I have a 2001 Lexus RX300 AWD which has 128,000 miles. I recently acquired the RX300 from my daughter which she purchased new. I had an alignment performed 2 days ago and today noticed that the right wheel has a noticeable negative camber. The left looks OK. Call the alignment shop and they stated the rear wheel camber is non-adjustable.

Can the rear wheel camber be adjusted? I would appreciate any help.
Thanks, John

 

I did alignments in the course of my work for a # of years and from what I remember on my DIL's RX, I don't believe the camber is adjustable on the rear (actually don't believe it's adjustable on the front either as I have had the front suspension apart, but others have said there is a small adjustment on the front). Actually it's not uncommon for there not to be any caster or camber adjustment on front or rear of many current cars, only toe adjustment. I will look in my factory manual to refresh my memory on rear camber adjustment and post tomorrow evening. In the course of doing frame and body work there were ways I could provide correct alignment when there was no adjustment provided. I would have to ask if the car had been in an accident if it has negative camber and there is no adjustment. Most of the time cars that have no caster or camber adjustment don't tend to lose those settings except for some settling and wear, which is usually equal on both sides and is of no consequence.

 

The manual says that the rear is not adjustable, but don't these make it adjustable?

 

I have always thought of eccentric bolts are for suspension are for unibody vehicles with frame (read structure) damage.

Salim

 

I don't think I would go that far. The factory manual calls for a version of these to dial in the front suspension.

 

I have two sets of camber bolts on my wife's 2002.

It had a bit of negative both front and rear. These put it back the way it should be. The car is damage-free, BTW.

 

I worked on a lot of FWD cars and came to realize soon when I was doing alignments that: #1, a lot of FWD cars called for neg. camber and # 2, a lot of them with no damage and no provision for setting camber would develop neg. camber that was out of specs. without being high miles or rough use. I worked in a Ford- Lincoln dealership and found this to be almost normal on the Taurus especially. If there was no history of collision damage it did not seem to adversely affect the handling or tire wear at all. As a matter of fact, as remember, the Lincoln Continental (used the same basic floor pan and suspension but had air suspension rather than springs on the struts) called for over 1 degree neg. camber. On both it and the Taurus the torque of the front drive pulled the wheels to a much more vertical (not 0 camber but fairly close) when the car began to move. That's the reason they didn't suffer from abnomal handling or tire wear as a result. There is nothing wrong with some neg. camber if it has no affect on handling or tire wear.

 

No Salim, actually there are trucks even that have no provision for camber adj. from the factory but the manufacturer provided eccentric bolts (not free) like those when they get some miles on 'em and actually need adjustment for drivability or tire wear issues. They do require a little rework to use the eccentric bolts. I don't think that's the way it should be done, but then I didn't manufacturer 'em either.

 

When I acquired the Lexus from my daughter, the tires needed replacing and it appeared she had been running them under inflated. The tires were Michelin P225/60R16 LTX M/S which had about 60,000 miles on them. They were probably only rotated a few times. Also the Lexus had never been in an accident.

The right rear tire had a little tread left except on the inside edge where it was bald. This appears to me to be a camber problem. The alignment shop where I took it , measured the right rear camber at -1.2 degrees. They claim the acceptable camber range is -1.3 to 0.2 degrees. This is close to the limit. The left rear was -0.2 degrees.

I don't know if I have a problem or not. Do I only need to rotate the tires frequently? The Lexus seems to drive and handle nicely, but I am used to driving big Ford pickups. I appreciate your help. Thanks, John

 

I stand corrected.

Salim

 

I am at a loss to say why the camber would be what it is on the rear IF it has in fact NEVER been involved in any kind of curb or other kind of abnormal contact other than the road. As stated, I've seen MANY cars, especially with 4 wheel independent suspension and front wheel drive with neg. camber. The one thing that told me not to worry about it was #1 tight suspension parts, #2 no abnormal tire wear, #3 EQUAL camber on both sides and #4, it drove well and went straight down the road, since I ALWAYS rtoad tested my work. One of the prominent things I looked for when it was out of specs was EQUAL, side to side. That's a pretty wide range on the specs, and the only thing that would get my attention would be the dissimilarity of L. to R. which is not really something I would simply shrug off. I know I told you I'd check the factory manual for adjustment on the rear. Sorry, life has gotten in the way but I will try and do that in the next couple of days. There IS a way to deal with it that is pretty simple if you have any mechanical ability. I'll explain later by PM.

 

Oh, I understand the dynamic aspect, but I had both inner edge tire wear, and I could see the negative camber when I drove behind her.

The rear was worse than the front, FWIW.

Also, you've not seen bad camber issues on rear wheels until you've owned an aged Mercedes!

Spring sag is beginning to show itself on our machines.

 

I'm not really questioning that what you had was simply neg. camber on the rear, but are you certain that it didn't have toe out on the rear since they do have toe adjustment and toe out would cause both neg. camber and inside tire wear. I have seen rear suspension toe in and toe out from a tow truck driver tying a car on the flatbed by the rear suspension arms and bending them, thus causing it. Whether it had toe out or in depended on whether he bound down the front or the rear set of arms, thereby bending them because the pressed arms aren't very strong.
Trust me, I've been around long enough to be VERY familiar with the severe neg. camber on the older Mercedes rear from weight in the rear, and they aren't the only one. They have come a LONG way in suspension engineering. As in loooooong way! I worked in 2 different Mercedes dealerships.

 

I bought a '74 TR6 brand new. I had to replace rear tires every 5k due to neg camber. They were pretty expensive - 15" Goodyear Redlines. They had a double wishbone rear suspension and the only way to correct it was to cut slots in the frame which I did not want to do. I loved that car but it was a maintenance nightmare.

 

code58, I'm certain it wasn't toe on the rear.

Since the camber bolts, it's worn tires completely evenly for 30K miles.