Advice solicited for a coilover newbie.

Last week I found a nice warm day (38°F in Michigan) to swap in BC BR coilovers. I didn't have a micrometer but I did use a tape measure (don't hate) and I left the preload at approximately where it was from the factory. I say approximately because I had to move the collars to apply anti-seize but I measured and remeasured afterwards. I tried to keep the preload as close to factory as possible but I was measuring for consistency from side to side so Left and Right would match.

 

Took the car in for an alignment at a very reputable shop my whole family has been going to for over a decade after. They do a LOT of work on Subarus. The guy I spoke with was very knowledgeable too.

 

They couldn't align it to factory specs. The tech said that the camber is all still slightly positive which is obviously not okay. He said something about needing a different size rear control arm and/or (can't remember if he said "and", or "or") a camber bolt.

 

He also said the toe is not right.

 

So basically I paid more than the cost of an alignment and I still need an alignment.

 

The problem is that after searching the forum, the answer is always "the shop is wrong, oem is best" but I trust this shop's expertise.

 

Any thoughts or leads would be appreciated.

 

My personal thoughts about the front are that maybe they didn't touch the adjustable camber plate in the front but I have no idea about the back.

 

Thank you all in advance for sharing your experience with me...

It would be helpful to post your alignment sheet. Do the BC's have camber plates in the front?

Thanks, GTEASER. I'm picking the car up (after hours) in a couple hours and I'll see if there was an alignment sheet included in the paperwork. I apologize for the lack of information. I didn't even think to ask for an alignment sheet.

 

Yes, camber plates in front.

No alignment sheet left for me. Here's the synopsis on my invoice (excluding the sections relevant to other work):

 

"The car has been lowered and we got it close but, parts are needed to make it right. Rear toe is not to spec and front and rear camber isn't where it should be either. We are suggesting that the customer return to manufacturer of kit that has been installed and see what is available."

 

Also, it does look like they tried adjusting the front camber plates:

uhh. The shops response doesn't make sense. Is something broken? Lowering the car gives it more camber. If you lowered on BCBRs you probably got more (-)camber just from that.

Now you have two front camber adjustments, the OEM camber bolt and the camber plates in front. They should be able to dial in exactly what you want.

 

There is no camber adjustment in the rear from factory. You can get after-market rear control arms, or a camber bushing for the rear upper control arm.

 

Something that is not clear to me, was he talking about the front or rear of the car?

The front they should've been able to get aligned, no problem. Especially with the camber plates. For the rear, look to Whiteline.

What does not aligned to what it should be mean? too much negative camber? or too much positive? The rear should be out of spec but (-). With your front set-up they should be able to get exactly what you want.

 

It looks like the shop maxed the left side for camber? Do you know if they touched the OEM camber bolts?

Is something broken?

Maybe. I did drive through a pretty bumpy field recently (it was snowy I had to). It was before the coilovers were installed. Maybe the heavy impacts of my 5 minutes of "off roading" threw off the alignment in a way that was unrelated to the installation of the coils and therefore the techs weren't looking for the right thing?

There is no camber adjustment in the rear from factory. You can get after-market rear control arms, or a camber bushing for the rear upper control arm.

Awesome.

Something that is not clear to me, was he talking about the front or rear of the car?

In which part?

Front status: Not able to align for inexplicable reason.

Rear status: Not able to align due to need of additional mystery parts (no longer a mystery thanks to you guys).

The front they should've been able to get aligned, no problem. Especially with the camber plates. For the rear, look to Whiteline.

Thank you.

What does not aligned to what it should be mean? too much negative camber? or too much positive?

There's too much positive camber.

It looks like the shop maxed the left side for camber? Do you know if they touched the OEM camber bolts?

I noticed that too. Odd. When I took the car in the camber plates were set to dead center so I would think they would have adjusted the OEM camber bolts first.

shops that are'nt familiar with lowered cars typically cringe at having to this. Techs don't like signing off on a job as "complete" when it is'nt dead on to factory specs. If you're dumping it 2" in the front you'll need different camber bolts to help with alignment.

It should be negative camber when lowered though. Not positive. Something else is going on.

 

Did you accidentally switch the strut bolts and put the camber in the wrong spot. Unsure if this would cause positive camber though.

It should be negative camber when lowered though. Not positive. Something else is going on.

 

Did you accidentally switch the strut bolts and put the camber in the wrong spot. Unsure if this would cause positive camber though.

 

I don't think the camber bolts would even fit in the hole backwards or in the lower hole.

I'm going to take a look at the front myself in the next few days (probably this weekend) and I'll report my findings or lack thereof and possibly some uninteresting pictures of nothing seeming wrong...

 

I can't tell you guys how much I appreciate your help!

I bet I know the shop you had setup your car.

 

They should be able to set your car to oem spec easily unless there is a problem with the coilovers themselves. You are crazy for running coilovers around here the roads will destroy them within a year and your adjustment collars will seize as well.

One of the 5th Gen guys in MA just had his BC camber plate bearings rust out for the 2nd time in 4 years and he discovered that the rear shocks are shot. All because of the salt. He got 4 years and 25k miles out of them. He's switching over to Konis and H&R springs.

Yeah BC racing is really poor quality when compared to Koni or oem Spec B billsteins

I bet I know the shop you had setup your car.

 

They should be able to set your car to oem spec easily unless there is a problem with the coilovers themselves. You are crazy for running coilovers around here the roads will destroy them within a year and your adjustment collars will seize as well.

Just doing the best I can here, buddy. So many people on here seemed to insist that coilovers were a more effective solution to attacking ride height and handling that I went for it. Sorry to disappoint you!

Just doing the best I can here, buddy. So many people on here seemed to insist that coilovers were a more effective solution to attacking ride height and handling that I went for it. Sorry to disappoint you!

 

That is because they parrot the shops that make money off selling coilovers like BC Racing and such.

 

Most people on here have never seen how awful roads like Mound and parts of I75 are.

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Yeah BC racing is really poor quality when compared to Koni or oem Spec B billsteins

I read it on the Internet is not how quality is judged.

Rust is an equal destroyer of suspension bits.

 

Just doing the best I can here, buddy. So many people on here seemed to insist that coilovers were a more effective solution to attacking ride height and handling that I went for it. Sorry to disappoint you!

Bc coilovers are fine. To get best performance, take it to a shop that specializes in performance car setup. You'll want a competition alignment which sets it to your specifications not factory.

If you dropped 2 inches, you'll need the bump steer kit too.

 

Without the paperwork there's no way to see what they did.