Needed: Camber kit for Neon

[FLNeonRT]

If anyone has a camber kit laying around for a Neon. I need it bad. Have too much positive camber and starting to wear tires. I have no cash so I can't buy one. It is a cam bolt type strut bolt that replaces the top lower strut bolts and can be adjusted to tip the knuckle in and out. I need 2 of these cam bolts. They are meant to replace the 12mm strut bolts. I need them bad si if anyone has a set laying around. I'll take them. Thanks.

[rb70383]

Or you grab a dremel and grind the outside edge of the top bolt, slotting it out towards the wheel, and that will allow you to get more - camber. I dont really recommend the "crash bolts" cuz they have a smaller shoulder and ndont have much clamping force as the stock bolts. so "spirinted" driving can cause the bolts to slip and you to lose the - camber. I have not heard anything bad about slightly elongating the top bolt hole. Just dont go to crazy with it.

[FLNeonRT]

That is a good idea and I have heard of that but I don't have access to a machine shop or any metal tools. Thanks for the idea though. Still looking for a camber kit.

[rb70383]

:dunno: Eh I help where I can. My way IS cheaper ;)

[leadfootedfool]

I agree with the die grinder and the slotting and mmmheyy. Really is easier, if all else fails pick up the crash bolts at the dealership, but they do slip, not severely but you have to keep an eye on them.

[leadfootedfool]

And just curious, your car looks lowered, how did it pick up positive camber???

[FearThe4Doors]

+ camber pwns jo0

are you scuffing your wheels on the road when you go around corners?

[FLNeonRT]

I felt I understood alignments good enough to be able to recenter my steering wheel w/ out any major problems. I was completely wrong. Front left tire is wearing in the inside and the front right is almost bald. Tinkered w/ it some more this morning and think I have it close but it is gonna need an alignment and I have no cash to have one doen so I've been trying to call in some favors but no luck yet. There is no factory camber adjustment on the front of a Neon. Just Toe it appears. Apparently, it has thrown the camber out aswell. If anyone wants to throw the car on a rack for free and tinker w/ it. Be my guest. I have no more patients and have even less tread on my tires. Makes driving in the rain a challenge again though. Any help is appreciated.

[mpbiv]

It should have camber adjustment, in fact I don't think I know a car that doesn't. With most FWD cars there are two bolts holding the steering knuckle to the strut. One bolt should have a cam like lobe, all you have to do is turn this one until your positive camber turns to zero, or slightly negative camber.

Like Brian was saying before, your car looks like it has been lowered, in which case most cars usually have negative camber (top of the tire leans inward). If your car does indeed have positive camber and it has been lowered, then chances are your suspension still has enough adjustment left in it to correct the positive camber. Usually the only reason you need a aftermarket camber kit is to correct excessive negative camber from lowering a car.

[FearThe4Doors]

Originally posted by "FLNeonRT"

Front left tire is wearing in the inside and the front right is almost bald.

that would be negative camber then. Like maurice said, the top of the wheel is angling in. The way he explained the bolts on the strut is correct also. I guarantee neons have camber adjustments.. dodge wouldnt be that stupid. Every car has to have one.. the odds that struts and knuckles which are mass produced would be able to be bolted up and come out right are crazy. Check the top bolt on your strut..

You played with the tie rod ends too? (to center the wheel) Argh, is your toe all outta whack too?

And no offence, but I doubt anyone besides your best friend would put a car up on the alignment rack for free. It takes a lot of time just to get everything all set up. Not to mention sitting there playing with the car to make everything perfect.

[leadfootedfool]

Actuallly, to set the record straight here from all you supposed neon know it alls :lol:, the neon does NOT have adjustable camber in the front. The parts were mass produced and actually did a pretty good job. The only way to adjust the camber is to buy crash bolts, which have a cammed lobe on them, slot the struts with a grinder, or buy konis (that came with the acr) that already have the strut slotted to allow for adjustment.

Ok grassroots here, you can align the car yourself fairly accurately if you know what you're doing. You have to string the car front to rear to adjust toe. Your looking for no rear toe, maybe 1/4 in toed in up front. As fas as camber you need to slot your struts and try to get as much negative camber as possible (no more than say 3 deg). This is a good all around setup, no excessive tire wear, and still handles like its on crack.

[leadfootedfool]

Oh yea, if you're going to be serious about keeping the neon, and especially if you're planning on autoxing/road racing it, you need to learn how to do this yourself a) to save a butt load of money and b) it needs to be checked frequently if you're driving it hard and that would cost even more money.

Grassroots motorsports has covered this thoroughly in several issues, I gaurantee they have plenty of back issues that could be had for $5, which is a bargain considering you don't have to bug anybody for help, and you learn something rather important. And btw the back issue is july/aug 1998, has everything you'll ever need to know about neons.

[leadfootedfool]

Couple more things, i swear this is it, there are 2 other things to do for camber.

First is to make sure the subframe is absolutely centered on the car. If its been wrecked, or moved by someone it might be slightly out.

And second, you can move the strut mounts slightly and gain a little bit more positive or negative camber, whichever you need.

[mpbiv]

Dodge made a boo boo! No camber adjustment on Neons?

Thank you Brain for enlightening me

Me-------> :notworthy: :D <------------Brian

[leadfootedfool]

Heres my favorite part. Since you can't adjust camber, the dodge dealerships didn't worry about checking them when they were new. BUT the acrs were adjustable and came with no alignment from the factory, they were supposed to be set to owners specs when the cars were purchased. Not to many dealers were aware of this so for the first couple of years many people drove the acrs with no alignment till they figured it out themselves and went through tires in 1k miles. Ooops.

[mpbiv]

:lol: an even bigger boo boo. They should have known to set the camber at the factory instead of assuming the buyer of each new ACR would think to ask their dealer to set it. Or instead of assuming the dealer would remember to ask. If I was a ACR owner I would have asked for some free tires :D

[leadfootedfool]

Maurice, did you score a day off??

[rb70383]

Yip no REAL adjuatment. Another thing, if you play with the camber your toe in/out will change. been there done that. About the crash bolts, hence the name. If you were in a wreck and the alignment was off, a "cheap" way to get it back aligned. Even the caster is built into the front suspension. One thing we did to help dial out the understeer was to loosen the front sway bar end links 4 turns. It was almost neutral then. Could have dialed it in more but got lazy and never played with the back. I used a magnetic level on the rotor with a c-clamp to hold the front still when I tightened up the bolts. If I remeber the Neon is a rear steer so when you increase - camber you end up with more toe in then you started with.

[mpbiv]

Originally posted by "leadfootedfool"

Maurice, did you score a day off??
Hmmm yeah sort of. Actually I have the whole week off, but I am flying to NY tomarrow, so I got crap to do all today :|

Of course I like to be a slacker, its more fun :D

[leadfootedfool]

Cool beans. Have fun up there.

[FearThe4Doors]

I cannot believe no camber adjustments!!!!! Those neons are really going downhill i my book! Damn, what next?

I was going to mention moving the struts around to adjust camber, but then you start playing with CASTER and messing that up.

Hey Brian, you know what the struts look like on your CSX... with the cam'd bolt and the lip against the strut that it pushes on.... do neon struts have that lip? If so, could you put Daytona (or whatever) strut bolts into it.. maybe elongating the strut hole? I would assume the spacing between the bolts, and the size of bolt would be the same... as they use daytona knuckles on the neons.

[FearThe4Doors]

and i dont know if i'd put 3* negative into a car that you're not going to be pushing to the edge. I have -3* in my fronts and like -1.5* on my backs on the spirit... but that car is an animal that will be pushed to its limits in every way.

I would say -1 to -1.5* would be plenty for a car. Thats what i put into my Horizon. I believe the factory actually gives them a little + camber so when the average moronic driver turns a corner at 30 MPH, the tire is riding on its sidewall and screams like hell, causing the moronic driver to back off far before the car will go out of control.

[leadfootedfool]

I don't think the stock neon struts had the lip, I don't remember. I honestly don't even remember if the kybs do. I think the main problem might be in the size of the hole, i think the bolts are bigger on the older cars.

[FearThe4Doors]

How can they upgrade to Daytona knuckles then? Or do they just use the hub?

[FLNeonRT]

Well, my '95 Highline didn't have slotted struts and my '99 R/T doesn't either so if the ACR does, it must be nice.

Well, I tinkered w/ it some more and got it pretty damn closed to zeroed again so I didn't have too much toe but the down side is the damage is done to my FZ4's. I have to put the stocks back up front until I get an alignment so I can be sure not to wear all my 17 inch tires out. I'd rather have to buy 2 then 4. Oh well, atleast I'm not sliding all over the road anymore.

[leadfootedfool]

No stock neons had slotted struts. The acrs did because they used konis. Even a few years of the acrs used non slotted konis, because it was a hassle with the dealerships aligning them.

[leadfootedfool]

I pwn pg 2.

And +1

[rb70383]

our 96 did not have Konis.

[leadfootedfool]

was it an acr??

[rb70383]

Yes however it was made early 96, it even had the problematic 95 hubs. Had the pass side go out on us :( Cant remember the actual name but I believe it started with an M, the manufacturer of our struts. Heard they were 95-96's and 97 on went to Konis.

[leadfootedfool]

Haha, my pass side went out to, thats when i put the acr hubs in my car. I'm looking at the mopar book, says "camber adjustable" up to 98. I think they had konis non adjustable in terms of dampening. Then 98 went to non adjustable camber but adjustable dampening. I'm starting to doubt my oh so holy mopar bible.

[rb70383]

Originally posted by "leadfootedfool"

Haha, my pass side went out to, thats when i put the acr hubs in my car. I'm looking at the mopar book, says "camber adjustable" up to 98. I think they had konis non adjustable in terms of dampening. Then 98 went to non adjustable camber but adjustable dampening. I'm starting to doubt my oh so holy mopar bible.


:hump: yip

[CrazyMoparGirl]

The '95 and '96 ACRs had Arvin struts with adjustable camber. '97 and newer ACRs come with Koni struts that have adjustable rebound damping, to allow tuning of the car's suspension response and over/understeer tendencies. '97 and early '98 ACRs were also adjustable for camber; however, this was discontinued due to chronic dealer misunderstanding of ACR alignment requirements.

[FLNeonRT]

See, this is what I'm talking about. I don't think a topic on ony other site in the area has gone for more then 1 page w/ out a smart assed remark being made. I'm definitly coming out to the next picnic to meet everyone. People on this site are so much more mature then other sites in the area. Thanks for all your help.

[FLNeonRT]

So noone has a camber kit or some crash bolts they don't need or can sell for really cheap? Let me know, still wearing tires. I got the toe pretty good but it has too much positive camber in turns so I need to bring the wheels in just a bit. Thanks.

[CrazyMoparGirl]

This is where I always went for Neon related tires and suspension work. I don't know why there are 3 listings for the shop. Anyways Carolyn is the owner and she is a member of the SCCA, she used to Auto X an ACR and now currently Auto X's a Porsche. Tell her you had a couple of friends with ACR's that sent you her way, she will help ya out the best she can.
Wilsey Auto Service Inc
3001 9th Street North, Saint Petersburg, FL 33704
(727) 894-3203

Wilsey Auto Service
3029 9th Street North, Saint Petersburg, FL 33704
(727) 822-9442

Wilsey Auto Service
3029 9th Street North, Saint Petersburg, FL 33704
(727) 894-8171

[leadfootedfool]

werd, good stuff. :notworthy: :notworthy: to the all knowing lori

[FearThe4Doors]

Originally posted by "CrazyMoparGirl"

Carolyn is the owner and she is a member of the SCCA, she used to Auto X an ACR

Who the hell would autox a Neon??

[rb70383]

Originally posted by "FearThe4Doors"

Carolyn is the owner and she is a member of the SCCA, she used to Auto X an ACR

Who the hell would autox a Neon??

Not any worse than building up a 3 cylinder Spirit. :doh:

[leadfootedfool]

Oh SNAP!!

[FearThe4Doors]

HAHAHAH!!!!

I build a 4-cyl... just 1 of them is on strike

[rb70383]

Originally posted by "FearThe4Doors"

HAHAHAH!!!!

I build a 4-cyl... just 1 of them is on strike

:lol:

[CrazyMoparGirl]

Originally posted by "FearThe4Doors"

HAHAHAH!!!!

I build a 4-cyl... just 1 of them is on strike

that's like me saying i built a V8 and really only having a 3.9L, 2 of my cylinders ran off to Vegas to get hitched

[FearThe4Doors]

Figured out today that one of my cylinders is employed by the county.