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I'm looking to get to -2.5 camber, only get to -1.7 with original setup. What's reccomended ? Rotating struts + shims or only shims for the front?
Any advise on where / what to get in terms of shims?
I'm still trying to get this though OEM control arms as I still use the car on the streets.
Keep in mind it is more than just rotating. You need to pull the top mounts and move the studs in them to the other set of holes. There are 6 holes 3 are used at a time. This will allow a lot more camber then adjust w shims in lower link. Then it is as ir20v describes. You can get shims from pmna, rss, tarett. Most people here have rotated top plate for alignment.
A lot has to work together to keep the wheel centered in the wheel well. If you are running close to max-sized tires, if you don't get the strut and shims done right, the tire will too far forward or back (I forget which), especially with 3 more degrees of negative camber..
OE specced caster in as delivered non rotated strut location is 8
When the strut is rotated, caster drops to low 7s
Assuming you add shims to increase camber (don't let your tech not do this) caster will increase back closer to 8 - it will get to 8 with enough shims
My answer on which method to do is try it with shims only first - the reason is that the shims will bump caster up to 8.5-8.7 range and with an OE tire size and OE ride hight the wheel, while pushed forward in the wheel well - should still fit
If you are running a wider front tire, the car is lowered, both, or you are running some of the previous with spacers or more aggressive offsets, then that is when the dance of rotate the strut (to reduce caster - wheel further back), but now running bigger tire, car lowered etc - and now you can play with shims to basically fit the wheel (remember some guys have fit 285s on 10" rims) where it has to fit.
The rotating the strut caster reduction is basically what is required if you are trying to make a tire fit - it gives you more to work with:
- +- shim to center wheel
- +- spacers / offset for max track with no rubbing
When I first started out I was able to get -2.7 front camber with 8.7 caster just using shims and i didn't have rubbing while running 235 track rubber on a very, very slightly lowered front. But to run 245/255 with front ride height lowered more and with 7mm front spacers, I decided to rotate the structs to get caster back to 8 from 8.7 as that is what was causing the rubbing.
I'm running oem tire sizes and planning to get mpsc2 installed as I get the alignment done, so I should not have issues on clearance.
It sounds that first step is to add shims to get close to 2.5 deg but the wheel will move forward so better rotate the struts... Will 2.5 deg will change caster that much?
At -2.8, I am out on caster up front with all the RSS shim set in place and RSS bump steer kit. Any more camber and i will have rub problems. I am going to get aftermarket thrust arms to correct it. I am at the limit on the rear at -2.3 without adjustable LCA's. I have all RSS links in the rear, but need adjustable LCA's in the back to get camber and toe I want.
Strong recommendation is take the car to someone that knows how to get these aligned perfectly for your intended use. (camber, caster, ride height, rake, toe, track, etc)
09-13-2014, 04:20 AM
Alignment - Shims vs Rotating struts
