^^ I was wondering the same thing.

As many alignments as I've done so far and Spec Miata's I've seen, I don't recall ever looking to see how camber bolts are supposed to be installed.

 

yah, just the top bolt located at the bottom of the strut is needed on the Fit. i was able to get decent neg camber, it just throws off the toe (toe-out) considerably so it's something you'd want to do just before getting an alignment done.

it's really easy to install the camber bolt. just take the stock top bolt off (at bottom of strut), loosen the bottom bolt, hold the knuckle so your cv joint doesnt separate, insert the camber bolt through the little ring with tab the camber bolt kit comes with, and insert both into the hole.

when you point the large diagnal tab towards the car (as shown in my pict) you get neg camber. if you point it away, positive. then you can turn the bolt with your wrench to dial in the amount of camber you want. once you got the angle, tighten down the large nut on the other end of the camber bolt to 65ft lbs. then torque your bottom bolt to 65ft lbs. done.

 

woot, drove my GE to work today. it's about 400miles now so starting to rev the rpm's a tad higher and more throttle angle to push the pistons a little more to break them in real nice. no WOT yet for another 500miles or so.

the car has a lot more torque than the GD i had before so im real happy. it has nowhere the torque of my G so i need to think a few sec earlier to engage lower gear to prepare the pass, etc but not bad. my ecu's trying to figure out if i want to drive eco or spirited. hahaha.

im a little bummed at the braking performance though. im pretty spoiled with the G's brembo's with endless pads, and Z's large akebono's so it's like my braking is only like 1/4 the strength... i have to step on the brake considerably earlier and harder to slow down which is ironic on a lighter weight car. hahaha. engine braking doesn't work that great either on this car. hummmmm... not complaining though.

 

Have you considered resetting the KAM (Keep Alive Memory) after the break in period so that the car learns how you actually drive or want to drive it in normal situations?

I discovered this a few months back after getting a CEL caused by a poor connection with the accelerator pedal's connectors and the jumper harness for a ETC (Electronic Throttlebody Controller) I was running so I of course cleared the code (also cleared KAM when doing so) with an OBDII scanner after fixing the issue. My GD actually felt like it pulled harder in WOT situations since I did drive the car harder without worrying about a break in period and the PCM of course adapted to those driving situations.

Edit: As for brakes... have you considered replacing the pads? It would be irrelevant to change the rotors since they're still new (unless you're upgrading to slotted or something). If memory serves me right, our OEM pads are "ceramic"... just not of the same caliber of ceramic pads of say Hawk, EBC, Raybestos etc.

 

hummmm.... i have an Acron OBD2 reader that can clear codes but from my experience, the car learns new input parameters pretty quickly. like within a mile it will adapt to the new behavior and working environment.

it's when im driving slowly (per break-in) and then open the throttle suddenly, the car takes a split second to wake up. but after one or two more cycles of that, the car has already adapted to this behavior and ready to take open throttle... but by that time im back to my slow eco driving and the car quickly goes back to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... parameters again.

 

I see... well after the break in period clear KAM and keep your foot in it for a few days! haha

Just don't do it before any emissions testing though, EVAP and the CAT moniters take forever to set. Mind you, I'm not sure how your state's testing is but here if the codes/moniters have been cleared and not reset would cause the car to fail the emissions test even if everything is in its parameters.

 

yah, i want to launch the thing to see wat it can do, but i have no tpms in my enkei's and vsa probably wont allow me to push max power out of my GE.

im still debating if i should put the tpms in my enkei's or put them in the new rota's im getting for snow set. the smart side of me says to put the tpms in the snow set. the fun side of me says f- the tpms in the snow tires and put them in the enkei's and drive like i mean it in the summer.


but then the smart me says you already have 2 fun cars so be safe and put the tpms in the snow set. but then fun me says.. etc. etc. etc.

i think at the end im going to unplug the vsa module. hahahaha.

 

been reading a few threads about people complaining about paint quality on these Fit's. i dont see what the issue is. it's not as durable as they once were back in the old days before enironmental responsibilites for example ISO14001 kicked in.

i was able to polish out a key'ed scratch that my nail barely but surely caught without burning through the clearcoat. there's plenty of paint on there for a car made to today's standards and responsibilities.

unless one got a defective unit, i have to say it's user error. perhaps needs to learn how to care for paint and plastic panels before problems occur.

 

so before my entire month of SEPT is booked with appointments of all sorts, i made an appointment to get the alignment done.

SEPT is going to be a helpless month for me... meaning, i can't do any of the work in my garage.

like tint... yah, i know how to tint and have done it many times, but i rather let my tint guy do it cause he has huge inventory of this particular onyx tint that lasts a the lifetime of the car.

then alignment... i dont have the equipment to do it and at $50 to do just the front, i'll just pay it.

then tpms removal... i dont have the equipment to remove tires without scratching the stock wheels...

then snow tire mounting and balancing... dont have equipment either....

oh well.

 

so tonight im taking the family out for supper. first time everyone's going to be in the Fit at the same time. i dont think my wife's even sat in my '12 yet as she doesnt really care for cars. i mean she has literally zero interest in cars.

will see how the '12 does with full load (after supper). lol

 

Picked up my wheels on the way home, tossed them in my garage and took the family out for supper.

At 90F, ac running, full load, going up hill the car felt pretty heavy but not too bad.

And the new return spring on the gas pedal felt good!

 

just got done inspecting all the wheels one by one and taking them down into my storage area. everything checked out.

tomorrow taking my GE again to work.

 

forgot to mention... ITS NICE TO HAVE CARGO SPACE! lol

 

drove my GE to work again today. had to do a pretty evasive maneuver this am on the expressway as this truck driver couldn't make up his mind whether he's exiting or stopping on the shoulder or wtf. almost 6 cars smashed into him cause he went from 60mph to about 5mph on the exit ramp and back into the expressway shoulder. GE's brakes are weak. i had to mash it pretty good (pre-abs activation as im still in break-in period) but the feedback and the distance i need to slow down threw me off so i served into the shoulder on the otherside of the exit ramp to avoid hitting cars in front of me.

i really need to get use to this braking distance. it bothers me more than lack of torque. what is easily possible in my G/Z is not remotely possible with the GE's brakes.

 

lol of course not. You need wider tires and a more aggressive brake pad. The stock 185's arnt grippy enough at all.

 

im running 205/45/17 RE760's right now. it's not the tires, it's the overall braking capacity.

it could be that the enkei's are possibly overwhelming the braking capacity due to its weight. although, the gross weight is not much heavier than stock that i could remember.

 

Yeah you went from a 18lb tire to a 22lb tire

 

thanks!

do you know how much the stock '12 wheel weights by any chance?

 

the enkei t-forks in 17x7 that i have is rated 19.4lbs on tirerack.

so if i went 4lbs static weight + possibly additional 4lbs on the wheel that's 8lbs static weight or 50lbs+ unsprung weight per corner.

yah, that will surely affect braking... and some acceleration.

 

i think my swifts are settling pretty good now that i have about 400 miles on them.
i noticed the steering becoming sloppier from toe-out condition.

i think im going to do -1.7 using the camber bolts and zero toe when i take the GE in for alignment. any other recommendation(s) to try?