Question about Camber

I had the same problem with tires wearing out when I put on my TRD wheels and lowering springs. I got a four wheel alignment done at a shop that tunes race suspensions and they told me that the stock recommendations for camber would not work with the set up I had at the time. I don't remember what they said it should be, but they made the appropriate adjustments to the camber based on the different set up and I didn't have any tire wear problems after that.

Kinda off topic, but I didn't want to start another thread called "another question about camber". I have the JIC FLT A2's on my 00 Rolla and the front struts have adjustable camber plates. I am wondering if, when getting an alignment done in the future, if I should just adjust the top plates and leave the tie rods alone, or if I should just set the top plates to 0 and then to the alignment as usual? Any thoughts?

Question about Camber

Here's my little story.

I bought my car in May of 2003 it came with TRD Rims, and a TRD Lowering kit. It had Yokohama Parada tires on it which only lasted about 9,000 miles. I thought well they are soft so they just need to be replaced. So now in June I put on 4 new Kuhmo Ecsta (700s ??) and so far have 6000 miles on them. I noticed that the front end was shimmying quite a bit around 60 to 75 MPH. I took it back to where I had the tires put on and told them it must be out of balance. They took the tires off and told me that the camber on the front end is incorrect. The Insides of the two front tires are damn near bald!! They said that Toyota should have put a camber correction kit in when they lowered the car. I also talked to another mechanic and he said the same thing. So I took the car back to Russ Darrow Toyota in West Bend (I will never buy a car there again EVAR). They said that the car and tires should have adapted to those springs (I don't think so...). They said that the camber should not need to be adjusted. I am thinking they are just blowing smoke up my ass. The worst part about this is that the $140 a piece Yoko Parada's only lasted for 9,000 miles, and my $105 a piece Kuhmo's are also shot. Do you think Toyota is responsible for covering at least one set of tires and the camber kit?? What avenue should I go down next????? Any input would be appreciated....

Well how about taking it to an alignment shop and having them put it on the alignment machine and printing out a report as to how much out of spec your alignment is. Have you been servicing your car at the dealership? If so I think they require and alignement at 15K miles. If they did an alignment and it checked out OK then who knows, but if they did not do a proper alignment maybe you can get back at them.

When I lowered my 98 with TRD struts/springs the shop that did my alignment said I needed a camber kit on all four wheels. The kit is basically four bolts that (one for each strut) that have a different radius and a small little bump to correct camber. I never had any issues with the tires wearing unevenly with this kit in place.

I think your first trip should be to the alignment place to get a printout of your current alignement. Also they should be able to determine if you can get the car aligned with or withouth the kit. In my case I had to get the kit. Tirerack.com sells it for like 25 per set, adn you need two sets.

GL

Dood,
If you bought your car brand new YEAH it's their fault and they should fix it
especially if it's written into the warentee.
If you car is used you might be SOL.

I bought the car new with 50 miles on it from the dealership with all options installed already. I never installed anything. Everything was put on by them. I did call Toyota Corporate about a half hour ago and they seem to be helpful. They are going to contact the dealer to see what they can figure out. I just thought it was funny when I was at the dealer and I said "I think I need a camber kit." The guy in service says "Whats a Camber kit?, what is Camber?" I damn near fell on the ground laughing. But yeah I guess I will have to see what the Corporate office says. Thanks for your responses.

They should honor the reliability of their own product (TRD)
Dont forget to Quote the person (Name also)who said this statement to you
The guy in service says "Whats a Camber kit?

i got a question...should i buy a comber kit from tirerack.com or just have the shop sell me one...who knows if they will want to use someone else's camber kit and not theres when they do the alignment

just get it from tirerack.com it's better..

hey mncrolln...where'd you get the JIC"s from, how do they ride, how much $$$, me and jspexae102 are lookin for some real dampers..

I bought mine from a local shop here, they were $1560 including tax and took about 6 weeks to arrive. I know if you talk to Sean2Sean he can hook up an awesome deal, especially if you buy 2 sets at the same time. You might want to try PMing him. As far as the ride is considered, they BLOW AWAY the GroundControl/Tokico set up I used to have. Handling has improved, and the fact that you can adjust the dampeners on each shock is a huge plus. You just reach under the car and turn a little dial to adjust the dampening. On the hardeset setting the ride is harsh but there is almost no lateral movement of the car during hard cornering. On the softest setting, the car rides like really smooth but still handles great. I know I got them put on and a few days latter I picked up my friend from work and he was like "your car feels a lot better, what did you do?" I would have not problems recommending these to anyone. I definately think they are worth the price, hands down.

in absolutely no way will u need a camber correction using trd springs...u should have gotten an alignment...the dealership shouldnt pay for shit

keep everything adjusted to how u drive it...