SWEET!!!! Camber Adjusted on my LS460
07-06-11, 11:42 PM
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SWEET!!!! Camber Adjusted on my LS460
Haven't posted on this forum for a while but i think my last one was about the same subject.
FYI for anyone that has the same camber problem like i had.
Been looking everywhere for over a year for a camber kit for this car but i guess the market is too small for any company to make a profit on it.
Check out the pix of my once new tires. Outside are about 8/32 left, insides were to shreds. I actually got about 25k on that set which everyone tells me is quite a lot, but just don't like the idea of riding on only 1/4 the contact patch they were intended for. Anyways, time for a new set and i cant find a camber kit still and i know everyone was looking for one, so i tore the car apart , scratched my head for about and hour and figured out how to set the camber to withing specs. See before and after shots.
A little background on my car. stock shocks with Tanabe spring that were advertised to lower "about" .8 inches but actually more like 2 inches all around.
22 inch MHT forged m10 off an 08 m5 285/25 rears 235/35 fronts
car was aligned after i installed the springs. (Feb 09) From memory, toe and caster in spec ,camber about .6 out of max allowable.
It took about an hour and a half for the driver front side, and about an hour for the other side, not including the head scratching time. Probably take me about two hours next time if i don't have to reset the toe in settings.
I check the toe in before i worked on the car and it was about 1/16 toed in.
hopefully, if the camber adjustment should pull it to 1/8 in toed in and I'll probably skip the alignment. I know someone is going to blast me for that, but eyeballing it and test driving after you can tell this is how it was meant to drive. Plus it goes straight, steering wheels is still centered, and the car just overall drives SOOOO much better after camber adjustment done, almost like when i drove away fresh from the dealer.
If anyone is interested, i took a bunch of shots of the actual work so i can type up a step by step diy.
FYI for anyone that has the same camber problem like i had.
Been looking everywhere for over a year for a camber kit for this car but i guess the market is too small for any company to make a profit on it.
Check out the pix of my once new tires. Outside are about 8/32 left, insides were to shreds. I actually got about 25k on that set which everyone tells me is quite a lot, but just don't like the idea of riding on only 1/4 the contact patch they were intended for. Anyways, time for a new set and i cant find a camber kit still and i know everyone was looking for one, so i tore the car apart , scratched my head for about and hour and figured out how to set the camber to withing specs. See before and after shots.
A little background on my car. stock shocks with Tanabe spring that were advertised to lower "about" .8 inches but actually more like 2 inches all around.
22 inch MHT forged m10 off an 08 m5 285/25 rears 235/35 fronts
car was aligned after i installed the springs. (Feb 09) From memory, toe and caster in spec ,camber about .6 out of max allowable.
It took about an hour and a half for the driver front side, and about an hour for the other side, not including the head scratching time. Probably take me about two hours next time if i don't have to reset the toe in settings.
I check the toe in before i worked on the car and it was about 1/16 toed in.
hopefully, if the camber adjustment should pull it to 1/8 in toed in and I'll probably skip the alignment. I know someone is going to blast me for that, but eyeballing it and test driving after you can tell this is how it was meant to drive. Plus it goes straight, steering wheels is still centered, and the car just overall drives SOOOO much better after camber adjustment done, almost like when i drove away fresh from the dealer.
If anyone is interested, i took a bunch of shots of the actual work so i can type up a step by step diy.
07-07-11, 01:01 AM
#2
Lexus Champion
hmmm interesting... i have my tanabe springs but i havnt installed them yet... its really cool that you found out a way to adjust the camber on this car, i had sooo many issues with camber adjustment with my old g35....it was just a nightmare...my question is how bad was the wearing with the springs installed?? by the looks of the last picture it was really bad!! also did you have any rubbing after doing the camber adjustments?? your tires are a bit smaller than mine (245F 295R) so maybe they might be a bit more prone for rubbing :/
congrats on your finding and i wish i had the ability to do what you did!!
congrats on your finding and i wish i had the ability to do what you did!!
07-07-11, 06:56 AM
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Yes inside wear was a real big issue. Did not know the tires were so worn until I got it back from the dealer and they told me it was unsafe to drive. Never notice the inside of the tires until their on a lift or off the car. Don't let the pictures fool you, these are pix I took after I swapped them left to right so the wear looks like its on the outside now.
No rubbing issues at all yet. Rears do rub if I have two full sized adults in the back and hit a big bump doing 60 + on the freeway. Since these wheels were off an 08 m5, I believe it's more of an wheel offset isssue since it's not ideal for this car.
To set a more positive camber on this car, you have to either shorten the lower Control arms, or lengthen the uppers. The suspension geometry on this car is about as complicated as I have ever worked on so there was no way I would have modified the arms out of safety reasons so the only other option were to reset the upper control arm mounting location directly outward as to effectively lengthen them.
Keep in mind that this is, in my opinion, a fairly rough and "redneck" approach to modifying a 100k plus car, but without any other options as to adjust camber, I guess the ends justify the means. There are two upper control arm mounting brackets that you could probably get from the dealer for pretty cheap if you ever decide to un-modify your ride.
How to do this:
Without going into a full DIY, the car has two upper control arm mounts that you remove and re-drill new bushing location. From my pix, you can see that my camber was pretty bad so I moved the mount locations about as maximum as the extra metal allowed. Actually, it is also about as minimum as the metal allows, any more or less would make the new holes drilled into new slots. Not much room to work with but after all said and done, I think I got them to go about 3/4 of an inch out.
After a couple hundred miles and a trip to an alignment rack so I can get actual numbers, I'll probably take it back out and have weld-fill in the original bushing hole and add some custom made washers as the mod keep the oem bolt from seating perfectly.
No rubbing issues at all yet. Rears do rub if I have two full sized adults in the back and hit a big bump doing 60 + on the freeway. Since these wheels were off an 08 m5, I believe it's more of an wheel offset isssue since it's not ideal for this car.
To set a more positive camber on this car, you have to either shorten the lower Control arms, or lengthen the uppers. The suspension geometry on this car is about as complicated as I have ever worked on so there was no way I would have modified the arms out of safety reasons so the only other option were to reset the upper control arm mounting location directly outward as to effectively lengthen them.
Keep in mind that this is, in my opinion, a fairly rough and "redneck" approach to modifying a 100k plus car, but without any other options as to adjust camber, I guess the ends justify the means. There are two upper control arm mounting brackets that you could probably get from the dealer for pretty cheap if you ever decide to un-modify your ride.
How to do this:
Without going into a full DIY, the car has two upper control arm mounts that you remove and re-drill new bushing location. From my pix, you can see that my camber was pretty bad so I moved the mount locations about as maximum as the extra metal allowed. Actually, it is also about as minimum as the metal allows, any more or less would make the new holes drilled into new slots. Not much room to work with but after all said and done, I think I got them to go about 3/4 of an inch out.
After a couple hundred miles and a trip to an alignment rack so I can get actual numbers, I'll probably take it back out and have weld-fill in the original bushing hole and add some custom made washers as the mod keep the oem bolt from seating perfectly.
07-07-11, 07:01 AM
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Shibum... Or anyone thats intresred, I got a set of oem wheels and tires sitting in my back yard since 08. Less than 50 miles on them if anyone needs them. Ur in Florida so shipping might be cost prohibitive but anyone local to the bay area.
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07-07-11, 09:23 AM
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I was wondering if there actually was a part # on those . Heard about them but coundnt find them. Do you know if they move the brackets outwards 2mm and what is the difference in camber degrees after their installed. I moved my mounts out about 3/4 of an inch, and that seemed about right. Hunter machine will tell if it was enough. Seemed to me that + 2mm is only .08 inches and would not make much of a difference if it was the bracket that move the arms that much. Mine was moved outward roughly .75 inches, so roughly 9-10 time the replacement brackets if that was the case.
07-07-11, 10:07 AM
#9
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This thread just helped me jump off the fence about getting the Tanabe's. If they truly lower the car 2" instead of the .08 in the rear..thats a deal breaker for me. I assumed there would be some settling over time to maybe 1.25" or something, but 2"?? That may be too much for my preference on this car. Any chance that is just a rough guess?
I guess I'll wait until I upgrade to an LWB with a/s and use the module to handle the drop..I suspect that doesn't impact camber as much, but maybe I am assuming wrong
Glad you got your camber resolved. I have the ingalls camber control arms on my acura tl that adjust to about +/-3.5mm and it worked out great..car tracks perfect and tire wear is like the car is not even dropped.
I guess I'll wait until I upgrade to an LWB with a/s and use the module to handle the drop..I suspect that doesn't impact camber as much, but maybe I am assuming wrong
Glad you got your camber resolved. I have the ingalls camber control arms on my acura tl that adjust to about +/-3.5mm and it worked out great..car tracks perfect and tire wear is like the car is not even dropped.
Last edited by CJITTY; 07-07-11 at 10:14 AM.
07-07-11, 11:24 AM
#11
CJITTY - This thread just helped me jump off the fence about getting the Tanabe's. If they truly lower the car 2" instead of the .08 in the rear..thats a deal breaker for me. I assumed there would be some settling over time to maybe 1.25" or something, but 2"?? That may be too much for my preference on this car. Any chance that is just a rough guess?
I think that is a guess. I read other post and nothing is close to 2", more closer to 1.25 or less. in the rear.
I think that is a guess. I read other post and nothing is close to 2", more closer to 1.25 or less. in the rear.
07-07-11, 06:21 PM
#12
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can u post some pics b4 u do the welding.. so i can get an idea of where to drill.. i'll probably look into this sooner rather than later.. maybe get factory mods an machine upgraded parts 1st b4 i drill.. but thats jus me... i explore options b4 drilling... usually just do bolt on suspension upgrades so this is definitely new ground wanna get it right...
07-07-11, 08:50 PM
#13
I was wondering if there actually was a part # on those . Heard about them but coundnt find them. Do you know if they move the brackets outwards 2mm and what is the difference in camber degrees after their installed. I moved my mounts out about 3/4 of an inch, and that seemed about right. Hunter machine will tell if it was enough. Seemed to me that + 2mm is only .08 inches and would not make much of a difference if it was the bracket that move the arms that much. Mine was moved outward roughly .75 inches, so roughly 9-10 time the replacement brackets if that was the case.
07-08-11, 12:04 AM
#15
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