Lowering Problems

[AP1995V6]

That's crazy. I have a 285/35/18 tire and my wheels don't rub on anything despite being about 1/2" from the splash guard whenever I have the steering wheel locked in either direction.

Clean engine bay, though. Mine has had the misfortune of leaking valve cover gaskets. Mmmm nice and greasy.

 

[Immortal LuD]

Well, I guess that makes me special. *sigh*

My engine bay is usually kept a lot cleaner than it is now... Here's a pic or two.

I normally try to keep everything in good order, but not having a garage to put my car in every day, is taking a toll on the paint job... The top of the car is going bad. It's getting worse and worse every day!

 

[RoadracerGT]

You're tire is rubbing because you have ENORMOUS negative camber. I run almost -3 degrees camber and my set of race tires rubs the fender well. I don't care, it's not hurting anything.

Caster does not control wheel location, it controls top of strut orientation(lean/angle).

 

[Immortal LuD]

About the caster, I was reading an article explaining what it does, and I was really dumbfounded. I had no idea what they were talking about...

Something having to do with the wheel straightening out when coming out of a turn, etc...

 

[Immortal LuD]

Hey, I need your help really quick...

I went up to the shop, and basically a few of the guys were arguing about trying to get it done today, and it came down to them not being able to get it done until Saturday... Well, I work all week.

So basically I gave them the whole story about how I'm giving them another chance to fix this crap, and told them I'll swap the plates myself, and then get the alignment. That'll be free of course.

My question is, first of all, do I have to jack up the car, and remove the sway bar endlinks to lower the control arm, etc... , or can I just remove the plates with the car on the ground?

I don't have the time to remove both wheels, remove the caliper, and all that jazz for this. There seems to be two type of hex bolts for the camber adjustment, and just didn't know exactly what had to be done.

Can you tell from the pictures if this is possible? Thanks guys!

 

[RoadracerGT]

You just need to take the strut nut off, then remove the bolts around the strut. I believe thats how i've done it before. If they are like my Steeda's, at least. You'll need a huge flat head screwdriver or something to hold the strut shaft while you loosen/tighten the strut nut.

 

[Immortal LuD]

But I can do this with the car on the ground, right? I just didn't want to have to jack it up...

I didn't know if the strut would pop up through the strut mount or whatnot.

If so, I'll have to do this later today with some help. Getting that strut nut off is a bitch sometimes!!! My impact doesn't work very well on it, and we have to use a wrench with the large flathead screwdriver like you said.

I'll see what I can do. Thanks for being so helpful!

 

[97sally6]

positive caster helps out with high speed handling and tracking. meaning you go in a straight line easier on the highway. set it as far positive as you can, it wont hurt a thing. also have them set the toe in 1/16"-1/8". however much negative camber you want depends on your driving.

 

[AP1995V6]

The fourth page of the PDF on the first page of this post gives factory settings, recommended settings, and adjustments according to how you want your car to handle.

 

[Immortal LuD]

Pretty good documentation. I do love that, but unfortunately, my camber is just way to negative to be good... I don't want the extra wear and tear on my tires, plus, the rubbing is a bummer.

I'll be taking care of this by myself soon. I'm not even going to bother going back to those jackasses. Even for the free alignment. They can stick it up their corn holes.

Anyway, I'm hoping that a new set of springs and struts will make the car ride smoother... It feels like ass compared to anything else I drive. I'll be buying those here soon.

 

[Immortal LuD]

I went ahead and swapped the camber plates the other day... I could do it with the car sitting on the ground... The only thing I needed to do, was jack up the car so I could spin the tops of the struts around, so the two screws that are used to adjust the camber, would go side to side.

I can see, by my EYE, that my camber is better, just by pulling on the strut towards the fender, and tightening them down... I'm just going to get the alignment anyway, but it looks much better.

What f'n *******s. Waste my time by keeping my car overnight so they could **** up my camber plates, and then tell me that the plates are made wrong...

Oh well, thanks for your help guys!