Is this for real? From what I have read, it seems that these kits make it easier for them to align the front end but it is not impossible to align without them. Why should it be? I have gotten one alignment by Nissan since I got this car exactly two years ago and he didn't say anything about a camber kit. The car would drift but when I took it back he switched the front tires and it drifted the other way and he told me it was the tires. Could it have been that I needed this kit then? I got new tires now and this tire place I went to says need a kit. He says it will be about 70 bucks. I think this included installation. Is this total BS? Is he trying to sell me some junk to buy his kid a new remote control car or is he too lazy to use the already existing devices for aligning my car?

 

Sounds like your camber is out of spec and the shop doesn't realize that you can make small adjustments with the play in the bolts. Go to another shop. Especially if your not lowered. If they can't get the camber in spec and your not lowered, then something is bent.

 

Okay now I need some communication suggestions. How should I put this to the shop when I go back? Tell me exactly what you would say. I wanna say it without being insulting even unintentionally. They can always screw something else up "by accident."

 

Just tell them that in stock condition, your car should not need a camber kit and that you want to get a second opinion from elsewhere.

period.

Unless you're lowered close to 2" or more, there should be no need for a kit.

 

Exactly what I was thinking - if your springs are stock height & they can't align it properly, something may be bent underneath.

Any curb incidents? Accidents?

If not, then there should be NO problem getting the alignment to correct specs without a camber kit.

 

Thanks for the help so far. Okay Okay I confess. I did have a little nick of an accident. Well, I will call it an incident. Front bumper cover looked like a pit bull got a hold of it. That was really it though. Not a serious crash by any means. The guy replaced more than he needed to but I didn't care cause the insurance people tried slyly to slick me into getting it done, I think because he wanted to ensure that I was getting the work done and not just keeping the money. The guy replaced rebar for nothing. And the right fog kit for nothing. But I got the 4-wheel alignment from Nissan months earlier and the alignment was never really good. I don't know. But I think I konw what I'm going to do now. The car seems to run fairly straight, most of the time Sometimes it seems that the steering wheel is not perfectly level, though. With an alignment, shouldn't that be the case for sure? Anyhow, I'm going to go through a couple of rotations and see whether I get any uneven wear. By that time I wont feel so bad paying Nissan 60 bucks for another alignment. Although I fear that the same thing could happen that happened with my first Nissan alignment if the tires do happen to get uneven wear. I mean if I drive away after the Nissan alignment in a few months and the car is not going straight I may be forever wondering if it's the tires that got uneven cause I never got a camber kit or if it's simply because they really can't completely align my wheels without a camber kit.

 

Can you post all your alignment #'s? Particular attention to camber front and rear. We need to know how out of spec you are.

What did you hit? What did you hit it with?(i.e. bumper and tire) How fast were you going?

But in the end, the camber kits really aren't that big of a deal anyway. But if something's bent then that would be the likely replacement before you'd go to a kit.


-RMB

 

Boy you sure are a polite one. Mr. Personality. Anyway, I don't have the numbers. I was travelling perpendicular to the car I hit. They ran a light and I almost missed them but I caught the right side of their rear bumper with the right side of my front end. By the time the contact was made, I reckon I'd slown down to maybe 30 or 25. Really wasn't looking at the speedometer. I was looking at the car in front of me and hoping it would be out of my path before I got there and it almost did. Crash could have really been bad. Anyhow, the guy who tore my car down saw nothing to do with the front wheels.

 

I'm a ****, yeah that's right.

But anyhow. If you hit at 30mph the frame could be and probably is slightly tweaked. Esp. since it only hit on the one corner. I'd take it to a body shop and have them check the frame specs. Try to get the alignment #'s, they have to have them. It the front right camber is the one that's way off I'd guess that's your problem. Did the hood/fender buckle?

If the other party was at fault and had insurance you should be all set if the frame needs to be fixed. If you're paying for it it might make more $$$ sense to go with the camber kit if it's not too out of spec.....

-RMB

 

There was no hood buckling. And think also about the fact that I was braking the whole time...well, sliding. (ABS was an option, of course, one the previous owner opted against, I guess.) There was no hood buckling whatsoever. Headlamps, fog lamps, all that was all good. I know the accident could have been a heck of a lot worse, but to be honest, when I look at the actual dynamics of the accident I see that the damage I got was really just because the bumper cover is made of crap. If it could have flexed some, I would have not been out of so much money. But there is no way that impact was enough to mess up ma wheel camba. Oh yeah, other driver's insurance was expired. Had been for a while, I think. Doesn't do a darn thing for me. I will go back to the tire people Thursday and see what they can do for me.