Does anyone know which brands of aftermarket rear LCAs are shorter than stock and which ones are the shortest? I know some of them are supposed to be shorter, since they claim to help correct camber.
I don’t want to hear crap about them only being cosmetic. In order to correct my rear camber, I need a shorter LCA. I have SPC upper control arms, but am experiencing some tire clearance issues with the fender and need to bring the wheel in a little at the bottom in order to fully correct camber.
Edit: I did find that the SPC LCA’s bring the wheel in 0.5" - any others that are shorter than stock?
as easily as it is to correct camber with a rear camber kit i cant understand why you would want to alter the control arm length. the problem isnt that the bottom of the wheel is too far out, so much as the top is too far in. this happens in an independent suspension car when you lower it. as far as a shortened rlca ive never heard of it. i think all you need is a better rear upper camber kit or to do the washer/spacer trick with some longer bolts on the rear upper camber arm. what is your suspension setup and what are you trying to do? how much are you dropped?
If you use the shorther rear lower control arms you will also need to buy the Toe adapters (SPC sells them). They install at the front of the lateral control arms near the front of the fuel tank. If you don’t you will be dragging your tires at a slight angle and will cause tire ware.
Maybe this will help to explain the situation:
Yes, you can meaure tire to fender gap with a feeler gauge on my car (that picture has the coilovers at max height and the car is off the ground). I need to bring the wheel in some or roll my fenders in order to correct camber and fit my +48 offset wheels. I just put on a set of stock wheels so that I don’t destroy $600 worth of tires and discovered that I may actually have slightly more clearance with the 17’s, since they come out almost exactly the same against the fender but have a stiffer sidewall (don’t bulge like the 14’s).
almostboosted - I have the SPC rear camber kit. It will correct up to 5* of camber. The issue is when you are correcting as much as I am, the tire runs into the fender eventually. If I pull the wheel in some at the bottom, then I don’t have to pull it out as far at the top, solving my problem.
2ndJenn - I am confused about what you are saying about Toe adjusters. Are you saying that I will max out the stock toe adjusters and need aftermarket ones? I have been looking at aftermarket ones, since my brother was complaining about the stock ones being a pain to adjust everytime I send it with him to Acura for him to align.
Anyway, the original question still stands regarding LCA lengths. My research went as far as finding that all 88-95 Civics and 90-01 Integras have the same length stock and 96-00 Civics have longer ones. As far as aftermarket ones go, SPC’s are 0.5" shorter and I haven’t found very much info on other brands. The ultimate one is the discontinued Suspension Techniques that is actually adjustable, but it is impossible to find.
Another related question:
Has anyone ever run 2 camber kits on the front - an anchor bolt style and a balljoint style?
My SPC balljoints only correct 3*, so I still have 1.5* to correct on the front.
I am guessing my situation is unique, since most that I have seen anywhere near as low as me really don’t care about tires/traction/camber. Not to mention those running a +25 offset wheel that has no hope of fitting inside a fender without excessive camber or wide body conversion.
Oh, it’s H&R Ultra Low Coil Over for the Honda CRX (part number 50808-1):
http://hrsprings.com/scripts/appguide.php?Mode=Application+Guide&SubMode=Find2&Year=1990&ModelID=206&q=1990%20|%20Honda%20|%20CRX
Yes, these are a 3-5" drop on a CRX. On my car, the rear is at max height and front was dropped 1" to help level it out due to CRX rear struts being shorter than Integras, resulting in somewhere around a 4"+ drop.
[QUOTE=phatcardesignz;1803435]
2ndJenn - I am confused about what you are saying about Toe adjusters. Are you saying that I will max out the stock toe adjusters and need aftermarket ones? I have been looking at aftermarket ones, since my brother was complaining about the stock ones being a pain to adjust everytime I send it with him to Acura for him to align. [/QUOTE]
The factory arms are a stamped piece of steel with a bushing on either end and are only adjusted by loosening the Body side bolt and sliding the arm and retightening. The SPC Toe adjusters are sperical bearing rodends with a turn buckle type adjuster. To get them to work properly they have to be adjusted shorter than the factory arm. I’ll post a picture of them later.
Why dont you cut off the inside bushing of the arm and weld on a bung with a rod end. You would be able to adjust the length for about the same or less amount of money as aftermarket lcas.
2ndJenn - So, would I max out a stock toe arm or would I just need it to retain geometry?
Luciferi - I don’t have the resources to make custom parts, and I don’t know anyone locally that I would trust to do that for me. I can probably find a used set of aftermarket arms for cheaper.
After some more adjustments and then another alignment, the stock wheels are clearing by about 1/8" now with the rear camber at 0.1* on both sides… I’m going to see if my 17’s fit again when I add a Progress front camber kit this weekend. I’ll still probably have to get rear LCA’s eventually…