Where to put camber bolts

[KanosWRX]

Ok, first I know sort of where they go, I am not that dumb what I don't know is if they should go in the top or bottom hole on the strut

I have these camber bolts from Oakos.com



I bought 4 of them so one for each strut. My fronts are set decent, but not where I want. I would like -1.75 up front because I auto-x a lot. And in the rear I would like -1 or -1.25 (right now its way off -1.9 and -1). I know the fronts have camber bolts but the shop couldn't get any better then -1.4 on one side and -1 on the other. So the questions are.

Do the front camber bolts go in the top or bottom hole?

and

Do the rear camber bolts go in the top or bottom hole?

[CharT]

Camber bolts go in the top hole. The way to look at it is that the camber bolts will pull the top of the suspension knuckle inwards to give you negative camber.

I'm in the same situation as you. Please, please tell me what is the max negative camber you can get up front with those camber bolts. I have maxxed at -1.3 front and -1.0 rear, but I really want -2.0 up front.

Thanks!

[MustGoFast]

the front already has adjustble bolts in the top hole in the front.. I believe you can also put some in the lower hole as well to get a larger adjustment (not sure on that though). In the rears the camber bolts go in the top hole.

[CharT]

Does anyone know the adjustment range for the factory camber bolts? The aftermarket ones that Oakos sells claim +/- 1.75 degrees.

I can only get -1.3 with the stock ones and I'm hoping for -2.0. If the stock adjustment range is something like +/- 1.0 or +/- 0.75, then the aftermarket ones will have the extra adjustment that I need.

[KanosWRX]

Well the guy at sears doing my alignment wouldn't install my camber bolts, he wasn't to happy I brought the car back in the first place because it was tracking right slightly. So this is the camber I ended up with NO camber bolts.

-1.2 --- -1.5


-1.1 --- -1.6

The amounts that they are off are all basiclly within subarus spec of .45 variance, but I am not gonna settle for that. Eventually I will have to find another place to install my camber bolts and do another alignment, hopefully it won't be that expensive, I will have to call around to a few places.

[BoostedBoxer]

Yeah jsut put them in the tops. Even with camber bolts, i couldnt get my rear to go all the way in on the right side. Im gonna give it another alignment before i put my tires on.

[CharT]

Yeah, Sears is usually one of those places that will not do custom alignments. All they do is get to within factory specs. When I had my alignment done, I sat in the car and had the car loaded up as if for the track. The alignment guy got everything spot on -1.3 both fronts, -1.0 both rears and zero toe all around. When I got out of the car, the left front went to -1.2.

[KanosWRX]

Well someone at sears called me back tonight, they said they would install the camber bolts tomorrow. So I will see what happens after work and report back.

[KanosWRX]

Just got back from sears, couldn't figure out how to put the camber bolts in the rear top strut bolt hole. We got the bolt in and knew to rotate it to get either positive or negative camber. But that little washer type thing with the small peg on one side would not go in the struts hole. We figured that needed to go in the hole to lock the little cam lobe were we wanted it, then tighten the other nut up against it to hold it in place. But even the length of the camber bolt seemed to long, because the one loose nut was a lock nut and it doesn't go through the bolt the whole way, it stops right at the end so its flush (you can see from the pictures above, thats as far as the nut will go on). So we didn't know how it could push up against that washer type thing to lock it in place. Anyone have any ideas?

[CharT]

It'll fit, just not easily. It goes something like:

bolthead->funky washer->strut->suspension knuckle->strut->locknut

The locknut will not thread smoothly onto the bolt because it's a locknut. You should be able to turn it all the way down the threads, but there will be some resistance. The washer with the small peg goes into the strut hole so that it offsets the bolt to one side. You want the peg towards the outside of the car so that the bolt-hole is offset towards the inside of the car. This position gives you the most negative camber. Then you turn the cam until the camlobe is facing the inside of the car, which should be max negative camber.

If you need a pic, I'll see if I can take a pic of my rear camber bolts. Not sure if I can see them with the wheels on the car, though.

Also, the camber bolts are definitely longer than necessary because they are for a universal application. Once you have them installed and the locknut tightened, you'll have about 1/2" of extra thread sticking out past the locknut.

[KanosWRX]

We tried really hard to fit that little peg in the strut hole, maybe we need to hammer it in. I can see that they would fit much better in the front since the front strut has larger oval shapped holes. But in the rear I just couldn't get that little peg in the hole, maybe I will play around with it myself one day when I do my h6 brake upgrade then take it in for alignment.

[driggity]

Originally posted by BoostedBoxer
Yeah jsut put them in the tops. Even with camber bolts, i couldnt get my rear to go all the way in on the right side. Im gonna give it another alignment before i put my tires on.

What do you mean you couldn't get it to go all the way in?

And the front strut has an oval shaped hole because its designed for the factory camber bolts.

[KanosWRX]

I mean I couldn't get that little pin on the washer looking thing to go into the top strut hole. The bolt and the little pin both won't go into the strut hole at the same time.

About the front strut holes, yeah I know they are oval because they are semi adjustable. I figure they would fit the bolt and the little pin perfectly because it is an oval.

[ToddStratton]

I thought you had to drill a hole in the strut housing for the little nub to fit from the washer?

TRS

[BigClunke]

no, dont drill anything.
you probably need to spin the bolt. when you spin the bolt it will change the camber and at some point you will get enough space to fit the tab on the inside of the washer in.
dont hit the bolt or use excessive force to get the washer to fit. you might have to loosen up the bottom bolt to get more movement.
i take it the bolt was very hard to get in there to the point of the washer (it was when i did the install). how did you get the bolt in?
i stuck the bolt in as far as i could and put the nut on the end and tightened it. when it became harder i adjusted the camber to a "looser" position and then tightened up the nut untill t became hard to turn the nut and repeated the process. doing that the washer really just lined up so that i just had the adjust the camber line the tab up and tighten the nut. if it becomes excessivly hard to turn then adjust the camber somemore.
i hope this helped