cliffyk

Then the answer is not no...

Fillerdust

Does one really need the caster camber plates? My buddy drilled out the 2 rivits holding the top of the strut, loosened the nuts and smacked the top of the strut with a hammer. He said he got his fox into spec that way and said c/c plates were an waste. Thoughts?

cliffyk

If you can achieve the alignment specs you want--via drilling, filing. BFH or whatever--then you do not "need" CC plates. Why is that so difficult to understand?

Fillerdust

I get it, didn't know if it was a good idea or not. If it aligns out it aligns out I guess.

cliffyk

The only alignment parameter profoundly affected by lowering vie shorter springs is camber. Typically going from the stock "monster truck" stance to a 2" drop--with springs, not drop spindles, and a 2" or so drop--will end up with the camber at -1.5° to -2.5° or a bit better with the stock CC plates maxed out. I.e drilled/filed or otherwise "modified".

This is not "scary" and you will die or anything like that; nor will your tires wear out tomorrow. Actually your car will handle very nicely in tight turns, but your front tires will wear more rapidly on the inner edges. Not tomorrow, but over the next 8k to 10k miles. IMHO if you drive fewer than 10k per year then just enjoy the better handling and deal with the lesser tread life.

You DO however have to get an alignment and tell the "techs" to **** off when they regale you with the horrors of reduced tread life. I tell them that if tread life were my major concern I would drive a Corolla....

maverick3429

I lowered mine roughly 2 inches maybe a little bit less, and my tires were fine. With that said I don't really drive it much either. Pretty much to work or school and back and then let it sit. I didnt see the point of spending $200 bucks on cc plates when all you do is take it to a garage and have the alignment done for $70 bucks anyway. The car drove pretty much straight as an arrow too.

cliffyk

The need for aftermarket caster/camber plates comes when the stock plates do not allow sufficient adjustment to align the wheels properly--this generally happens between 1-3/4" and 2" drop, along with a host of other issues (bump-steer and insufficient suspension travel, etc). However most drivers do not drive enough that the increased tire wear is an issue and only find out about it when they wear bald and the tire store sales manager sells them an alignment too. Nor do they drive hard enough that the handling and suspension shortcomings would be a real problem.

These same drivers do not know how a properly tuned suspension should feel in the first place. In tuning Mustangs I cannot tell you how many I have driven that handled like a POS from being lowered to look cool with nothing else done, or just plain bad alignment because it had not once in 80k miles ever even been checked.

As an example I drove my wife's Toyota Highlander a week or so ago, first time I had driven it in nearly a year--it pulled horribly to the right because a tie-rod lock nut had loosened and the toe-in was fubar--she had not once mentioned this to me.

When I asked about it she said "Oh yeah, I was wondering about that."

Repzard

Could use adjustable chamber bolts (replaces 1 of the bolts in strut per say) if youre looking to get alittle over a degree.


Just my 2

TRUEBLUE3934

LOL Cliffy is right.
The actual need for CC plates to get back to -1.25 camber depends entirely upon who is driving and how the car is used. Additional negative camber really helps the turn in and grip, but at the cost of tire wear. If the car is just a weekend toy, don't worry about the CC Plates. If it is a DD that sees 15k+ per year, pony up for the CC Plates.

cliffyk

Camber bolts are a horrible/kludgy half-baked cheap way of correcting for lowering induced negative camber.



They have sections of reduced diameter, 75 to 80% of the stock bolt diameter, and all that I have seen have been of questionable quality in choice of material, machining and heat treatment. I would not recommend them to my worst enemy--my ex-wife maybe, but I have too much respect for my enemies...