camber adjusm't

[gdouaire]

Can be intimidating, but it's not. My car showed signs of excessive negative camber. Tire wear on the inside. I could even "see" the camber of the front wheels.

Got 1/16" shims on ebay - brand is Moog.

Basically:

1) Jack the car - one front wheel at the time
2) Slack the 2 camber bolts by 3/8"
3) Pry the tab out using a metal bar
4) insert the shims around the bolts. In my case, I used two 1/16" shims on each side. It's a "guestimate".
5) Tighten the bolts.
6) Hope for the best.

If you have positive camber, you do the opposite - remove shims.

Below - the shims / once installed.

[attachment=1]20140510_155316.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=0]20140510_161428.jpg[/attachment]

 

[Fox80]

If you had negative camber "tire wearing on the inside" you shimed your control arm the wrong way. Adding shims behind the arm adds negative camber removing them adds positive camber, you should just have your car aligned or buy a caster camber gauge and do it yourself. Caster (you also changed that with your shims) is very noticeable in the drivability of a car

 

[pontiacgp]

the experience I have with G bodies is that the stock size tires scuff the outside tread of the front tires. I ran 245-50 16 BFG g force tires on my car for the last 2 years. I drive the car hard at times and the camber of -1º gives me better cornering and the tire wear was even across the front tires...If you have wear on the inside of the tires that would be the toe that is out.

 

[gdouaire]

If you had negative camber "tire wearing on the inside" you shimed your control arm the wrong way. Adding shims behind the arm adds negative camber removing them adds positive camber, you should just have your car aligned or buy a caster camber gauge and do it yourself. Caster (you also changed that with your shims) is very noticeable in the drivability of a car

Indeed. More reading on the web showed I understood this the other way around. At least the bolts are "unseized" now, which will make the re-adjustment easier.

 

[Fox80]

Toe is not what is wearing a tire out on the inside, toe out of spec leaves a scalloped pattern similar to bad shocks, a tire that is flat on the ground will not wear on one edge or the other with toe out or toe in

 

[pontiacgp]

Excessive toe-out wears the inside of the tire

http://www.hunter.com/alignment/hd/995T-2.pdf

 

[gdouaire]

so, basically, both toe and camber can cause excessive tire wear on the inside of the sole.

In my case, when I looked at my car, I could see the negative camber on the front wheels. So that is part of the problem for the uneven wear pattern I saw, but maybe toe is also part of my problem.

Today, I removed 1/8" shims on all bolts. Looking at the tire, the negative camber isn't apparent all that much anymore. Better than before. I'll see how my 20$ tires are worn at the end of the summer 😉

 

[Fox80]

You can do the trial and error method all summer, but I would just buy a cheap gauge Jegs sells one that is pretty nice and you will be amazed how easy it is to use. A buddy or a set if toe plates are needed to check toe after caster/camber is set. Nice write up from the Hunter PDF, I have seen a bunch of them and trust me a car with toe out of wack doesn't have a pattern anywhere near what a car with camber problems. The owners manual for the racks are nice (although that one is the heavy equipment one) but you learn alot doing it first hand, kind if like a Remington manual wont make you a sharp shooter

 

[FE3X CLONE]

For $50 you can have a real alignment done and not have to do any guessing.

It's great you want to try this on your own but without the right equipment, it's just a guessing game as mentioned above. It's like trying to set the timing on your engine to a specific number just by ear instead of using a timing light.

 

[Fox80]

For $50 you can have a real alignment done and not have to do any guessing.

It's great you want to try this on your own but without the right equipment, it's just a guessing game as mentioned above. It's like trying to set the timing on your engine to a specific number just by ear instead of using a timing light.

Exactly