itself.

If you could make one strong enough, a 1mm bolt with the same size heads would apply the same clamping force as stock through either a round or oval hole.

[switchlanez]

Originally Posted by wparsons

I fail to see how a smaller bolt and oval hole has any effect on this since the head of the bolt is still the same size and that is what is applying the clamping force, not the diameter of the bolt itself.

If you could make one strong enough, a 1mm bolt with the same size heads would apply the same clamping force as stock through either a round or oval hole.

I want to emphasize that I torqued everything to spec the first time, no question. I even had to take a breaker bar to the [already slipped] camber bolts because they were still on tight... right around 114 ft-lbs.

Look back at post #8 and the end of post #4 from this thread. I don't think those warnings were pulled out of their ass nor based on theory but reality. Notice the correlation between what they say and what happened to me. Actual result trumps the hypothetical. Not sure what's left to argue.

[post_break]

Did you use smaller bolts on both the upper and lower? Sorry if you said this already, I just couldn't tell. Sorry I can't help with locating the insert, I've seen them before included with other coils. Essentially turning a smaller bolt into an eccentric bolt.

[switchlanez]

Originally Posted by post_break

Did you use smaller bolts on both the upper and lower? Sorry if you said this already, I just couldn't tell. Sorry I can't help with locating the insert, I've seen them before included with other coils. Essentially turning a smaller bolt into an eccentric bolt.

Lower hole can only use the smaller 14mm bolt in all cases. Upper hole comes stock with a larger 16mm shoulder bolt. A smaller 14mm OEM "camber bolt" can be used in place of the 16mm bolt in the upper hole and happens to have the same part number as the 14mm lower bolt. I used the smaller bolts on the upper holes initially, and they slipped. Swapped the stock 16mm shoulder bolts back into the upper holes, and they're holding up fine.

[switchlanez]

Originally Posted by Calum

it also looks like the side of the hole is mushroomed

Just an update on the mushroom comment: I bought new nuts and installed them today (service manual recommends replacing with new nuts everytime they are removed) just in case reusing the old ones might have caused slippage. The old nuts were still holding in the max negative position when I removed them but I replaced them anyway and inspected the mushrooming. It isn't truly mushroomed; the thread of the bolt just bites into the metal leaving an indentation at the surface. Past the surface, the actual slot itself isn't mushroomed (though the illusion is there).

[acx23]

In case you're curious, I used a set of H&R Triple C 14mm camber bolts (leftover from my WRX days) on the bottom strut slot. I was able to get -1.1/-1.2 camber. Technically you can get more camber if you have camber bolts on top and bottom, with the bottom set at max camber, you adjust the top camber bolt for more.

Originally Posted by switchlanez

^Are you using those with slotted upper holes? Because I also got -1.2 camber when I used OEM camber bolts on my stock struts. But the same set of camber bolts on my new slotted hole coilovers yield 0 camber (the same 14mm bolts x 4 all around).



I've heard that somewhere as well. But IIRC, that's after a certain point of lowering, closer to when the car is slammed. The wheel fitment sticky thread shows negative camber results when lowering the car 1". I'm between 1" to 1.25" lower than stock and two guys are running the same coilovers as mine (ST) with the same out-of-the-box height settings but stock 16mm bolts instead of camber bolts. They get close to -2 camber in front. (TeamZleep and Shutter in this thread: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...t=41432&page=3).

And this guy in another thread posted this regarding coilovers with a slotted top hole without explaining why:

[oc-drummer]

Thanks for posting this and saving us potential headaches. Have the stock bolts stayed locked in for good now?

[FR-S Matt]

I'm in this same scenario. Probably sticking with the 16MM in the top slotted hole on the V3's.


My question is, -2 possible with the slotted top hole on the V3's or am I going to need bottom bolts for a tad bit more?

[smbstyle]

There are plenty of us running 14mm OEM crash bolts in slotted upper strut holes, in fact RCE even recommended this for people running OEM top hats to get max negative camber.

I am running 14mm OEM crash bolts in the slotted upper strut hole on my RCE T2s, have about 500 track miles on the setup, and not one bit of slip.

[switchlanez]

Originally Posted by oc-drummer

Thanks for posting this and saving us potential headaches. Have the stock bolts stayed locked in for good now?

Yeah, they're still in the same position with the stock bolts.

Originally Posted by FR-S Matt

I'm in this same scenario. Probably sticking with the 16MM in the top slotted hole on the V3's.


My question is, -2 possible with the slotted top hole on the V3's or am I going to need bottom bolts for a tad bit more?

I got -2 left/-1.7 right with this.

Originally Posted by smbstyle

There are plenty of us running 14mm OEM crash bolts in slotted upper strut holes, in fact RCE even recommended this for people running OEM top hats to get max negative camber.

I am running 14mm OEM crash bolts in the slotted upper strut hole on my RCE T2s, have about 500 track miles on the setup, and not one bit of slip.

What value did you torque to? I read someone did 130 ft-lbs which probably works. There are other ways to make the 14mm bolt work such as inserting a custom fabbed slug insert in the slot or using special washers with teeth. My coilover instructions say to torque to the manufacturer's spec (114 ft-lbs) so that's what I did.

[FR-S Matt]

Originally Posted by smbstyle

There are plenty of us running 14mm OEM crash bolts in slotted upper strut holes, in fact RCE even recommended this for people running OEM top hats to get max negative camber.

I am running 14mm OEM crash bolts in the slotted upper strut hole on my RCE T2s, have about 500 track miles on the setup, and not one bit of slip.

I'll probably pick some up at the dealership. Hard to pass up when they're cheap. Should be able to fine adjust -2.0 on a 14MM upper crash bolt in the slotted hole.

[smbstyle]

Originally Posted by switchlanez

Yeah, they're still in the same position with the stock bolts.

I got -2 left/-1.7 right with this.

What value did you torque to? I read someone did 130 ft-lbs which probably works. There are other ways to make the 14mm bolt work such as inserting a custom fabbed slug insert in the slot or using special washers with teeth. My coilover instructions say to torque to the manufacturer's spec (114 ft-lbs) so that's what I did.

I torqued to 130 ft/lbs, they can easily be torqued up to 150 ft/lbs, but 130 has worked great for me.

[CSG Mike]

We haven't had any issues.

How easily can you scratch the housing on your ST coilovers? The Tein SRCs we have don't just have a slot for camber bolts; it has a full on enlarged hole so that the entire position can be altered and held by camber.

We put a painted "x" over our bolt and on the shock body to make sure it hasn't moved.