Rep Power: 334

Okay, so i have the D2 racing coilovers.

I have a question about the camber plates. How am i supposed to know how to set them? THey have no numbers or anything, just ticks. Should i have moved the plates all the way to the left or right and let the camber adjustment be done via the bolt at the bottom? Does the camber plate effect the camber more then the bolts would?

BASICALLY:
What can I do to make the alignment shops job the easiest?(im scared they will break things, or dont know how to work with camber plates since alot of cars don't come with it?) im going for a basically camber / toe settings.

Thanks guys!

 
Rep Power: 424

They have no numbers because they're not absolute measurements. If there's no zero point, set them to the same tick on both sides. Then go to the alignment shop, have them check your alignment and adjust both sides to even camber. This is important... otherwise they'll be adjusting the shocks to different angles, and you'll get different reactions on both sides of the car. Not good. Then take the plate and start adjusting negative. Adjust the camber first, then 0 the toe, then go back and recheck the camber.
My advice, do your camber yourself, don't let the alignment guys even **** with it.
Get a camber gauge from racerpartswholesale.com, set it yourself, then take it in to just get everything checked and have the toe adjusted. They're gonna charge you labor by the hour and if they don't know what they're doing, its gonna cost a lot. Either that or find a legit racing shop (not a rice emporium, a real racing shop) that can do a full race alignment. Plan on over $100, but it'll be damn good and exactly what you want.
The major difference between the plates and the bolts is that the plates hold their settings a lot better than the cam bolts will. The bolts move around and lose their settings.... require lots of alignments to keep them right, especially if you beat the car hard.

 
Rep Power: 412

This is what I did. I had one alignment done. Then I dicked with it some more and pushed it in to the 6th tick mark. Drove to get aligned by the crash bolt. He wanted to use the camber plate, but I told him to use the crash bolt. So basically set them both to where you think you want them then drive to get it adjust to the exact specs. That is my view.

 
Rep Power: 334

So would I be right to assume that pulling each plate all the way to the Fender (on their respective sides) makes for negative camber? and pulling them towards the engine bay does the opposite? I might just try to put the camber plates as center as i can.

 
Rep Power: 424

Negative is put in by pushing the plates towards the center. How far you lower the car will probably determine where the plates are finally positioned. More you lower, the more negative you start with, then go from there. Make sure when tightening the knuckle bolts, you push up and in on the knuckle. That will get they as negative as you can before you start playing with the plate.

 
Rep Power: 334

How do it adjust the camber plates? Can I just:

Jack Car up
Remove WHeel
Losen camber plate bolts (4)
Slide strut back and forth from top? Or is it better to try to move it from the bottom?

Is that the way to do it?

My bottom camber bolts are installed where, i pulled the strut outwards as far as it can go. Then i tightened the bolt there.
Picture For Reference.

 
Rep Power: 412

You don't have to remove the wheel. Jack the car up so the wheel is off the ground. Unscrew those allen nuts, push the shock inwards and screw back down. It will affect your toe greatly and be careful when driving.

 
Rep Power: 334

I find that the top camber plates are not adjustable at all. The "holes" cut out on the strut towers are just big enough to let camber plate bolts bolt onto the top of the shock. Unbolting them with the intention of adjusting them via sliding the plate in or out is phsysically impossible.

So i guess its really a gimmick unless you heavily modify and cut away at the tower, which i really dont think is a good idea.

In conclusion, the only way to adjust the front camber is by the bottom bolts?

 
Rep Power: 424

No. You see the screw holes in the bottom plate that aren't used? You take the 4 screws out and move them to new holes as you slide the plate in its slot. There is enough travel in the hole in the unibody to get over 2 degrees of adjustment if you move the 4 screws along the track as you go.

 
Rep Power: 334

ohh, lol im dumb!!

Whats the stock (safe) toe setting? Can it be acheived by merely getting 0 front camber?

 
Rep Power: 424

Toe should be 0. Always. Anything else kills tires.
No it can't be achieved simply by setting the camber to 0. You lowered it, the geometry changed.

 
Rep Power: 334

So to get 0 toe on a lowered car, the camber has to be somewhat negative or somewhate positive?

 
Rep Power: 424

You can get 0 toe with any camber angle. Toe is adjusted with the tie rod length. Camber and toe are set independent of each other.

 
Rep Power: 334

got it, thanks boilermaker!!!!!