Camber issue

I got new front wheels and tires and noticed 1 wheel has slight negative camber and the other has positive camber. I held a 2’ level against each tire and it’s not my imagination. You should not be able to see different camber should you? Newer struts, newer control arms.

Is the car sitting on a level surface?

Whether or not your can see camber depends on you eyesight more that anything else.

You can fix the camber problem pretty easily. The side that is more negative can be adjusted by letting the strut hang, loosen the 2 bolts holding the lower bracket, pry it towards more positive and tighten. The positive side is done similar but place a jack under the rotor hat section and jack up just a little and tighten.

Then measure the camber properly to see what you have.

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I replaced the strut where the camber seems positive. There are no slots in the bolt holes. There is a tiny bit of adjustment due to oversized holes. I still have the 1st strut which looks fairly new. I was told it was 2-3 yrs old.

Correct. My advice stands. If it doesn’t correct the camber enough, use a rat tail file on the lower mounting hole to elongate the holes a small amount outboard. Light jack pressure under the rotor hat and tighten. Re-measure, repeat as needed.

Looks like I should check how much adjustment I really have.

With those parts being replaced, I’d have a shop do an alignment.

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To start with, I would replace the struts in pairs, not one at a time. I don’t know your vehicle but some vehicles have an elongated hole, the top hole at the bottom of the strut. It appears yours does not but there is a tiny bit of play between the two bottom mounting bolts. If you need more, there are concentric bolts available for most vehicles for more camber adjustment.

Some vehicles camber can be adjusted at the top of the upper strut mount where it bolts to the strut tower. Again there is a tiny bit of play if there is no adjustment.

A 2’ level probably isn’t the best thing to use for measuring the camber especially if the car is on the ground. You are measuring off the tire and that can introduce some error. Best if measuring on the ground is a piece of angle iron cut to fit just inside the outer lip of the rim.

It is better to get two jacks and jack up each front wheel by the lower ball joint or just inboard of the lower ball joint on the lower control arm. Use your level to make sure the car is level side to side, the radiator should be a good reference.

Then remove the wheels and use the hub or rotor surface to take your readings. You can also try making the adjustments at this point too. Use a small torpedo level, there is no advantage to a long level for this. A long level in this application is NOT more accurate.

It’s an equinox, I have several. I fix the heads. Sort of my hobby.Runs fine shifts fine good ac cept for noisy front end. I pulled off calipers today and noticed it does not have caliper pins with the rubber bushings for noise issues. So I put them on. image

I wonder if your cradle has shifted . . .

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Equinoxes/vues are known for cradle rust. It’s solid. I got new wheels/tires for winter and have been trying to dial in noise/ride issues before it snows. I park in front of my office window and can easily see the tires.

So the cradle is solid . . .

That still doesn’t mean it can’t slightly shift, due to rusty and/or loose hardware

On one of my previous cars, the cradle DID shift

The cradle itself was in great shape

But the hardware was NOT, because the design was such that moisture over the years attacked the hardware only

Solved issue. Sold it.

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I had a 94 Mitsubishi Gallant. They had a double wishbone front end like an Accord and handled very well. Suddenly the steering
had to be pointed to the right to go straight ahead. The car was less than a year old so I went to the dealer and told them I thought it needed an alignment. They looked at it and said, the alignment was fine, the engine cradle had shifted. I told them I hoped they tightened the bolts good or it might happen again.