Pros and Cons of Camber Bolts
Discussion
Hello all
I have a car that comes from the factory with no camber adjustment front or rear. I have just had the alignment checked and it came up as needing a tweak to toe and camber.
I can buy camber adjustment bolts to address the lack of adjustment and then I need to find somewhere to do the adjustment. The bolts in question appear to have washers that are chamfered on one side, with what looks like a groove running down the length of the bolt.
Parking for a moment the actual car in question, it got me thinking about whether adjustment bolts are a good thing for a road car.
As I understand it, they introduce a range of movement that wasn’t there before.
On the plus side, that means that the camber can be set, but on the minus side, it means that the worst case can actually be much worse.
On a road car that bounces around badly surfaced London roads all day long, would keeping the original bolts be better?
Would welcome thoughts!
I have a car that comes from the factory with no camber adjustment front or rear. I have just had the alignment checked and it came up as needing a tweak to toe and camber.
I can buy camber adjustment bolts to address the lack of adjustment and then I need to find somewhere to do the adjustment. The bolts in question appear to have washers that are chamfered on one side, with what looks like a groove running down the length of the bolt.
Parking for a moment the actual car in question, it got me thinking about whether adjustment bolts are a good thing for a road car.
As I understand it, they introduce a range of movement that wasn’t there before.
On the plus side, that means that the camber can be set, but on the minus side, it means that the worst case can actually be much worse.
On a road car that bounces around badly surfaced London roads all day long, would keeping the original bolts be better?
Would welcome thoughts!
^^^ yep, that.
If the toe and camber are out and aren't adjustable or are outside the range of adjustment then something has most likely got worn or bent. I'd get the rest of the suspension checked rather than putting camber bolts on it, that would just be papering over the cracks.
If it's only very slightly out.... meh.
If the toe and camber are out and aren't adjustable or are outside the range of adjustment then something has most likely got worn or bent. I'd get the rest of the suspension checked rather than putting camber bolts on it, that would just be papering over the cracks.
If it's only very slightly out.... meh.
Thanks both.
Pretty much the conclusion that I got to. The camber is very slightly more negative than would be desirable but that is almost certainly the car settling as it has got older. Both fronts are very similar and both rears are very similar too.
The guys at the centre (a Kwik Fit type place) also think that camber bolts are more likely to be knocked out.
Interesting reflection on adding adjustment to cars that don’t have it (in the past I have done things like coil overs with adjustable top mounts etc). The more adjustment you add, the more effort you need to keep on top of it.
Pretty much the conclusion that I got to. The camber is very slightly more negative than would be desirable but that is almost certainly the car settling as it has got older. Both fronts are very similar and both rears are very similar too.
The guys at the centre (a Kwik Fit type place) also think that camber bolts are more likely to be knocked out.
Interesting reflection on adding adjustment to cars that don’t have it (in the past I have done things like coil overs with adjustable top mounts etc). The more adjustment you add, the more effort you need to keep on top of it.
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