Alignment on lowered car without camber kit?

[CB7Nub]

Alignments on lowered cars, camber kits specifically. Currently I can only get toe adjusted and camber is killing my brand new Yokohama S.drives.

If I get an alignment at a quality shop that is familar with our cars WITHOUT a camber kit I'll take a wild guess that camber wear won't be improved/less camber wear right? Or can camber problems be solved somewhat without camber kits?

I believe I have a toe issue as well so any alignment will help me at this point, just don't want to come in twice (before & after camber kit). But I've also heard that camber kits have clearance issues when your low low. Anyone has their own .02?

[PhatAccord]

just my opinion and from experience, if you are pretty low and your tires are worn, get a camber kit... i believe if you get an alignment from firestone, they offer a limited lifetime alignment
http://www.firestonecompleteautocare.../alignment.jsp

[reklipz]

I wouldn't take my car to an alignment shop if they don't know how to deal with an aftermarket alignment kit. Just my thoughts there.

Excessive camber will destroy your tires, as well as your handling. Excessive toe is bad as well. I don't know of anything stock that allows for adjustment of camber. I know that some lowering kits use sleeves that have adjustable spring perches/collars, and raising these collars will raise the vehicle ride height, which will reduce negative camber. However, doing so will also reduce the amount of travel so you'll have to be aware of issues there as well. So there's likely a small amount of adjustment there, and you may be able to get away with more if it's for a short period and you drive appropraitely. An alignment shop won't touch this though, as that's not an adjustment for alignment, it's an adjustment for suspension.

Camber kits do have clearance issues with low low; that's just the nature of the beast, and it's your job as a tuner/owner to handle it (or pay someone else to...).

As well, I would be surprised if the Firestone (or any) lifetime alignment options covered any sort of suspension modification (or at least one as invasive as what you're suggesting). Be cautious there.

Best of luck! If it were me and I still had the stock springs, I would put them back on until I got the suspension issues all sorted out.

[AstroVannin]

I had lots of negative camber .. but my toe was zeroes. Never really had a problem.

I had the Toyota dealer I used to work at set mine.

I dont know that people with cars that arent lowered ... on stock steel wheels are going to be the most help here.

[reklipz]

I dont know that people with cars that arent lowered ... on stock steel wheels are going to be the most help here.

I see how it is...

[ferenza]

ive had issues with eating tires when i dropped but i took it in for an alignment. I just fixed the toe and went on my way. Since then i havent had any big wear issues with my tires anymore. i have -3 camber in the front ,-2 in the rear. My tires wear slightly uneven but thats expected. if anything just do the spc balljoints

[Cb7_Qc]

the rear camber can be adjusted a bit by putting shims or washers behind the control arm (like between the control arm and the chassis) but thats a bit ghetto...
for the front there is nothing to do camber wise if you dont have a camber kit

[honda2014]

Get a camber kit where it looks like you need it. Sometimes the rear isn't noticeable, but I personally needed a front camber kit.

[Raf99]

i expect dev to post up soon here, as there are a million posts on this topic. Some of them are many pages and deep in debate. But I agree with others in a kit is needed. I think the one thing people don't take into consideration is what tire/rim choice is being used. The wear will be different based on the wheel (OEM 15s or 205/40/17). So i agree with ferenza, he summed it up well.
IMO, and what i've concluded from years of reading and personal experience:
Bad camber and bad toe = huge wear.
Bad camber and no toe = less wear
Both situations your still wearing your tire, one just more than the other.

[thumping_accord]

I had lots of negative camber .. but my toe was zeroes. Never really had a problem.

I had the Toyota dealer I used to work at set mine.

I dont know that people with cars that arent lowered ... on stock steel wheels are going to be the most help here.

Define lots of negative camber.... asking this cause just replaced every single bushing, ball joint, and tie rod in the front end of mine and its reading -2.5 camber at the shop. I'm wondering if fixing the toe will help my tires, which are not even six months old, from wearing as bad as they are, being that about an inch worth of tread on the inside of both the fronts are bald, which is why I replaced all the bushings and crap in hopes it would help fix my tire wear problem. How badly uneven do your tires wear?

[4GAccordH22]

Our cars do not have a camber adjustment. Camber is set by ride height. So if you lower your car and you want proper camber, you NEED a camber kit. I am riding on Eibach Pro-Kits and have had an SPC camber kit since I installed the springs in 2005. People will tell you that you don't need one, but Honda designed their cars to run with a certain amount of camber and when you lower the car you change the camber. Get a kit and have it adjusted properly. Firestone did my alignment with no questions (other than what is the torque spec for the ball joint camber kit).

[wagon-r]

Lowering the car affects both camber and toe. Too much negative camber will cause uneven tire wear - but the change in toe when you lower the car will chew up the tires much faster than the negative camber. Ferenza's experience shows that even two to three degrees of negative camber has a relatively small impact on tire wear.

Anytime you change the ride height, you need to immediately have the toe adjusted. Camber is a secondary concern. You can live with the additional wear or get a camber kit. However, my experience with camber kits is that they don't hold up well - and the alignment shops charge a lot more to do an alignment.