Quick question about camber bolts

[bseriesthom]

Just a quickie,

Looking to install some camber bolts on the other half's car as the camber is way out (0.1 deg positive on one side), the instructions say to put them in the place of the top bolts which seems reasonable enough. However a friend has said that he and a few other people have put them in the bottom instead as the same effect is achieved but it widens the track of the vehicle slightly aswell. Now is this just plain stupid/dangerous/pointless or is there some truth in this. The logic seems sound and as far as i can see if the bolts are safe enough to go in the top then surely they could go in the bottom. but thought i best ask around a bit first.

Thanks

Thom

[McSam]

Their problem is thinking that simply widening the track of the vehicle is a good thing. It's an important and complicated contributor to the car's behaviour, so don't mess with it, get the geometry as close to standard as possible.

So for your question, I suppose do what the instructions say!

[mattball]

At a guess.. because the bottom bolt has more load on it, so they suggest you replace the top. The camber bolt has to be smaller to allow it to have the cam so isn't as strong.

Don't forget to get your tracking done once you've adjusted it, as it will be out.

Another option would be to slot the top hole of the strut and then just push the top of the hub in a little. Most coilovers have this design (including mine, and it hasn't slipped, you can buy lock nuts if you're really worried, camber bolts can slip anyway and aren't very easy to get spot on).

[bseriesthom]

HAH, now i feel particularly stupid for not spotting that myself. Never mind. What a way to indrofuce myself of PH. I promise im not that much of an idiot, just a very tired student.

Thom

[bseriesthom]

doogz said:

How exactly would it widen the track? That's defined by the size of the lower arms. The bottom balljoint is, where the bottom balljoint is. That's not going to change by changing where you put your cam shaped bolts.

I'd be looking at why the alignment is off in the first place, and replacing whatever part is bent, with a new one, before I done anything else.

the geometry's off due to poor qc on the front shocks as they are 'oe quality' as opposed to the actual oem part so the top hole is very slightly closer to the wheel than the lower causing slight positive camber. hence the camber bolts. they are eibach bolts though so good quality and people i know who have used them properly have never complained about them slipping.

thanks again

Thom

edited to put the correct persons quote in

[bseriesthom]

doogz said:

Ah, badly made pattern matched parts! Typical

I've used cam shaped camber bolts before on an Impreza I had to squeeze out a bit more front camber than my coilovers/adjustable top mounts could manage. Never had any issues with them, but then, I didn't have the car that long before it was stolen and I never did see it again.

yup, but at a third of the price of honda OEM stuff they still weren't massively cheap. ISTR they were about 50 notes a piece.