Firedude

I did a search for you.
http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.php?t=36917

Also, the representation showing the working suspension does not represent what we are talking about here at all. Go out and jack up one of your front wheels (under the control arm) and you will see how the camber changes. Top of tire in is neg camber. You can also jack it up in the middle of the K member (raising the suspesion) and see the car gain pos. camber top of tire out.

fivestring45

Wow. Lot's of debate going on here. I think I'll try and contact Eibach and see what they recommend, if anything. Anyone know how to get a hold of them?

fivestring45

Well, I gave Eibach a call. They recommend an allignement always after the suspensions been altered. (Probably more of a precaution to make sure people don't get upset if their wheels wear). They told me that they also recommend using camber bolts on anything that drops the car more than 1.5". The prokit lowers the stang 1.3 and 1.4 inches. This is pretty close to 1.5 so it wouldn't hurt to have the bolts on hand just in case. If the car is weighted down with a full tank of gas, passengers etc, you're probably even that much closer to 1.5.

Eibach does talk about the relationship between negative camber and performance also. (check out this link http://eibach.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.exe...65453000017997) I'm not all that interested in that aspect though. I'd rather have my rubber last as long as possible.

LBJay

Yep, on a strut car the camber curve is basicly controlled by the effective length of the LCA.

If with the weight on the car, the LCA is not level but at a slight downward angle.(frame to wheel) then as the suspension compresses the LCA forces the the bottom of the spindle out increasing negative camber. But if that arm goes beyond level, the effective length shortens as it compresses, bringing the bottom of the spindle in and camber goes more positive.

So as you lower the car camber could start out negative, at level you would see even more negative, then start to go less negative camber as the arm angles upward.

You could end up at the same static reading as you started. But now as the suspension compresses instead of having that neagative camber sweet spot the suspension will only have less and less negative camber.

MrMojo1953

I just played it safe and had the Steeda Camber Plates installed along with the Eibach Pro Kit... figured it could only help. Just wish I'd done a shock upgrade at the same time.

Poco

If a person was setting his/her car up for a road track and some serious corner cutting maybe the negative camber would be the solution for that application.But a majority of the Mustangs sold are just regular street/passenger cars.And most folks lowering their Mustangs drive them on the street.
Having an alignment is nothing more than preventive maintenance which does improve performance,the parts and tires last longer.

RadBOSS

To add to your statement camber curve is not only controlled by the ride height, but more so by the lower arm angle (which also influences the roll center of the suspension) as you elude. You can get more camber compenstation even from a strut suspension by lowering the ball joint (Steeda) or raising the the inner pivot, or possibly both mods, but that might be a bit much if roll center gets outragiously high.

As you described, If the suspension is set up at static right height so the the ball joint is sufficently lower than the inner pivot, then as the suspension compresses (bump), then the bottom the of wheel is pushed outward as the suspension arm swings up (hence - camber compensation). The animation posted above shows the almost worse possible situation ... the lower arm is almost level at static height. As the arm swings up (bump) the bottom of the wheel is pulled in, magnifying the + change in camber.