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School me on Camber Plates vs. Crash Bolts

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7K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  STiDriven  
#1 ·
I've tried searching but I can't find the exact topic I am looking for. So if its out there my apologies.....

Anyway my next effort on my 05' STi is to correct the front camber problem. I've already changed the FSB to the Strano 32mm bar -> Which I highly recommend btw, the difference is incredible.

Since my last auto-x my alignment has slipped a little, I'm pulling just a bit to the left. I've never had an alignment on the car in 2+ years of hard driving so I'm not surprised. I'm going to get either crash bolts or camber plates while I'm at it to address the STi's camber problem.

Now I'm not looking for anything extreme, maybe 2-3 deg. tops. I know for the most part this can be achieved with either camber plates or crash bolts. I just don't know the pros/cons of either. I know the basic idea of how each work, but don't know the side effects.

So if money isn't an issue, which is better and why? On that note, which brands would you recommend?

Thanks!
 
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#3 · (Edited)
The front of your STI already has camber bolts (or crash bolts if you like). By maxing those out, you should be able to get about -1.2 neg. camber. Camber bolts simply are an eccentric bolt that allows the top of the hub to move closer to the strut than a regular bolt. The car comes with camber bolts in the front, but not the rear.

In order to get -2-3 degress of neg. camber, you're going to need camber plates. Camber plates allow you to tilt the whole strut in (camber) and sometimes back (caster).

Some camber plates, offer caster adjustment as well, but tend to be more expensive. All camber plates, except RCE, will raise the front of your car unless you are on coilovers.

I use the Cusco plates because they are cheap and round. Therefore, I can redrill them to make them into a camber/caster plate.

Image
 
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#7 ·
vanskater said:
there are two places for camber bolts.


a top place (where the stock bolts are)
and bottem, where aftermarket go
Click to expand...
True, but that's not going to help much for STU and aftermarket camber bolts are of questionable strength.

To the OP - yes, you can run your OEM bolts and camber plates. You could not run your OEM bolts, aftermarket lower bolts and camber plates. Think of it was ONE additional form of camber over OEM.
 
#8 ·
If budget allows- go plates. Two reason aftermarket eccentric bolts are 12mm- your oem bolts are 14mm- torque spec on the oem bolts is 129 front/160 rear- the aftermarket bolts are ~ 75 ft lbs. Second reason is that camber bolts can slip- not a lot of fun w/ one side at -2.0 and the other gone positive.

There is one more alternative that I've been playing around w/- take the front knuckles and struts to a machine shop- have them drill out the lower holes and fab the lower bolt holes on the struts to match the tops ones. Now you can run two oe bolts- same beefy bolts, lots more camber adjustment, low chance of slipping.
 
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