rear camber adjuster bolts or lower control arms?

[mike the snake]

I lowered my car, and now the rear camber is a bit much at -2.35 degrees.

My shop quoted me 3 hours labor to install the Whiteline camber bolts, so $100 for the bolts and $300 labor so I'm at $400.

Looking at the different adjustable rear lower control arms, there's some from around $300-$400, and I suspect the install would only be 1 hour, so I'm roughly at the same costs.

Shop told me the camber bolt bushings needed to be pressed out (something I can't do at home) and that's why the labor costs were so high.

Replacing the entire lower control arm looks like something I can do at home, and they'll offer more adjustability and look way cooler too.

Can anyone chime in and explain the differences and/or benefits of either setup and which will be the best bang for the buck?

Thanks,

Mike

[xwd]

I would just do the arms. SPC makes some which aren't very expensive. The eccentric bushings make sense if you can do the yourself since they are cheaper, but very few people go that route.

[mike the snake]

Looking at the Stance LCA's, they lower the car 25mm. I already have coilovers, and I'm wondering if these would be a good choice.

How would this affect my droop? In reading about the Stance arms they are supposed to work with the longer coilovers?

[ZDan]

Personally, I wouldn't worry about -2.35 camber, as long as rear toe is minimal.
IMO you're good to go. I've run about the same rear camber on the S2000 for years, it's no big deal.

[SliverBrz]

Originally Posted by mike the snake

Looking at the Stance LCA's, they lower the car 25mm. I already have coilovers, and I'm wondering if these would be a good choice.

How would this affect my droop? In reading about the Stance arms they are supposed to work with the longer coilovers?

i was thinking of stance too, but they lower the car 25mm more?

[mike the snake]

Yes, the Stance arms are shaped so they raise the hub and effectively lower the rear by 25mm without needing anything, no coilovers or springs.

What I'm wondering about is, if I already have shorter coilovers, how does this affect the droop? Is the difference good or bad?

[evil_1998]

I had the Whiteline camber bushes installed on mine. Yes it gaves rears around -2.5" each side (I'm lowered on Eibach Sportlines). I thought I could save a bit of money & didn't really need LCA which is more costly for some minor camber adjustment.

The bushes are hard to install & very hard to adjust. The shop I took for alignment said he nearly took an hr to adjust just the rear right camber, lucky the left side was already on -2.5 otherwise he said was going to take off hoist regardless. They said once on hoist, they couldn't get to upper control arm to adjust, very limited working space. The alignment shop said they would not adjust the rears again for camber if I took it there again.

For the cost I paid for camber bushes $180 & cost of labor to install ~$350. I could have bought a set of LCA's for similar price. Simpler install & easier to adjust.

If I was to do again, I should have bought LCA's. Just my 2cents.

[mike the snake]

Thanks! That's the conclusion I came to after hearing how much it was to install the camber bolts.

My BRZ is lowered 1.5" and the rear wheels gained a bunch of camber to -2.35, and so I was looking at getting the LCA's so I could bring my camber back to around -1.

The Stance LCA's say they lower the car 25mm so as to take advantage of the longer coilovers, and i was wondering how things would be using these arms with shorter coilovers. It seems like droop would be limited, not sure if this is good or bad.

[ZDan]

Why do you want to spend money to lose lateral grip? -2.35 is no big deal as far as tire wear goes. Toe is WAY more of a tire-eater.

[mike the snake]

I went with staggered 245 front and 265 rear tires, and I'd like to run with around -1 rear and -2 or -3 up front.

[ZDan]

I still don't get it. Why not try -2.5 to -3 front with the -2.35 rear you now have in back and see if you like it? Why do you think you need to go with as little as -1 in back?

If you're tracking the car, you're going to want more than -1 in back. If you're not tracking the car, what's the big deal?

[Tansey86]

Originally Posted by evil_1998

I had the Whiteline camber bushes installed on mine. Yes it gaves rears around -2.5" each side (I'm lowered on Eibach Sportlines). I thought I could save a bit of money & didn't really need LCA which is more costly for some minor camber adjustment.

The bushes are hard to install & very hard to adjust. The shop I took for alignment said he nearly took an hr to adjust just the rear right camber, lucky the left side was already on -2.5 otherwise he said was going to take off hoist regardless. They said once on hoist, they couldn't get to upper control arm to adjust, very limited working space. The alignment shop said they would not adjust the rears again for camber if I took it there again.

For the cost I paid for camber bushes $180 & cost of labor to install ~$350. I could have bought a set of LCA's for similar price. Simpler install & easier to adjust.

If I was to do again, I should have bought LCA's. Just my 2cents.

What was your natural camber in the front and rear after dropping the car on sportlines? I'm interested in those springs but I want to make sure I can get rid of all the camber once I install them and get back to the oem alignment.

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by mike the snake

I lowered my car, and now the rear camber is a bit much at -2.35 degrees.

My shop quoted me 3 hours labor to install the Whiteline camber bolts, so $100 for the bolts and $300 labor so I'm at $400.

Looking at the different adjustable rear lower control arms, there's some from around $300-$400, and I suspect the install would only be 1 hour, so I'm roughly at the same costs.

Shop told me the camber bolt bushings needed to be pressed out (something I can't do at home) and that's why the labor costs were so high.

Replacing the entire lower control arm looks like something I can do at home, and they'll offer more adjustability and look way cooler too.

Can anyone chime in and explain the differences and/or benefits of either setup and which will be the best bang for the buck?

Thanks,

Mike

I initially bought the Whiteline bushing kit. After dropping my car on Tarmac 0 coilovers, I had -1.8 and -2.4 on the back. The whiteline bushing kit only adjusted .75 degrees.

I went ahead and sold the Bushing kit before installing it and bought a set of new version SPC LCA's for ~$200. Easy to install, very easy to adjust and now have -1.3 camber on both sides. Go with that, no need for the $400+ LCA's.

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by ZDan

I still don't get it. Why not try -2.5 to -3 front with the -2.35 rear you now have in back and see if you like it? Why do you think you need to go with as little as -1 in back?

If you're tracking the car, you're going to want more than -1 in back. If you're not tracking the car, what's the big deal?

If he's not actively tracking the car there's no need to run -2.3 camber on the back. While it is not a huge difference, there is a difference between -1 to -2.3 camber so getting an LCA kit is a good investment over the life of the car to help tires last more.

Having said that, if he plans on running -2 or -3 in the front, what's the point of going for -1 on the back? Why is tire wear not a concern in the front? If the -2, -3 on the front is for track purposes, then I completely agree with you @ZDan he should keep the -2.35