fiestaturbo.com

[MIK3Y]

My camber is out giving me some strange steering feel.

Is it common for the camber to become out of line?

How much does it cost to put right (ballpark)?

Is special equipment required?

Does it need tracking afterwards?

Thanx

[andymac]

Rear camber on a fiesta is fixed. If thats out you've got problems. Car has prolly suffered a bump on rear if that's the case.

On the front it usually goes out after a knock or lowering. Adjustable lower arms will allow you to alter the camber on the front to suit.

Anyone remember who makes the darned arms ????

[MIK3Y]

So it can't be put straight with-out new adjustable arms? Im sure the guy at ATS said it needs setting striaght (as in fairly simple to do).

Thanx

[MarkFRST]

the bloke at ats was probbaly talking about tracking ?? thats pretty simple to do.
Ian Howell makes the adjustable lower arms...

[MIK3Y]

R u sure i hav to live with it or buy adjustable arms?

Ian from Racetek u mean. Ive got a the catalogue but there not in there! Do u know how much they r?

Thanx 4 the help.

[MarkFRST]

no, Ian Howell, someone will give you his number i haven't got it.

In your first post you said you are getting strange steering feel, and the camber is out. how do you know the camber is out. ?
If the tyres are wearing uneven, it might just need the tracking done.
If this strange steering feel is stiff/non smooth steering, then the UJ might be going.

[MikeyXR2i]

Mik3y m8, have you had any bottom arms fitted recently?

[MIK3Y]

Uneven wear on inner edges of front tyres. I think it's cause it's been lowered. ATS told me it's camber and u can tell by the angle when looking at the front wheels.
Strange as in tramlining but could just be the huge tyres i hav on it.
Thanx 4 the replys.

Ive heard u may be able to adjust the camber on Fiestas?

[snake]

wot size wheels? 16`s or 17`s adjustable arms or adjustable top mount(can`t get em for mk3`s though lol) is the only way.

[MIK3Y]

So ur saying i hav to live with this problem?

Or pay the £200+ for adjustable arms?

I know that a LOT of people must have inner tyre wear caused by the wrong offset as my m8 with a FRST has the same problem? It's got to be something to do with lowering the car causing the wheels to point out at the bottom like F1 cars.

SO NO EASY FIX? Just cost u on tyres and p*ss u off with tramlining?

[MikeyXR2i]

you seem to have a strange problem, first thing you need to do, is make sure that your lower arms are matching, if there not you're gonna get this problem. make sure you haven't got an odd arm on the car.

[MIK3Y]

It happens to EVERY Mk3 Fiesta when lowered on original spec wishbones me thinks.
SO IS IT AGREED THAT THE ONLY FIX IS ADJUSTABLE LOWER SUSPENSION ARMS?

Thanx

[MikeyXR2i]

Mik3y im afraid not m8, mines lowered 30mm, on 15 inch wheels, cambers perfect, tyres are perfectly worn, and the car will go up a straight motorway with no hands on the wheel, with no correction.
The wheel will have a bit of negative camber but not loads of it so the top of the wheel looks like its bent in. Shouldn't be that much.

Can you get Pic?

[MIK3Y]

Well 30mil on 15s isn't much difference anyway.

U can visibly tell (only when pointed out, not stupidly) on mine:
35mm on 16s
Bezo's FRST: 60mm on 15s
Shawzy's Si: 60mm on 15s

All cars that hav been looked after but hav out of line camber due to lowering!

So can it be solved with-out the expensive arms?

[MikeyXR2i]

yeah it can, what type of steering feel are you getting?

[MIK3Y]

Just uneven grip when braking will pull either side due to camber im thinking plus tramlining due to 205/40 tyres.

Care to explain how it can be fixed?

[MikeyXR2i]

i will try. As you know there is no camber adjustment, there would be on the bottom balljoint on them new fiesta frenzy arms. If it was me, check that your current lower arms are matching, as fords sold me a lower arm for my drivers side, and i put it on, and the wheel kicked right in at the top, and out at the bottom, the tyre would have been running on its inner edge, which would have worn it away. Turns out they sold me the wrong one. If you have no luck with your existing arms, and you wanna put it right, there's no choice but to get them fiesta Frenzy arms.

[MIK3Y]

Or buy new front tyres 3/4 times as often.

Thanx 4 the help.

PS: Will negetive camber (inner tyre wear) improve grip hence F1 cars having it?

[MikeyXR2i]

Don't wanna be chucking ££££ down the drain for tyres all the time, I know the F1 boys do!

The negative camber on F1 cars is crucial, it helps the car turn in better, unless you were racing your car i can't see it benefitting you m8, but if you look at F1 Cars when they Pit, the inside of the tyre is knackered.
You need to get your car set (some how) so it has a bit of negative camber, but still have most of the flat surface of the tyre contacting the road.

[MIK3Y]

'(some how)' Meaning adjustable arms being the only way?

It is only as bad as every1 else who has their FRST lowered so i can't imagine it being a massive problem (very quick wearing tyres) else i would hav heard about it already.

I guess most people jus buy new tyres then?

[MikeyXR2i]

Yeah (some how) meaning the Adjustable arms, if you wanna go down that route, i would if it was gonna save me money on tyres in the long run,
maybe some on here has got this problem and they have bought the arms, they have been around for a while now.
Well ive got 195/45/15's and ive had no trouble.
Maybe you could try these.

[mmogenius]

can i suggest that you check your bushes and ball joints on the lower arms before changing anything.

If you lower your car you will change the camber.

if the bushes or ball joints have give you will encounter strage tyre ware and the feeling of the car driving down the road will be quite odd...

Thanks

[Sparky]

lowering the car will cause the tyres to wear in their inside edges for two reasons.

Increase of negative camber (as mentioned)

Increase of toe out on the front wheels.

When lowering, the track rods are placed at a steeper angle causing them to pull each of the hubs in slightly hence causing toe out. I would suggest getting the tracking set professionally first and seeing if this brings your tyre wear to an acceptable level. 35mm lowering shouldn't cause too much wear on the inner edges.

P.S What car do you drive?

Negative camber can be reduced on FRST's by replacing the lower arms with those from a base model Fiesta. Fiesta Turbos came out the factory with longer lower arms to increase the track but these can cause silly amounts of negative camber when lowered substantially.

[mmogenius]

it's worth mentioning that if you do buy the lower arms from Ian Howell there more then worth there money.

[MIK3Y]

Do hub spacers make the problem worse?

[chumkila]

It happens to EVERY Mk3 Fiesta when lowered on original spec wishbones me thinks.

Nope, not me. Don't have any problem at all.

[MIK3Y]

I think spacers make it worse but if ur's has been lowered i bet it's worn the inner edge of the tyre more than the outer unless uve got Fiesta Frenzy adj arms.
Have u checked?

[mmogenius]

it's worth adding here that you can only ajust your lower arms for more negetive camber on the fiesta frenzy lower arms... you cant place the wheel much further in...

[AdrianFRST]

I think you can compared to std FRST arms (which are longer than all the others).

[Chris_H]

but Mik3y I thought you had uneven camber on either side? Like I said on CS its probably had a nudge. The subframe is probably about 2mm out or something.

Anyway adjustable TCA's will not solve the problem, like someone else said you can increase the negative camber but you can't pull the strut any closer to the body because it will lunch a driveshaft.

Spacers will make it worse.

Its probably related to the clacking, get the worn bit replaced and see what happens.

[TheJester]

I had this problem with my Si on 17's lowered on AVO coilovers. I scrub the inner edges of the tyres to the canvas in 2000 miles.

I got some adjustable arms from Ian (haven't had the car on the road with them fitted yet cos it's in the garage having the bodywork done) and you can tell just buy looking that the angle is better.

The ones with the Rose jointed bushes cost about £200 but the good news is he also does them with standard bushes (which u could the replace with poly bushes) for £80 ish. I bought the later and when the bushes wear i'll replace them with the poly bushes.

If u want his number I'll see if i can find it (it's in the issue of performance ford with his car in).

[MIK3Y]

Thanx, im starting to understand. Chris; it's negetive camber on both sides due to it being lowered i persume. Thanx 4 the help, Mikey.

[MIK3Y]

So new arms must be needed but at £280! I havn't that sorta money for wishbones at the mo, but something for the future.

Im hoping that 15inch alloys with 195/45 tyres and no spacers will reduce the problem a LOT. Thanx for the help but the expense is too much at the minute.

[Ollie]

Can you get these adjustable arms for the Mk2 as well?

Mind you I might be better off just filing the holes out and moving it in that way.

[andymac]

Since you mention you're running 205/40 profile tyres I'm going to hazard a guess you're running 17's. Also, if you're using spacers to move the wheel out you may also have a wider track than usual. Since the wheels are moved further out by this you may well find that it accenuates inner edge wear. I know I suffered both on my fiesta and my rover - I just lived with it though and ended up with new front tyres every 3k miles on the rover.

As snake suggested you could have top adjustable mounts, I suppose if you measured you could modify the top mount to shove the top of the strut out, thus correcting the problem a little. This is what I'm looking at doing with my current car as camber is still pretty bad on front.