anchor bolt camber kits

[Theos92VR4]

I desperately need a camber kit for my car. I was thinking about either the ingals ball joint camber kit, or the ingalls anchor bolt camber kit. Im leaning towards the anchor bolt kit since Ive seen people having issues with the ball joint types.

Anyone have any input?

[cp[mike]]

i still don't understand why people have so many problems with the balljoint style!

The balljoint style came out AFTER the anchor type - presumably to solve the problem of having the A-Arm too far extended.

- With the anchors pushing the whole arm outward, the tip of the arm would start hitting the inner fender.
- With the balljoints, the a-arm stays in place and only the knuckle moves out further.

The only problem with the balljoint ones are that they are TALLER than a normal balljoint - causing the arm to sit higher at rest. That means, it is closer to coming in contact with the ceiling.

I think the balljoint ones tend to bang on very low cars, but just smacking the balljoint flat against the ceiling. The anchor ones cause the very tip of the arm to catch on the side of the inner fender, which causes it to bend and release the balljoint.

Personally I think the anchor ones are stupid and I've seen major A-arm damage caused by running them for too long. Plus, many times they actually break, or loosen up and go out of spec! I think the balljoint ones ultimately are the better choice, though not perfect.

Curious to see what others say...

[F22Chris]

I'd go with the ball joint style myself. My buddy had ingalls anchors on his ef sedan. The bushings went bad in less than a year so his passenger wheel was mad wonky. It also took him forever just to get them so they would stay in place. There's also the fact that one can't just go out a buy a new anchor bushing like you can with ball joint boots... So there's that.

[deevergote]

I've used both. I currently have the Ingalls ball joints on my car at the moment (TASauto arms... they were free... the only reason I use them.) The joint extends outward, effectively moving the edge of the assembly toward the fenderwell. With the ball joint, it's the sliding ball joint assembly that hits the fenderwell, rather than the control arm (as with the anchor bolt style.) Now, that impact could potentially alter your alignment with either style, so it's not really a big deal in that regard.
Honestly, though... I'd rather hit an intact OEM control arm than an adjustable aftermarket ball joint with extra bits to break! I'm also not a fan of pressing the original ball joint out, as it can weaken the metal (and there isn't all that much metal there to begin with!) I've never heard of anyone actually experiencing a broken control arm due to pressing the joint out, but given the potential for disaster if that fails, I'd prefer to avoid it. If you notice, Honda doesn't sell the control arm and ball joint separately. They only come as a single unit.

I prefer the anchor bolt style myself. I like having two adjustable parts. If one fails, the other might hold on long enough to keep me on the road long enough to pull over safely (that exact thing actually happened to me... and I learned never to run a cheap camber kit!) I also like being able to use a camber kit with an unmolested OEM upper control arm and ball joint.

I haven't heard many complaints about the bushings in the quality anchor bolts going to shit... but I assume that could be an issue. I'm curious to see if there are any replacement bushings available for them. That could be an issue, of course.

[cp[mike]]

Steve's car had the anchors when I bought it from him. The UCAs were hitting the inner fender so much that the tips of the arms were curved, and the press-fit ball joint was starting to separate out from the arm... I feel like that can NOT be good...

[deevergote]

The last time I had my wheels aligned, they corrected my camber using my ball joints. The adjustable joints themselves were hitting. Also not good!

Correcting the camber after a certain point without modifying the inner wheelwell is going to result in contact... regardless of the camber correction option you choose. Negative camber is corrected by moving the point where the knuckle connects to the upper control arm (via the ball joint) outward. Regardless of how you do it, there will always be a point where it is going to hit.

[ZoneOneCB7]

I have the ingals adjustable ball joints. Had them for about two years. I dropped two inches and they still didn't correct camber perfect But still great. I did get a lot of hitting so I just cut a hole and from fear of the metal buckling I welded extra metal around the hole. I haven't had a problem since except for the boots. I had to replace them a few times because of the angle the ball joints sit. They work great though. I recommend them.

[deevergote]

They didn't correct camber perfect? Please tell me you had your wheels professionally aligned, and didn't just try to eyeball it...

[kapone]

I have had the anchor style ingals on for about 9 years now, daily driven over 80k I personally do my alignments (i'm a technician) and have never found them out of spec. its always the toe. I bang the inner lip with my sledge and fount the A arm now has more that enough clearance.

[Theos92VR4]

I got these, and it pushed my control arm out too far, to the point where my car was riding on the control arm. Pulled them off and installed SPC adjustable balljoint and i havent had any issues with clearance

[dj_ender]

I have Ingalls anchor bolts and I throw my car around corners, and drive at high speeds on mountains rounds. AND we have horrible potholes here, so bad that they took out my UBJ and outer tie rod. But the bushings are fine and the camber setting has never moved.

You CANNOT be dumped and have near perfect camber with either style. It's a trade off, if you want to be low low, you can't be near 0 degrees. I'm pretty low but I have to have notches in my towers and I have to run -3.1 degrees of camber.

[DCB7]

How much life/miles do you get out of your tires with the-3.1 degrees? Soft or hard sidewalls?

[Raf99]

We have to keep in mind the spring/shock combo one is using too when taking about the UCA hitting the top/ceiling of the fender and how low you are. The degree of camber will determine what's going to hit the inner side.

I have SPC ball joints and I tried 0 deg. camber. I was hitting on the inner side fender and then with big bumps I was hitting the top/ceiling of the fender. I had to go to -1.5deg. camber to not hit the sides and on big dips I still hit the top/ceiling of the fender. I tried the big hammer but it's not the easiest metal to work with and hard in that area. < running Tein Super Streets / 2.5" lowered / hardest dampener settings.

The proper way to solve this issue (if you want to run low and little camber) is to have a body shop cut holes in the top and cap it, and make room in the sides of the inner fender too. I was hoping to have a body shop do this for me this summer.

Example:



And there are different issues with the front compared to the rear. I use ingal bent rear UCA for the back. Both front and back are -1.5deg. camber.

(if you guys can, please add to the thread - http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=206779 for lowered/wheel/offset picture thread)

[DCB7]

Im assuming the urgency for a camberkit is primarily to extend tire life (which I can understand totally) and handling coming in close second, however the look and ride quality (not too much contact with fender and control arm) one's going for may not be compatible with zero camber (without the cutting of the shock towers I guess). I was lowered about 2.5 inches in the front with anchor bolts set to -0.5 and the ride was ridiculous with constant knocking on the slightest bumps. Went back on the rack and set it to -1.0 camber, and the fender knocking went away but would still hit the top of the tower because the springs were very soft (220lbs front), but that was only on hard bumps and extreme dips. With stiffer springs, I doubt it would have hit at all. I'm taking a sledge to the inner fender if I lower down to that height again.

This is my tire wear after 2 years/ 15,000 miles at -0.1 with the anchor bolts without any tire rotation, and half the time the bushings were shot on a couple of them. The tires could easily have lasted another 15 to 20,000 miles at that setting. These are with hard sidewall tires

[kapone]

How much life/miles do you get out of your tires with the-3.1 degrees? Soft or hard sidewalls?

Almost the same as stock. Its your toe that kills tires, not camber. Been running 3.0 degrees of negative camber all around for about 8 years now, have had the same set of tires on for 3 years (over 30k ) and have about 50% left on them, evenly worn. As long as you keep up with your alignments (at least once a year) tire wear will be good...