Hi, SC owners. I'm brand new here and I've been doing alot of searching in this forum but I'm not clear to what is a camber kit. What does it do and what do you need it for. I have a 1993 SC400 and plan on lowering my car with some eibach or espelir springs and putting 19x8.5 on the front and 19x9.5 on the rear. The tires will be 245/19/35 on the front and 275/19/30 on the rear. Do i need a camber kit? Thanks and sorry for being a newbie.

 

Here's some info I got from Ingalls to pretty much describe camber:

What is camber?
Camber is the inward or outward tilt of the tire/wheel assembly. This angle is measured from a true vertical line, i.e. perpendicular to the ground. A tire/wheel assembly that is tilted outward at the top is considered to have Positive camber. While a tire/wheel assembly tilted inward at the top, displays Negative camber. For a zero setting, the tire/wheel assembly is in the exact vertical position or perpendicular to the ground.

How far can I lower my car before I need to adjust camber?
ANY amount of ride height change will cause camber and toe to change. It might not always be visible but having your camber out of adjustment will cause the tire to run on the inside edge only. The lower you go the more negative camber you will get and the faster the tire will wear. Toe will also be affected. Having your toe out of specifications will wear tires and make the car handle unfavorably.



Basically camber is how flat your tire sits to the ground. At stock height your camber should pretty much be flat or a lil off, but when you lower it your tires will ride more on the inside half of it which you will notice after a while. It can get pretty expensive to replace 19" tires with bad camber. I will be lowering my car soon as well with almost the same setup that you're doing, and definitely don't want to have to replace tires every 2 months. So will need some suggestions on a camber kit as well, if needed.

 

Would you reccomend a camber kit with a 1 inch drop from eibach's or is tire wear only a concern with drops lower than that?

 

I have a 1" drop w/my eibachs, i can visually see the negative camber, but I don't notice any tirewear that would really require a camber kit. I wouldnt get a camber kit unless I dropped lower than 1"

 

i would only get a camber kit to go more negative

 

so where do i get a camber kit from. Also, how much does it costs?

 

If you have sometime, try a search on the forum for (in quotes) "camber Kit" and browse through the posts contained in the SC300/SC400 section. The search yields 300 some odd threads, of which I would guess at least 50+ are from our section here

 

you can get your camber kits from Todd @ www.tmengineering.net

He's a great guy, very knowledgable on our cars...

The camber kit will run you around $130 for front or rear...

I think if you get the Eibach 1" drop, you will not need a camber kit from what I remember, factory adjustments can be made to adjust for the 1" drop. Anything more, you'll need one to keep your tires from wearing out...

 

would the chamber kit be an adjustable upper arm?

 

you don't need a camber kit for a 1" drop (i.e. SC Eibach springs) because you can adjust it using factory adjustments. anything over 1" a camber kit is recommended.

 

So for the 19" sizes I posted at the begining of this thread are fine with the eibach 1" drop and no camber kit. What do you mean when you say, "you can adjust it using factory adjustments". And I know this is a stupid question but have to ask. Does the same appliy if you step up to 20" rims.