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Does your Honda need a camber kit? Well in short, yes absolutely. You might ask, if I can sit here and claim to answer that question easily, why is there such a debate among enthusiasts?
Marcus from Heeltoe Automotive recently wrote an article on exactly this same subject, in which he claims a camber kit in not a necessary modification. I have his article in front of me right now, its very detailed, and in the long run, probably better written than this one will be, Its also completely correct.
So why do Marcus and I disagree on this point, well in actuality, we do not. Marcus starts his piece saying that when one lowers a car, the camber will go out, and you need a camber kit to fix it. He then goes on to explain that incorrect Toe Angle and Caster will wear tires significantly faster then Camber ever will.
So far, we are in complete agreement. The only way to fix the camber is with a camber kit, and that when it comes to your cars alignment, Toe Angle and Caster are also very equal parts of the equation, and will cause to rubber to wear faster then severe negative camber alone.
Now here is where Marcus and I start to digress. Negative camber is a good thing, but it comes on a sliding scale, on one side of the scale is the performance factor, Negative camber in a double wishbone suspension actually helps you. Noel, I know is in fact is using a rear camber kit to push the tires out to a negative 2.8 degrees for performance purposes. Honda Engineers understand the benifits of negative camber as well, and for that reason TSX comes from the factory with some negative camber in the rear wheels. Honda/Acura Factory specs allow for up to a negative 1.7 degree camber, where as the average rear camber after lowering a TSX is a negative 2.3 degrees.
The other side of this equation however is Tire life, -2.3 degrees camber will chew tires, there is no doubt about this, it will not chew tires as fast as Toe or Caster can, but none the less it does do damage. Marcus states: “an improper alignment will WASTE tires in a matter of months (or weeks if you drive like me).” So my Question is this, if getting a proper alignment is so important, why ignore a third of the equation, why not align the camber while your getting the alignment done.
Here is why: Camber and Caster are not adjustable on Hondas. Marcus, Noel, myself and anyone else with knowledge of our automobiles know this. Toe however is fully adjustable both front and rear. In order to adjust the camber you need to purchase a camber kit.
To conclude, I will use one more example from Marcus. He states that Front tires will wear faster then the Rear tires on a FWD car, this is true because your using the same wheels to turn as you are to power the car. the rear wheels are just rotating, they are not used for traction purposes. Marcus says because of this if you only will need a front camber kit if even.
However, for the TSX there is an issue. When you lower a TSX the front camber is not pushed out to a degree that it becomes a problem, however the rear is. In an Acura TSX or Accord Euro, you only really need it for the rear. The question really is this: At what point does purchasing new tires become more expensive then having purchased a camber kit. In my mind with a good camber kit costing 150 USD for both sides, and good tires costing 120 USD a piece, It is completely worth while to spend the money on a camber kit as a preventative measure.
I hope that what I have written above will help anyone who is unsure about this kind of modification, feel free to ask any questions, we are here to help guys.
Marcus from Heeltoe Automotive recently wrote an article on exactly this same subject, in which he claims a camber kit in not a necessary modification. I have his article in front of me right now, its very detailed, and in the long run, probably better written than this one will be, Its also completely correct.
So why do Marcus and I disagree on this point, well in actuality, we do not. Marcus starts his piece saying that when one lowers a car, the camber will go out, and you need a camber kit to fix it. He then goes on to explain that incorrect Toe Angle and Caster will wear tires significantly faster then Camber ever will.
So far, we are in complete agreement. The only way to fix the camber is with a camber kit, and that when it comes to your cars alignment, Toe Angle and Caster are also very equal parts of the equation, and will cause to rubber to wear faster then severe negative camber alone.
Now here is where Marcus and I start to digress. Negative camber is a good thing, but it comes on a sliding scale, on one side of the scale is the performance factor, Negative camber in a double wishbone suspension actually helps you. Noel, I know is in fact is using a rear camber kit to push the tires out to a negative 2.8 degrees for performance purposes. Honda Engineers understand the benifits of negative camber as well, and for that reason TSX comes from the factory with some negative camber in the rear wheels. Honda/Acura Factory specs allow for up to a negative 1.7 degree camber, where as the average rear camber after lowering a TSX is a negative 2.3 degrees.
The other side of this equation however is Tire life, -2.3 degrees camber will chew tires, there is no doubt about this, it will not chew tires as fast as Toe or Caster can, but none the less it does do damage. Marcus states: “an improper alignment will WASTE tires in a matter of months (or weeks if you drive like me).” So my Question is this, if getting a proper alignment is so important, why ignore a third of the equation, why not align the camber while your getting the alignment done.
Here is why: Camber and Caster are not adjustable on Hondas. Marcus, Noel, myself and anyone else with knowledge of our automobiles know this. Toe however is fully adjustable both front and rear. In order to adjust the camber you need to purchase a camber kit.
To conclude, I will use one more example from Marcus. He states that Front tires will wear faster then the Rear tires on a FWD car, this is true because your using the same wheels to turn as you are to power the car. the rear wheels are just rotating, they are not used for traction purposes. Marcus says because of this if you only will need a front camber kit if even.
However, for the TSX there is an issue. When you lower a TSX the front camber is not pushed out to a degree that it becomes a problem, however the rear is. In an Acura TSX or Accord Euro, you only really need it for the rear. The question really is this: At what point does purchasing new tires become more expensive then having purchased a camber kit. In my mind with a good camber kit costing 150 USD for both sides, and good tires costing 120 USD a piece, It is completely worth while to spend the money on a camber kit as a preventative measure.
I hope that what I have written above will help anyone who is unsure about this kind of modification, feel free to ask any questions, we are here to help guys.