I had the TRD springs installed on my tC. How does one know if the rear camber is off? Is there anyway to tell? I really don't have an eye for that.

I have no idea if service aligned the wheels after the install. Is it possible for it to still drive straight even though the camber might be off?

Thanks.

I had the TRD springs installed on my tC. How does one know if the rear camber is off? Is there anyway to tell? I really don't have an eye for that.

I have no idea if service aligned the wheels after the install. Is it possible for it to still drive straight even though the camber might be off?

Thanks.
Sure. Let's see if I can help you...

You can download the .pdf file for aligning the rear suspension here. (http://www.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=93D6087CA88E50037A5CBEFA9E569BEB) I don't know if you can do everything yourself, but you can check it out, at least.

Camber should have little effect on your car going straight. If you have too much camber, eventually, the insides of the tires will wear more than the outsides, but the toe setting on your suspension would actually have more of an effect on tire wear.

If you had the springs installed at the dealer, I've heard that they are supposed to check the alignment afterwards as part of the service. I would probably call them to verify that they did, and if they didn't, have them take a look at it.

I had the TRD springs installed on my tC. How does one know if the rear camber is off? Is there anyway to tell? I really don't have an eye for that.

I have no idea if service aligned the wheels after the install. Is it possible for it to still drive straight even though the camber might be off?

Thanks.
Sure. Let's see if I can help you...

You can download the .pdf file for aligning the rear suspension here. (http://www.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=93D6087CA88E50037A5CBEFA9E569BEB) I don't know if you can do everything yourself, but you can check it out, at least.

Camber should have little effect on your car going straight. If you have too much camber, eventually, the insides of the tires will wear more than the outsides, but the toe setting on your suspension would actually have more of an effect on tire wear.

If you had the springs installed at the dealer, I've heard that they are supposed to check the alignment afterwards as part of the service. I would probably call them to verify that they did, and if they didn't, have them take a look at it.

Thanks for the info, seems kind of technical but I'll check it out anyway.

And yes, I had the springs installed at the dealer. Before they were installed I told the service guy to align the wheels when they were done. Honestly, they have the worst service in my area, so I can't really trust them enough to believe them. And I really don't want to go back there again. I'll be going to another dealer from now on. This is one of the reasons I wanted to double check to see if it was actually done or not. I don't want my tires to wear out sooner just because they didn't align the tires.

My tC seems to drive straight though, but you say the camber can still be off even if it drives straight correct? One last quesetion, the spring install would only affect the camber right?

Well, they could have thrown off your alignment while doing the install in any number of ways, but when you put on lowering springs you camber will naturally go more negative (the wheels will tilt in a little more at the top.) If you think it's not aligned properly (and you don't need any proof or anything) just ask the service department to check the alignment and show you the specs. They should be able to print you out what the factory specs are as well as what the specs on your car are. They should match up. If not, have them fix it. If they won't, call Scion HQ.

Well, they could have thrown off your alignment while doing the install in any number of ways, but when you put on lowering springs you camber will naturally go more negative (the wheels will tilt in a little more at the top.) If you think it's not aligned properly (and you don't need any proof or anything) just ask the service department to check the alignment and show you the specs. They should be able to print you out what the factory specs are as well as what the specs on your car are. They should match up. If not, have them fix it. If they won't, call Scion HQ.

i really don't want to go back to that dealership, but i guess i'm going to have too. i really can't tell if there is negative camber or not. should the front and rear tires have the same camber?

The front and rear in most cars do not have the same amount of camber. Usuaully the rear has more negative camber. Just birng it back to the dealership and get it aligned. Anytime you mess with the suspension even if its less than an inch drop you should get your car aligned. If you leave it and you have negative camber ot to much toe you wo;; wear your tires unevenly.

The front and rear in most cars do not have the same amount of camber. Usuaully the rear has more negative camber. Just birng it back to the dealership and get it aligned. Anytime you mess with the suspension even if its less than an inch drop you should get your car aligned. If you leave it and you have negative camber ot to much toe you wo;; wear your tires unevenly.

I've only had bad service from that dealership so I really don't want to go back there. The toe would be off if the car turns a certain direction if the wheel is straight correct? If thats the case the toe is fine. I just don't know about the the camber in rear since that changes most with the spring install.

The front and rear in most cars do not have the same amount of camber. Usuaully the rear has more negative camber. Just birng it back to the dealership and get it aligned. Anytime you mess with the suspension even if its less than an inch drop you should get your car aligned. If you leave it and you have negative camber ot to much toe you wo;; wear your tires unevenly.

I've only had bad service from that dealership so I really don't want to go back there. The toe would be off if the car turns a certain direction if the wheel is straight correct? If thats the case the toe is fine. I just don't know about the the camber in rear since that changes most with the spring install.
If the toe is off equally on both sides, then your tires will wear a lot but your wheel won't pull to one side. Many times people look at their tires wearing too much on the inside and think "Too much negative camber!" when in reality, it's too much toe. The camber is affected naturally with lowering springs (they add more negative camber) which then should be adjusted if it's out of spec. The only way the toe or other adjustments would be screwed up is if they messed up.

I believe also the rear suspension arms would need to be loosened then re-tightened when installing the lowering springs. Although there don't appear to be torsion bars, the rear suspension arms will be in a different position at rest than before the lowering springs and this may cause accelerated wear to the bushings.

The front and rear in most cars do not have the same amount of camber. Usuaully the rear has more negative camber. Just birng it back to the dealership and get it aligned. Anytime you mess with the suspension even if its less than an inch drop you should get your car aligned. If you leave it and you have negative camber ot to much toe you wo;; wear your tires unevenly.

I've only had bad service from that dealership so I really don't want to go back there. The toe would be off if the car turns a certain direction if the wheel is straight correct? If thats the case the toe is fine. I just don't know about the the camber in rear since that changes most with the spring install.
If the toe is off equally on both sides, then your tires will wear a lot but your wheel won't pull to one side. Many times people look at their tires wearing too much on the inside and think "Too much negative camber!" when in reality, it's too much toe. The camber is affected naturally with lowering springs (they add more negative camber) which then should be adjusted if it's out of spec. The only way the toe or other adjustments would be screwed up is if they messed up.

I believe also the rear suspension arms would need to be loosened then re-tightened when installing the lowering springs. Although there don't appear to be torsion bars, the rear suspension arms will be in a different position at rest than before the lowering springs and this may cause accelerated wear to the bushings.

ok so only the camber should have been affected...

i'm not sure i understood your last paragraph though. what would cause accelerated wear to the bushings? and what are bushings? and how can this be fixed?

i'm not sure i understood your last paragraph though. what would cause accelerated wear to the bushings? and what are bushings? and how can this be fixed?
Rear control arm bushings. Let's say the control arm is parallel to the ground before the lowering springs. Now, if you were to put a lot of weight in the car, or hit a bump, or put on the lowering springs, now the control arm points up a little compared to before. If you don't loosen then tighten the control arm mounting bolts (which go through the bushings) it's like those bvushings always have some pre-load to them. This is probably true of other suspension components, but I saw those mentioned in the shop manual (actually, they just said to bounce the car on the suspension to settle it and make sure that there was no load in the car before tightening the bolts.)

did you buy a cam kit for the front? im sure you have neg. cam in the front too. a cam kit for the front is only about 40 to 50 dollars and the rear (from what i was told by a good source) can be ajusted with stock hardware up to about 2 degrees. that is a lot. about 99 dollars for a cam kit and alignment in my area.

did you buy a cam kit for the front? im sure you have neg. cam in the front too. a cam kit for the front is only about 40 to 50 dollars and the rear (from what i was told by a good source) can be ajusted with stock hardware up to about 2 degrees. that is a lot. about 99 dollars for a cam kit and alignment in my area.
You shouldn't need it. I don't even know if the Goldline springs or Tein coilovers would need it, and I think they're the lowest drop yet. The tC suspension is very adjustable, it has cam bolts (where you can rotate the bolt to change alignment, typically camber) in a number of places stock from the factory. Plus the rear suspension is very adjustable. You should check out the shop manual if you haven't already.

are you suggesting if i lower my car 2.7 inches with a tein coilover set up that i wont need a cam kit? that would create a lot of negative camber. which means the tires go fast. i find that hard to believe. if you could show me that the stock cam bolt can correct 1.5 degrees of camber i would feel like a fool and try to keep my mouth shut for the rest of my days.

If anyone has the file linked in the second post here, please PM me or email it to me at djaaronp@yahoo.com

Thanks!