so you're basically just going in and asking for a new eccentric bolt assembly.
does the fit have eccentric bolts in front for camber adjustment already? just curious.
adding ones with more adjustment and using a second set are def. tricks autox'ers have been using for years. it's a sound method.
as for strut tops/camber plates: be wary if you aren't lowering the car at all because tops like those from tein will tend to raise that corner of the car approx 3/8" (i.e. if you have them on in front, the front will be bumped up 3/8"). this measurement varies, but it's usually close to that amount.
i prefer camber plates, when available, simply for the ease of use and checking. if the plate loosens up and your adjustment is out of whack, it's PAINFULLY obvious. when an eccentric bolt goes out of position you need to have had the wheel off to see this.
if you're going to use the bolts, scribe or mark a line across the bolt and onto the strut body so that you can easily verify the bolt is still lined up correctly.
yeah, i know this is all common sense. i figure that the fit's demographics don't exactly dwell in the experienced modifier category though.
I got my allignment done yesterday and they said that the toe on the rear left was off (actual = 0.31 degress; before = .32 degress) and that they couldn't adjust it. They said that I would have to go to a shop that specializes in lowering cars to have it fixed. (FYI: my car's lowered) does anyone know how to adjust it? can I do it myself or am I better of bringing it to shop? if better done by a shop, around how much would it cost?
Shims!
Go to a real wheel alignment shop, they can install some full or partial shims behind the spindle for you. You can adjust the camber and toe to the rear wheels this way.
yes it may be possible to adjust it with shims, but there is no factory camber/caster/toe adj on the rear of our cars; whether it's lowered or not.
I've seen it where installing full contact shims does in fact work, but sometimes it's a hit-and-miss procedure. Any shop that "specializes" in wheel alignments may be able to do it. Good luck.
I did a bit of trig to convert .31 degrees to mm of toe. Assuming I did it right, .31 degrees is 2.06 mm toe-in for a 15-inch wheel. According to my Fit's owner's manual, the rear toe spec is 2.5 mm toe-in. The .44 mm difference is really negligible, and I wouldn't worry about it.
If anything, you could watch your rear tires over time. If you start to see some odd wear, you could consider shims, but unless some other alignment parameter is way off, I doubt you'll see anything strange.
What were the other alignment numbers for your car?
It's possible that a problem with rear toe could make it pull to one side, but it would require a difference in toe from one side to the other. If the shop only gave you one number for rear toe, it's likely "total toe". Total toe tells you how close to parallel the two wheels are to each other, but it doesn't tell you anything about the angle of the wheels with respect to the car itself or the other axle.
For example, this would be zero rear toe:
| | <-- pretend this is a top view of your front wheels
| | <-- rear wheels - parallel to each other, so zero toe
But this is also zero rear toe:
| | <-- front wheels
/ / <-- rear wheels - still parallel to each other, so still zero toe
Notice that the rear wheels are parallel to each other (zero total toe) in both cases. The car would track straight in the first example, but it wouldn't in the second. Despite that, both would show zero total toe in the rear.
Some alignment machines can measure toe for each wheel separately relative to an imaginary perfectly straight center line down the middle of the car. If all other alignment numbers look good, you might want to find a shop that can do something like this.
Okay... so given those numbers, rear total toe is 0.37 (0.31 left plus 0.06 right) which is fine, but it's not even left to right. Your rear wheels look something like this:
/ |
Everything else looks good, so if it's pulling to one side, rear toe could be the problem. As some others said, you might want to find a shop that can shim a rear hub to make the rear toe more even.
If you're doing it yourself, you may want to have someone who's familiar with it... It needs to be on the alignment machine. Once you know the readings, you loosen the tie-rod lock but, rotate the rod and lock it back down. All of this is done while the car is gauged on the alignment machine though...
Working with toe in the front isn't really difficult because the tie rod ends are easy to adjust. If you have a lot of time, you can make your own "alignment machine" with string. Here's a link to a page based on aligning a Miata:
Not as many parameters are adjustable on the Fit, but the basic idea for checking everything still applies. On the other hand, if you had coilovers installed, you might want to get a good alignment from a real shop for a baseline.
I did an alignment today on my fit. I have the eibach pro springs on mine. It's lowered 1.6 inch in the front and 1.3 in the rear. My left rear toe was off a little not by much. But would like to get it corrected if posible by shimming it. Like I said it was about + .03 out. Don't have a print out in front of me right now but will post my specs soon.
What settings can be adjusted? What are the alignment settings for stock car?After lowering the car with springs or coilovers, should the settings be the stock settings for daily driving?What about settings for a track day or autocross, what would be a more aggressive starting point?
how do you adjust the toe in the rear?
how do you adjust the toe in the FRONT?
Linear Mode
