George, the truth is its really up to you. This is the way I see it. Firstly, with my 2+- neg camber, I do get uneven tire wear and it does bother me. Secondly, when I launch, my tires chirp too easily. Thirdly, I am too lazy and cheap to rotate the tires properly, and regularly. Fourthly, I don't particularly like the negative camber look, but that is just me. I don't race or autocross so I don't need the negative camber, and I prefer to lengthen the life of my tires and having the tires perpendicular to the ground. Fifthly, 0 degrees camber would improve braking. If I were to do an emergency brake, and the nose dives, you would get additional added negative camber and the tire contact patch would lessen, and hence less effective braking. The way I see it, brakes and suspension are the two most important things when it comes to automotive safety, so if I can improve on them at a reasonable cost, I will do it, PERIOD. But hey, that is just me.
I get mixed messages from shops. Some say do a camber kit, some say don't bother. For me, I want to do if I can. The cost is not that expensive if you do it yourself. Now your only at slightly under 1 degree neg camber so the impact may not be that much. Plus, the $550 quote probably included the smart arm for the rears and the adjustable anchor bolts for the fronts (and labor of course). You don't need the smart arm for the rears, just shim with washers and get a longer grade 8 bolt, and do the install your self. The cost will then drop considerably. Another consideration is that you do have a relatively strong engine, so do you chirp your tires often with the negative camber? Also, it will help get rid of the "crab-walk" in your ride. If you don't wanna spurge on it, maybe just shim the rears because it doesn't cost all that much and forget the fronts, and just rotate your tires, and don't worry about it. For me I would do it. Others may feel differently. Let me know what you decide. Good luck, George. Ken 90si At 10:31 PM 10/06/2002 +0000, you wrote: >Ken- I'm just wondering whether this is really a major concern or is the shop >feeding me a little FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) to make a sale (they >quoted >like $550 for camber kits installed!? So with the camber being *close* to 1 >degree off (actually slightly less than that), is this something I should put >up with and not drop $XXX into fixing? > >I'm also wondering if I did the camber kit, would the handling go back to the >sweet feel Honda is famous for- right now it has a very slight "crab-walk" >(best way I can describe it) feel due to the negative camber. > > >-George > >P.S. -Got slammed this week and won't have the MSD ignition in until Saturday! > > > Although I haven't bought the Ingalls kit yet, I have done quite a bit of > > research on it because I am also contemplating the install. With your > > Prokit springs, you have a drop of 1.2 inches in the front and 1 inch in > > the rear which will equate to about a 1+- negative camber for your car. If > > you look at the ingalls web site, they show a rear kit part#3893 which is > > basically a longer grade 8 bolt than what we have on our cars now, and > some > > spacer washers. All that for $13.50 per wheel is a bit pricey. You could > > probably go to a specialty fastener place and buy a grade 8 bolt and some > > spacer washers for a fraction of the price. Just pull out the bolt that > > holds the rear upper control arm to the body of the car and bring it with > > you to the fastener shop and get the same thread pitch but just a longer > > bolt. The other option for the rear is the replacement arm part# 3890, but > > since your only correcting for only about 1+-degrees camber, the cheapest > > solution is to just to opt for the shimming route. Keeping in mind that in > > the ingalls kit, they only recomment shimming as far as 0.75 degrees. I > > suppose for those people who have adjustable coil-overs, they might > want to > > consider the 3890 route due to the greater flexibility to accomodate their > > different height adjustments. > > > > The front kit part# 3570 looks like a good fit for your rex. I had looked > > at the front kit at a local shop and it looks like a good quality product. > > > > They both look pretty easy to install as well. > > > > My only reason for hesitating for getting the ingalls camber kit is > that my > > wheels have an offset of 38, and the tires are 195/50/15 and it has been > > lowered about 2 inches, so if i correct for about a 2 degrees, the tires > > may rub. Damn it, I didn't know better at the time but I should have > bought > > a 45 or 42 offset wheel. Oh well. My mistake. > > > > By the way George, seeing that you have your MSD installed, do you really > > notice anything different in your car? Just wanted to keep it in mind, > just > > in case I ever had any ignition problems and may need to do some > > replacements or upgrades. Thanks. > > > > Ken > > 90si > > > > > > At 07:30 PM 10/06/2002 +0000, you wrote: > > >I had a long talk with the guys at the tire shop and they of course > mentioned > > >I really needed a camber kit for proper wear & handling. I've got the KYB > > >AGX's on Eibach Pro Kit for my '89 DX-hybrid. Has anyone installed the > > >Ingalls camber kit? Any recommendations, oh suspension gurus? > > > > > > > > > > > >George > > >'89 DX-hybrid-D16Z6, 120k miles > > >"MSD, suspension work, even more fun to > > >drive" > >
