Asymmetric front camber, '23 w/coilovers

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Ohio Enthusiast

Is it just me or does the hub looks to be cambered out? The two red lines are supposed to the converge to the top and they look like they converge to the bottom. I would expect the hub to be more inline with the blue line.
Maybe it's just the aluminum hub having an angled machined area though...

Dude, c’mon…. Look at the top bolt location relative to edge of RCE clevis, V’s bottom bolt. It’s maxed out for negative camber which I confirmed already a few times. Same procedure both sides, yet left side is at -2.1 full adjustment at top mount, right side set to match left side is not even on the negative adjustment side at top. Car is WAY asymmetrical. Or both alignment machine and manual camber gauge are off by same amount. Which will be checked…

[Ohio Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by ZDan

Dude, c’mon…. Look at the top bolt location relative to edge of RCE clevis, V’s bottom bolt.

Having never seen the strut holes on the coils I'll defer to your judgment.

Originally Posted by ZDan

Car is WAY asymmetrical. Or both alignment machine and manual camber gauge are off by same amount. Which will be checked…

If the car was "WAY asymmetrical" it would have had a 2 degree difference in stock form which would be very noticeable. As you said the stock car looked about zero camber (as it should) and there is little to no stock camber adjustment I don't see why aftermarket parts would suddenly expose a severe asymmetry in the car.

I would suggest swapping back to the stock strut assembly and stock bolts (i.e. nothing is adjustable) and checking camber (even visually) to prove/disprove subframe issues.

[nomtimesthree]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

Eagle eye Larry in the office has looked at the pics and has confirmed the strut bolt is installed incorrectly on that side, which is why the hub can't push in as far.

The nuts should on the right side of the car should be towards the back of the car. That's the problem.

The instructions say they bolts can only go in one way...but...apparently it's possible to get them in the other way. We are adding more detail.

- Amdrew

I was wondering about this just having installed tarmac 0s on my ‘23 over the weekend. I was pretty sure that on the right side the stock configuration had the nuts on the side of the strut facing the front of the car. But when I installed the tarmacs with the stock 16mm top strut/knuckle bolt it would only go in the other direction.

I ended up buying a set of the stock 14mm crash bolts to install on the top and flipped it around to the stock orientation. Is this okay?

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Ohio Enthusiast

Having never seen the strut holes on the coils I'll defer to your judgment.

You might as well! This isn't my first rodeo with camber. I've loosened every suspension bolt on one corner of my 240Z and had the shop guy assist me as we cranked in as much negative camber as we could while retightening bolts!

If the car was "WAY asymmetrical" it would have had a 2 degree difference in stock form which would be very noticeable.

I can assure you I would not have noticed the difference if stock one side had been -1 and the other side +1. I never scritinized and to me both sides just look like "not *nearly* enough camber" as I'm used to -3.5.

As you said the stock car looked about zero camber (as it should) and there is little to no stock camber adjustment I don't see why aftermarket parts would suddenly expose a severe asymmetry in the car.

They suddenly expose severe asymmetry because this is the first time camber on this car has been scrutinized. However it is possible the RCE parts are where the asymmetry is coming in, or that factory and RCE parts are both "off" in the same direction compounding the error.

I would suggest swapping back to the stock strut assembly and stock bolts (i.e. nothing is adjustable) and checking camber (even visually) to prove/disprove subframe issues.

Meh, not likely to happen, going to have alignment triple-checked at Subaru Dealer where car is now, see what they get, then go from there. If those agree with the race shop's numbers, I'll install SPC camber bolts in the lower holes and possibly grade 12.9 M12 bolts/screws at the upper holes, which should get me to at least -3 which would be (somewhat) acceptable.

[Racecomp Engineering]

All very confusing. Do you have a pic of the lower mount on the side with not enough camber?

Monday...I'm making a video.

- Andrew

[ACT86]

Just for reference, had the same issue with mine. About 1.7 more camber on right vs left after coilover install when both set to max camber.

[dreamwonder]

Data point, for my kw variants, driver side I had to use bottom oem bolt on top slot and camber bolt on bottom to get -4.6 ish. I was at -3.5 ish if I just used bottom bolt on top. So not as bad as you.

On passenger side, I got -4.5 with just the bottom bolt on top. With slotted hole and camber plates maxed out on both sides.

Jrz had the same issues on the same car.

[Racecomp Engineering]

That's wild. I've not seen front alignment differences due to the factory subframe that large but it appears that it's possible and happens to decent number of people. @ZDan ...keep me posted!

- Andrew

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

All very confusing. Do you have a pic of the lower mount on the side with not enough camber?

Piccie of left front strut

[norcalpb]

Originally Posted by ZDan

Piccie of left front strut

Have you tried loosening that lower bolt and pulling the knuckle out more?

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by norcalpb

Have you tried loosening that lower bolt and pulling the knuckle out more?

I loosened both bolts and ensured the the top bolt was as far in as possible, and the top bolt as far out as possible.

Don't know how many more times I'll have to say it, but camber is MAXED at those bolts.

[norcalpb]

Originally Posted by ZDan

I loosened both bolts and ensured the the top bolt was as far in as possible, and the top bolt as far out as possible.

Don't know how many more times I'll have to say it, but camber is MAXED at those bolts.

Oops should have read more carefully. I’d try putting the oem Subaru crash bolts in the upper slot which I believe was mentioned. I thought the lower mounting was point was slotted but it’s the upper that’s slotted.

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by norcalpb

Oops should have read more carefully. I’d try putting the oem Subaru crash bolts in the upper slot which I believe was mentioned. I thought the lower mounting was point was slotted but it’s the upper that’s slotted.

I did replace upper bolts with OEM subaru "crash bolts" (which are same as 14mm lower bolts).

Just received SPC camber bolts to install in place of lower bolts. If I'da known I'd have to resort to this I could've saved ~$15 I spent on the Subaru crash bolts!

So how much will SPC camber bolts by themselves get me in terms of negative camber? Hopefully a degree anyway...

[RToyo86]

I was able to get -1.2° or so with the SPC lower.
Plus -1° when I added upper crash bolt.


Interestingly when I did Bilsteins they had issues getting camber set intially. Had to fully loosen everything on the rack then jam on the strut and adjust it for everything to shift properly.

Best case scenario something weird like that is happening but who knows.