I have a completely stock '00 Impreza Outback Sport that I swapped '03 Forester struts into a couple years ago. I ended up gaining about 3" of lift, but naturally, ever since it installed them I've had some fairly noticeable positive camber, front and rear. I'm finally getting decent tires (205/75/15 General Grabber AT2) for the car and I want to correct the camber issue before I mount them up. The front suspension has one factory camber bolt in the top strut/knuckle hole and a normal bolt in the bottom. I have the camber set to maximize negative camber currently, but still need to add more negative camber...can I put another factory camber bolt in the bottom strut/knuckle hole to achieve this? (I'm not sure the holes have the same diameter without getting in there again and looking) The rear doesn't have as extreme positive camber as the front. In the rear, the car does not have any camber bolts from the factory. When I did the lift, I attempted to add aftermarket camber bolts to the top strut/knuckle holes, but due to lack of knowledge I ended up screwing up the washer on the camber bolt before I could even get them fully installed so I left the stock bolts in. Is there a camber adjustment on the rear lateral links that go from the knuckle to the rear diff? I've never done or witnessed a shop do an alignment before. Would they be able to dial this thing in considering the suspension isn't stock? I mean, would they add a camber bolt to get it dialed in or just get it as close they can and tell me that's the best they can do? Thanks in advance!
Those actually look like they'd work quite well, but I'm honestly looking for something a bit more cost effective if at all possible. This is my winter beater and I don't want to get too carried away spending $$$ on it . Cheapest and most effective (and safe) way as possible. Is notching/slotting the upper strut holes a little bit to gain some neg camber a big no-no?
I would not recommend slotting the upper strut holes. You won't gain enough camber by doing this. You can look at replacing the non-camber bolt (the bottom one) with a smaller diameter hardened bolt. I've done this for years on my WRX to gain extra camber. (recommendation from Jeff the Alignment Guy)
Great idea...that might be the way to go. I'm going to have an alignment guy take a look at it next week and see what he thinks he can do. Thanks for the idea!
The camber seemed to a be better after putting the new tires on actually. Still needs some negative camber added front and rear, but should be nice once it get it dialed in...bring on the snow!
