My 08 IS F has a slight drift/pull to the right. After getting my alignment done, the front caster is slightly out of spec. Would this .2° cause a pull? I researched replacement LCA bushing, and I am thinking of replacing the right LCA bushing with P/N 48075-53020. The RH LCA bushing is a +20' /.33° adjustment. Would this LCA bushing take my RH Caster from 7.8° to 8.13°. I am trying to decide if balancing out the front Caster would fix my slight right pull/drift even though I would still be back at a .2° Caster difference.

Which bushing do you recommend to help improve my caster? Would it be wise to also replace the LH LCA bushing to bring it closer to 8.33°?

 

Is the car lowered in the front? It's pretty unusual to have that much camber on both sides at the same time.

 

Car is 100% stock.

 

Stock wheels, OEM tire sizes, proper pressure in both front wheels?

It's not usual to see camber off balance causing the issue you have, but your camber is pretty close to dead on, so moving the subframe won't make a big difference without impacting your camber balance in a bad way. Did they check the ride height? If the car is on stock suspension, either the shocks have lost their pressure, or the springs are sagging significantly. Camber should be about -1.1 on both sides at correct ride height.

 

OEM wheels and tire sizes. Tires are like new and inflated to 36 psi cold. I may go back to the shop and have him adjust the front camber closer to -1.1°.

 

There is no camber adjustment on these cars from the factory. That's why the numbers are suspect. It appears the ride height is too low.

 

I've checked the front struts and springs. They are OEM from Tokico.

 

Sounds like they're also likely 14 years old. That's a long time to sit on the springs, and I'd bet they're pretty tired. I know mine are sagging for sure, and when I finally get around to putting the Ohlins DFVs on the car instead of laying on the floor, it will need another alignment for sure.

 

In principle, higher RH than LH caster would compensate for the slight crowning built into most roads for drainage (assuming LHD of course). Do you notice a difference in steering pull while driving on crowned vs flat roads? What about sloped left vs sloped right (i.e. left lane vs right lane on a typical CA freeway)?

I think in principle the part swap could help the pull, but I would hesitate because the stiffer aftermarket bushings are such an effective improvement for tire wear, toe-out under braking, etc. I have experienced the difference and for me there is no going back.

My two alignment data points are both with right lead, so unfortunately my experience is not especially helpful.
1) With 116k miles on a tired OEM suspension (except for Figs LCA bushings) and 3-month old OEM size tires on OEM wheels, I had no leftward pull with a 0.6° right caster lead. Cambers were asymmetric by almost 0.3°:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...l#post10891071
2) After coilover installation five months later, same wheels/tires, 0.3° right caster lead with symmetric cambers:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...l#post11012675

I had no idea there are OEM parts for a spectrum of LCA offsets. Could this be a subtle acknowledgement that the front subframes are difficult to square up?

 

I'm going to swap my front tires left to right to eliminate possible radial pull. If that doesn't correct the pull, I am going to go with the +20 offset RH LCA bushing.

Appreciate all of the inputs! Fingers crossed.

 

Get the Figs lower control arm bushings and save yourself a lot of issues. They are a serious help for these cars.

 

My car was all kinds of messed up from bad LCA bushings. Sometimes it would wander, and sometimes it would pull hard when braking. New bushings from Figs fixed it all. The oem ones were cracked most of the way around the entire bushing, as if they had dry rotted.

 

Was this evident during a visual inspection? My car was inspected & they said everything looked fine. Chasing down why my steering wheel is either at the 11 o clock position or 1 o clock. It’s driving me nuts.