If you lower say about 2" you wont need camber plates. They make these little bolts that replace one of your strut-to-knuckle bolts. I call them crash-bolts, but they do work and thats what I have in my car at the moment to correct the camber after installing Sportlines. Some say its possible for the bolts to slip causeing you camber to go nuts but I havent had a problem yet. Just for and extra measure of saftey... Once I set my camber where I wanted it(FYI -1.5deg) I put very small tack welds on my struts(where the knuckle fits in).
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Patrick Scott
Yeah, thats a roll cage in there.
I shall call him...Mini-Me
The parts stores in my area carry them. When you go to get an alignment and the tech cannot get your camber right, this is most likely what he will use(for our style cars). We get them from places like NAPA.
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Patrick Scott
Yeah, thats a roll cage in there.
I shall call him...Mini-Me
1) I don't think crash bolts will get much in the way of comber change. You really want camber plates.
2) Camber won't cause excessive tire wear. Toe does the damage, and altering ride-height changes toe. Sentras with strut front suspensions have only toe as the alterable parameter. Camber and caster are pretty much fixed in the design, though there are a few work-arounds, like the crash bolts, for small adjustments.
As always, you get what you pay for, so cheap buy-in gets cheap results. In other words, save your pennies and get the right stuff from the start. This will get you much better results and cause much fewer headaches in the long run.
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Bruce in Houston
'94 Nissan Sentra SE-R w/ $tuff, converting to ITA
'98 Suzuki Bandit 1200S w/ $tuff
'02 Dodge Dakota SLT 4-dr tow beast, stock!
bahearn is correct. I hate the idea of "crash-bolts", but I am just running them untill my coilovers and camberplates get here. IIRC I got about 1.5deg of adjustment out of them. bahearn is right on the money with his statement about tire wear when considering camber vs. toe. Camber doesnt affect tire nearlly as much as toe. After I lowered my B14 I had wicked toe out and neg. camber. Just to get by for a while I set the toe and left the camber alone. I had about 2.5-3.0 deg neg camber and didnt have all the much tire wear. If I would have left the toe alone it would have gone through tires like there was no tommorow.
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Patrick Scott
Yeah, thats a roll cage in there.
I shall call him...Mini-Me
Basically save money to get a good suspension setup. Ground controls will cost you from $350-$450. KYB AGX adjustables for B13 fronts and B14 rears will run you between $300 to $400.
You should also get Ground Control Camber kit as it is top mount and will give you about 1/2" of travel i believe. The camber plates will not work with all front strut tower bars, one of which is the Stillen bar. I know there are other bars as well.
Also get the rear mounts from motivational which will give you 1" of travel.
first off, not to be rude since i am new.. but ive seen this same thread like 5 times since i joined, and it seems to always be the same people.
second, i am an alignment technician. i own a lowered 200sx that is currently using stock struts but that change soon.
i used the "crash bolts" to align my car, and they gave about a 1.5 +/- camber change.
and, while toe will wear out a tire, camber will at about the same rate.
i do agree that the camber plates are a much better solution, but the bolts i think will work fine for normal street use. i have used these bolts in many different cars and never had too much of a problem with them.
i got my bolts at napa, and they cost about 30$ a pair. all you have to do is remove the upper strut bolt, and replace it with the camber bolt. takes all of about 5 minutes. just make sure you tell the technician that you have a camber kit, or they most likely wont look. and not adjust them.
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"life is a gamble, just a roll of the dice. it's all or nothing now, cause there's no chance to do this twice"
I dont think you are being rude at all. Although I do disagree with you about camber vs. toe tire wear. I have seen cars with -3deg of camber and perfect toe, and I have seen cars with perfect camber and out of spec toe. From my experence the cars with toe problems wear tires faster then cars with camber problems. I do alignments as well(GMC tech). FWIW
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Patrick Scott
Yeah, thats a roll cage in there.
I shall call him...Mini-Me
although, in my opinion, i dont think there is really an excuse to let your alignment get so out of hand that either one becomes an issue. at my work we sell alignment plans up to 5 years, we'll align it every 5000 miles, or more if needed. for free. and i think the plan is only about 150$, not a bad idea really.
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"life is a gamble, just a roll of the dice. it's all or nothing now, cause there's no chance to do this twice"
DOPE, werent u the one asking about the gr2's. the way it seems, u are really throwing yer money away. im not experienced with gr2's but from what people say they are better suited for stock springs. plus u are getting lowering springs. and u might get coilovers later on? then im sure u will need to get new struts because i seriously doubt the gr2's will handle a lower drop on coilovers. IMO i think u jumped the gun and waisted a lot of money in the long run.
well i spoke with my friend at the nissan dealer locally and he has a sentra with gr-2's and eibach sportlines. and he's had them for over a year now and still ride nice. but i agree with you. i dont believ i will get the gr-2's anymore i'm buying the agx's as soon as i get my tax return. but i have ridden with the goldline springs on my oem struts and:
#1 they ride great
#2 smooth ride, handles well
#3 i realized they are not the stock struts, they are nissan oem struts they have been replaced shortly b4 i bought my car. i checked the service record.. so i'm stright for a while.. btw i barely have any camber..but my tires suck too.
Its the term used to describe it your tire point straight ahead, in or out. Like this veiwed from standing on your hood and looking down. I I Straight, / \ Toed in, \ / Toed out.
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Patrick Scott
Yeah, thats a roll cage in there.
I shall call him...Mini-Me
Well,
From my R/C days:
camber = whether your tires are tilted towards eachother at the top or not. Matters in cornering for contact patch concerns.
toe = like it sounds. Like feet your tires can be pointed at eachother or away from eachother. Pointed towards eachother makes for twitchiness, away, stability.
caster = the tilt of the pivot holding your suspension/steering assembly. Forward = +, rearward = -.
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