Rear alignment

Does anyone else have a rear camber issue? I have been a bout a degree off for years, ever sense I bought my Reatta. Well today I am going to be correcting this issue that every alignment shop has told be cannot be corrected. A bit ago I ran across the following part. http://www.moog-suspension-parts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=MOOG-K6623

I will post the results after I finish.

I was told the same thing but later learned that you have to have a full tank of gas and 300 lbs of weight in the trunk.

I was told the same thing but later learned that you have to have a full tank of gas and 300 lbs of weight in the trunk.

Mine was the opposite. I had negative camber on both sides.

Mine was the opposite. I had negative camber on both sides.

Might be due to the Mustang wheels? I've noticed that mine seem to have straightened up some since I replaced my Mustang wheels with Cadillac STS wheels.

So here is a quick write up on this. It was a fairly quick job and I had extra time so I took a few pictures in case anyone else wants or needs to do this. I guess it can be used as a rear bearing or hub write up also. It is a pretty straight forward job.

First here is the basic steps.

1) remove the rear wheel.

2) remove caliper by removing the two bolts that fasten the bracket in place

3) remove the 13mm bolts that hold the hub on. This is best done with a socket and extension.

4) align the shims and remove the unnecessary tabs (determined by which correction you need)

5) replace hub with shim behind and install parts in reverse order.

Now on to some pictures.

Shims before and after trimming

Side view of shim this is the 1 degree shim (largest)

Hub removed

Old and new bolts.

With switching to allen (hex socket) blots I can use any of the hub hole to install or remove the four hub bolts. Not hugely important but saves a little time.

Hub and shim installed

This is the biggest reason for switching to allen bolts. It is no much easier to access the caliper bracket bolts with out fighting with the parking brake cable.

I will have the alignment check shortly to ensure the shims made the correct change. Hope this can help someone out if they ever have to do this job.

Daniel

Edited August 31, 2014 by D-a-n-i-e-l (see edit history)

Might be due to the Mustang wheels? I've noticed that mine seem to have straightened up some since I replaced my Mustang wheels with Cadillac STS wheels.

Mine was off before the mustang wheels, and remained off with gm factory and my new aftermarket wheels.

For racing you like a degee or two negative but for street zero is good.

That said & having a couple of 100k mile on 3800 FWD I can say that with Michelin radials I could see no difference in wear between 0 and 2 degrees negative in the rear, it is just so light compared to front that IMNSHO it is not worth the effort. Toe in now...

My '89 has had a negative 1.3 camber on both rears as far back as I can find alignment records (1997). The rear negative camber was there before the alignment (and strut replacement) and afterwards. I have never had any tire wear issues over all these years, but like Padgett, I run Michelins, if that makes any difference.