I purchased the J&M plates but haven't installed them yet. I'll be installing my FRPP lowering springs (M-5300-N) and plates the week after Christmas.

 

Not sure now. Couple of years ago. Got 'em at a local mod shop. About $30 or $50 bucks if I remember corectly. But even if they last, as Norm says, they may rotate on you with aggressive driving. They are fine for getting camber back to spec on a street car but I would personally use the plates for any tracking or auto-xing.

Hope that helps.

Cheers.

 

it does help... i figured i could use them until i could afford the plates from Steeda

 

Something to consider when contemplating camber bolts is that the factory installs two bolts to secure each strut to the spindle. Each of these bolts are torqued to 148 lb-ft for the 2005 to 2009 models. Sometime during the production run of 2009, Ford replaced these bolts with fine threaded fasteners that are torqued to 166 lb-ft.

With camber bolts you'll be replacing one of the strut to spindle bolts with a camber bolt that gets torqued to only 77 lb-ft.

So you should ask yourself, would it be a good idea to torque one of the two strut to spindle fasteners to only half of the factory torque setting. I know I wouldn't consider doing that.

 

good point, but would thread lock be a viable option?

 

good point, but would thread lock be a viable option?

 

The problem is not with the bolt coming loose but having enough torque to clamp the strut to the spindle to stop movement. In extreme cases there have been failures.

 

The OEM strut/spindle bolts I took off my car are 14mm-2; torque spec is 148 lb-ft. Camber bolts are smaller in diameter at 12mm-1.75; torque spec is 77 lb-ft.

Here's a comparison of the two; the OEM fastener is on top.



The instructions provide the 77 lb-ft torque spec.

 

Thread locker is not a good substitute for applying enough torque to achieve the correct clamp load on the strut.

 

Ford makes a camber bolt that is as strong as the stock bolts, but does require slotting of the strut. That or the Steeda billet camber adjusters (which also require slotting the strut) would be the only version I would consider if you aren't using camber plates. Do you really want to risk a bolt failure in that location??