i dropped my car on some tein s.techs

as you all may know, after modifying the suspension an alignment is required. well, i took it to my friend's dad's dealership, and they told me my camber could not be adjusted because they didn't have the right tools but everything else was fine. they said i needed to take it to a honda dealership. i call the dealer and they say that they simply cannot do alignments on lowered cars. and i'm just like well that's the most irrational thing i've ever heard of... then i call the dealership AGAIN and they say i need a camber kit because the alignment only adjusts toe and something else. i take the liberty of looking for a camber kit for my car myself, but find no results. this is very frustrating...

what's the deal here? what do people with lowered cars do for an alignment??

Basically, WTF? ....(help plz)

 

are they saying that they can't adjust the rear or the front as well? the rear can't be adjusted unless you get camber bolts.

Honda 2007 Fit SPC Performance Camber Kits

im not sure if they can even get your car on the alignment rack at the dealership because s techs are pretty low. i'm dropped on eibach pros and i bareley scraped the bottom of my lip when i got my alignment done. i didn't have to use camber bolts for the rear.


some NTB's have a flat lift rack sooo you might wanna check them out for an alignment. firestone does them as well and they offer a lifetime alignment for like $140.


alignment settings are in the manual as well, a lot of places don't have the specs for the fit.

 

yeah that's true s. techs are pretty low. when we let it down it sat so low we couldn't even get the jack out . yeah that's what i need right there thanks man. hopefully i can take it back now and get it aligned

 

go check out the alignment/camber/toe thread, i uploaded a screen shot of my results before and after from the spreadsheet information i receive after the alignment was done, i would just go to a shop that specializes in alignments, the shop i went to uses HUNTER alignment equipment, the front is adjustable to a certain point and the rear is not.

 

Nice to know about that SPC shim kit for the rear, but be aware: this will not be legal if you plan to compete in stock-class autocross.

As for the front, it's gotta be BS that your "friend's dad's shop" "didn't have the right tools." No special tools are needed (aside from an alignment rack, that is). All you need are common wrenches.

Honda sells a set of factory "crash bolts" to adjust front camber that are similar to those shown in the SPC link above. The SPC bolts have built-in "cams" and "tabs" that might make the adjustment a bit easier. But are they as strong as the factory bolts? That's the question. The factory bolts will be autocross legal because they are factory-specified, but I dunno if the rules allow aftermarket bolts like these SPC units.

 

I went to honda to get an allignment and they could not get it on the rack (car is lowered) they sent me to a place that did big rigs / r.v.s etc as they just drive them straight in.

 

well i just go to firestone.i bought the lifetime alignment thing for like 140. my car is on s-techs aswell and its hard to get my car onto the rack...but they manage. i would bring some wood blocks to help them out if i was you, but my firestone already has them for me...so i never have to bring them.

my camber is Perfect. its the TOE that is killing me. i have negative toe outside of hondas specs. and there is really no way of correcting it.

 

Actually toe is the only thing they can adjust

 

No actually by installing the correct bolts available from your dealer you can adjust camber (see post camber bolts)

 

Not sure what you mean by "negative" toe. Toe is usually expressed as either "in" or "out", while camber is positive or negative.

Being outside the factory specs is not a big deal. Race settings are almost always outside factory specs. The question is whether it's too extreme for street use. I'd also be surprised if there was "no way" to correct it. You might be able to get longer threaded tie rod ends to deal with this.

 

i was talking about a stock fit.

 

So was I...

 

Not quite true. There is a little bit of wiggle room in the stock suspension that allows some camber adjustment. At the factory (any factory, not just Honda) they pretty much just slap everything together and the camber can end up different from side to side. As long as it's within the factory specs, they say "A-OK" and move it down the line.

But you could go get your stock Fit realigned and find that it's possible to, for example, at least get the camber closer side-to-side by levering the stock mounting points to the limit of their movement -- without changing any parts -- which would make your handling more consistent and predictable.

 

imho the camber looks fine lowerd on DF210's. im taking my car in
for alignment last week of Dec (about 2 wks after install) to mainly
get the toe corrected. negative toe = toe out. i can feel it in
the steering. it feels a little sloppy. car tracks straight with the steering
wheel at 12 o'clock so that's a good sign while i break-in the springs.

if i didn't put the front strut mounts exactly where they were before
they can fix the camber for me too...but since the bottom half of
the mount is a conial shape, i doubt i misaligned it when i put it back
together.

 

Anyone know how much camber (-) is available with the stock parts, and how much can be gained with the crash bolts? I think I just saw that the crash bolts will only give 0.75* of neg. camber - I need to find that link again to be sure. If that's the case, those should come stock on the car, as that ain't much in the way of neg camber. Probably about right for a sporting street alignment, though. In fact, that's what I run on my street/autoX Plymouth all the time.

These parts from Ingalls Engineering look like they'll provide 2x as much -camber, but wouldn't be legal for H-Stock autoX since they aren't factory parts. Might be a good option for folks who aren't burdened by those rules. Also, the rear appears to be adjustable through shims, like the old twist-beam Dodges I used to play with. Ingalls has PN's for those shim pack on the same page.

I just saw the front bolts on ePay for about $25 BIN (not my auction, obviously), and the rear shims ought to be plenty cheap, considering what they are. Looks like Summit Racing sells the Ingalls rear shims (PN 32400 0-1.5*) for about $11/set, and the Ingalls front crash bolts (PN 35420 for 1.5-3.0" drop, +/- 1.0* camber) are $8.95/ea - you need two. Apparently this PN is shared among 06+ Civics and the Insight. For cars at stock ride height, PN 81260 will give up to +/- 2.0* camber, but Summit doesn't recognize the PN on their web site. Probably a call would get the part.

 

Nice find on the Ingalls stuff. It looks like those parts are still in development, though, since the part numbers are not "live" links. It's great that they seem to be developing an engine torque damper, and judging from the type available for other Hondas, it looks like a quality unit.

I have a factory Honda repair manual at home and I think it gives the adjustment specs available with the factory "crash bolts." I'll check it out and post those numbers when I get a chance.

 

They're not live on the Fit table, but the same PN's are live in other tables like the Civic and maybe the Insight, too. Parts is parts, right?

I'd like to see the info from the FSM. I don't have mine yet, haven't gotten used to the extra $50 the 08 manual costs over the 07, but it's looking more and more like I'll just have to pony up. That and a FSM for our 06 Pilot will be a nice, even $200, and will make a nice present for the Missus...

 

Hunted around a bit and found this description of the engine torque damper. Says it will be available in January '08. It's pricey but looks way more robust than others I've seen:

Honda Fit

This page gives more info. The FAQ and 'specs' pages are worth reading.

Engine Torque Damper

 

Another topic already covered in other posts, plenty of posts on torque dampers if you look for them.

 

OK, I looked at the manual. Each factory crash bolt gives you 4/10 of a degree of adjusting range. There are two per strut, so if you use both, it looks like the max additional negative camber you can get is 8/10 of a degree per side. Not great, but better than nothing.