SRP Camber Kit (Ingalls Clone) from ebay. in short, DO NOT BUY GENERICS. spring for the Ingalls or another trusted brand.
WARNING: i’ve discovered a serious design flaw. its possible my upper arms are bent, causing offset caster. im gonna try and fix it tonite, ill see if theres actually damage this weekend.
i just sent an email to the reseller i bought it from, heres an excerpt with his name and some things omitted for privacy reasons until i get this resolved.
[I]hey —, this is john, i bought a straight through muffler from you long ago which i picked up from you in i think —, and a few months ago i picked up the camber kit for my integra from you i think off the —? i was in a white integra sedan.
anyways, i wanted to inform you that there is a serious design flaw with the camber kit, at least with my car- 90-93 integra.
when i first installed the kit, everything looked fine. i never really inspected an authentic ingalls kit, but it looked pretty identical to me from pictures. i did it very carefully according to the instructions, didnt use the collar, torqued everything down to spec. soon after i went to go get an alignment and no adjustment was necessary, 0-1degrees already.
now i dont rememember how soon it started to occur, either right after installation or a few days, but on any compression of the suspension, i would hear a click. upon removal of the rim it appeared that the upper A-arm was touching the inner fender wall towards the front of the car. same with the other side. i took them both apart, they seemed to be in the same condition as new. however when i reinstall, the A-arm is in the same crooked position and i noticed that the kit towards the front of the car is tilted also, it is not facing me like the other one. its kinda rotated towards the front of the car, which matches the way the A-arm is tilted/bent.
well i couldnt figure out why this was happening, i retorqued everything down, took pictures and asked people their opinion, everyone was stumped. their ingalls kit was installed the same, with no problem. i left it like this and it seemed to drive fine until i decided to take another look at it the other week. i felt my handling was a little off. so i sat there looking at the kit again, and thought maybe the OEM braces that attaches to both sides and goes across the rear of the spring might help. i hammered out the OEM one and put it on. it didnt seem to help. my theory is that with the OEM kit, the rods have vertical cuts at the base, so when you put the brace on, you have to hammer it, and it sets in place permanently- the camber pieces cannot rotate. in fact i thought they were welded.
anyways, i left it like that for another few days until i wanted to tackle it again. this time, i think i finally found the problem. the pieces are not centered on the collar that the pivot bolt goes into (the horizontal bolt that attaches to the A-arm). on the OEM pieces, it is permanently centered. also, when they are fitted through the holes on the shock tower, they cant be rotated. on your SRP pieces, it can slide left and right about 2.5mm on both sides, and when in the hole they can be rotated. i think this movement caused the arm to bend and scrape against the inner fender wall. over the next few days i measured and searched for washers to put over the collar so that the piece stays center. well it wasnt easy as i had to get some that were the closest fit and dremel the inner hole to get them to fit. after installation, i noticed the ride was smoother and firmer, and my handling and grip improved.
good results, however my arms are still bent, possibly even touching even more, and the left piece (or on the front of the car side) are still rotated towards the front. i believe this causes negative caster, which is good for handling, but decreases high speed stability. i havent noticed a problem on the highway, but this can be dangerous for other cars, especially since only modified cars use camber kits.
today i think im gonna try putting in the stock camber pieces, and see if the arm still touches the wall. hopefully they arent bent permanently. if you want i can update you on the status and hope the design of the kit isnt the problem, as i think safety is a serious concern.
regards,
john[/I]
EOF. i tried to be as clear as possible w/o writing a novel, and if he is still unsure i have pics and can draw illustrations if needed. he seems like a nice guy and does a lot of business on ebay as well as locally, so hopefully we’ll be able to get to the bottom of this soon. in the meantime, avoid these and stick with ingalls as i shouldve done in the first place.
well thanks to speeddaddy and upon further inspection of ingalls pics, the washers i put in are in fact the actual bushings that should have been included in the kit in the first place. gee i wonder if having solid aluminum washers is bad compared to poly/rubber ones.
and no the guy hasnt responded yet =/
well well. steel washers are holding up, however ive had this rattling coming from the left front and i just assumed it was due to the upper arm balljoint bushing being torn. it turns out the bottom bolt of one of the camber kits BROKE. it just dangles there and knocks around when theres any suspension movement.
have no fear, xdeep is here. i went home and welded the suckers together and low and behold, no knocking, no squeaking. gonna get another alignment and see how things go. pics up in a bit.
Any pics? I was planning to get the generic ones… hehe
before i put in the washers. drivers side - the arm scrapes against the left (front).
wider shot
passenger side
disassembled with the metal washers i bored out. so it doesn’t wiggle and BEND your arms.
broken piece. the top of the bolt is supposed to be a rectangle piece so it looks like a “T”, which holds the bolt in the housing. instead the bolt tore out a circle. i dont know where the rest of it went.
see how it sits? if i moved my finger it would drop straight down.
another disassembled shot
so today i welded the bottom broken bolt right into the anchor housing, top and bottom. it should be ok now. THE END.
020204: reattached pics
i have the same problem tho. the arm hits the fender like yours and it also hits the upper part of the fram just to the right of where the shock mounts, under the hood. i have a dent there now. i really dont have a clue what to do…
any opinions?
did yours come without the side bushings as well?
these are what i had to make out of the washers
mine too…
my arms also hit the inner front fender wall.i also have the dent like groove_d.i have the ingalls kit for +3/-3 degrees of camber.i assumed that this was normal.i had my car aligned and left it go.so are you saying that this shouldn’t be scraping.it hasn’t moved since my alignment a year ago, at least i don’t notice any movement.by reading this, the only thing that i did wrong was reinstall the “half moon shaped” brace that the upper mounts go through into the engine bay.should’ve i not put this back on?i didn’t see it in the ingalls instructions.some more info on this matter would be greatly appreciated.i’m kinda concerned now:(
thanx
shawn
Re: mine too…
Originally posted by thelate1
[B]my arms also hit the inner front fender wall.i also have the dent like groove_d.i have the ingalls kit for +3/-3 degrees of camber.i assumed that this was normal.i had my car aligned and left it go.so are you saying that this shouldn’t be scraping.it hasn’t moved since my alignment a year ago, at least i don’t notice any movement.by reading this, the only thing that i did wrong was reinstall the “half moon shaped” brace that the upper mounts go through into the engine bay.should’ve i not put this back on?i didn’t see it in the ingalls instructions.some more info on this matter would be greatly appreciated.i’m kinda concerned now:(
thanx
shawn [/B]
hm thanks for chiming in. so the genuine ingalls kit, even with the bushings, cause the arms to tilt forward… good to know im not alone here. so i wonder, if its not the initial lack of bushings, what is it? maybe it has to do with the fact the stock anchors are held straight by that brace. you know i coulda sworn we went through this in another thread 
anyways, the bracing doesnt do anything. i tried putting those in but they dont really help unless they are secured onto the anchors like they were on the stock ones.
i bet i dont need to ask if you guys torqued down your bolts to spec?
sigh. maybe ill try welding the brace to the the anchors the next time im down there.
xdeep…
i really don’t know if they’re supposed to hit or not.i did the install myself, and being that i was learning as i went i thought that was probably normal.i had heard that i might need to dent the wheel well up top, which i did.i’m running h&r race springs w/ koni yellows, so i have a descent looking drop but nothing like some i’ve seen.i do remember that there is a little play where the camber kit goes through the body.i was able to shift my arm just enough to bearly clear, then i took it to have it aligned …and well it rubbed ever since i got it back.so i ended up denting that spot also.i scraped the loose under coating off and respayed it.i hope someone with more knowledge will let us know if this is normal or not.hth…
later
shawn:)
Yeah I bought a SOLIDSPORT camber kit just like the one you have, and the first thing I noticed was a almost clunking type of noise when I backed out of my drive way. I did the install myself and thought maybe I left something loose. Not the case. I took all of it apart and rechecked everything all still tightend. Now I am getting worried. I think I am going to look for a progress camber kit. I guess this goes to show, You get what you pay for. Buyer Beware.
-Josh
can someone tell me how to put on a camber kit ( f/b )
its pretty easy. you just need a a 14mm wrench, another 14mm wrench or adjustable wrench to hold the bolt while you turn the nuts (~25lb-ft), a wire or bungee cord to hold the arm up, and a 17mm for the upper arm to body mounts bolts to drop the anchor bolts (43lb-ft).
i suggest you purchase a haynes manual for about ~15 from pep boys, or get the helms service manual.
hey wonderful update. i accidently overtorqued the right pair and one broke so i rewelded both nuts like i did to the driver side. excellent stuff!
ya i noticed the rubber from the inside collar is falling apart toward the edges too
i cant see those pics…
i really want to see them.
i still have the problem tho.
my other friend what he did is he shaved the upper arm, so it doesnt scrape.
but i am more concerned that it hits the inner front fender.
i have exactly the same set up as thelate1.
could the camber kit be defective?
arms http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4291732619&p=4246770377&idx=57
broken camber kit http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4291962089&p=4218612263&idx=163
hey guyz, ive been having the same problems also…the control arms in the front are hitting the fender everytime i go over a bump or somthin…i got the alignment done and everything…my question is…is it good to leave it like that?? i installed my ingalls extreme camber kit to the best of my ability and i think they came out really good…so if anyone could tell me how long they had their control arms hitting and rubbing agisnt the fender…ill try to post some pics when i can…thanks!!!
hm sorry it looks like i never mentioned that mine dont rub anymore at all. however i can’t tell you whether it just reached its max or if it was the solid metal washers that stopped it.
im trying to think of how this relates to the suspension geometry since when lowered, the radius rod’s motion seems like it could push the upper arm forward. im pretty tired so ill leave that up to you guys.