krawzik

I recently hit a curb with my 99 CL, and managed to bend the passenger side front lower control arm. After having that and the strut on that side replaced, the aligner says I need a camber kit put in to adjust both sides, but mostly the passenger side.

He couldn't site any reason to do this, other than age and wear on the car pushing the camber out of alignment a few fractions of a point. My car only has around 37K on it, and I haven't done anything to its ride yet.

I can understand how hitting something could bend parts and require me having a camber kit added, but am I getting scammed on this? Is there anything I can do myself? Is a camber kit normally needed on a stock CL with regular wear? I mean, since now all the parts are back to stock specs, why is the camber on both sides out of line? Since I'm not lowering it or anything, is there a simple/cheaper kit to do this?

Thanks for any help.

JK

97Acura3.0CL

probably would help a little if you dont want you tires to wear down like a mofo i would do it but dont let them over charge you for it

dulux

Look at your tires if they are wearing evenly after 37k miles then you definitely dont need it. If you say that the control arm and the shock/strut were replaced then you should be able to achieve a correct amount of camber through a normal alignment shop just like before the incident because all of the damaged parts were physically replaced, and if they were installed correctly should be able to be aligned like before the incident. especially if the only thing that is pushing your camber out of alignment is wear on the car. I would take it to a second alignment shop and have them look at it.

krawzik

Thanks for the help so far.

Basically, the guy at the shop said that all the physically damaged parts were replaced, but now the camber on the passenger side front still needs adjusting, and the driver side could use a little also. My only question was if all the damaged parts were replaced (making it all stock/new) why do I need a special kit to adjust the camber?

Their explanation was simple wear on the car, and that it was normal. I've never had a car that needed a camber kit for a routine alignment at 37K miles.

-- Also, I haven't been on the existing tires for very long since all of this, so I don't know yet what affect this will actually have on my tires. They said the wear would be significant.

Thanks again for the help.

JK

moomaster_99

You may have shifted your subframe enough to not be able to bring the car back to within spec.

truraysa

yup what moomaster said. a camber kit will be a whole lot cheaper than taking the cl to a frame machine. my dad does frame work professionally.but there are other things beside the arm shock/strut that could have bent in the crash.i dont remember what its from teh lower portion of the arm to the front of the car and theres the lower arm. i know the crashed cl i bought need the whole front suspension included sway bar