Eibach Sportline springs, tech tip for perfect alignment and no camber kit

[tagappliedfor]

i installed these sportlines, everybody kept saying i needed to get a camber kit but i found out if you rotate the strut caps 180-degrees so the arrow is facing the opposite way it will offset the strut just enough to get the camber in factory specs. i was wondering if this would wear the tiny ballbearings in the strut top out, but i actually did this a year and a half ago (December 2009) and i've put 16,000 miles of pretty hard driving on it since then... my tires have worn evenly no problems whatsover. you can tell in the post how the strut rod is closer to the fender than what it normally should be

 

[SteveP]

the stock gt mounts go bad quick. A lot of people upgrade them to the gt500 mounts. And with aligning it, i had mine done 3 years ago when i had the pro kit and to this day have had no issues. The only thing I added to with the alignment was the steeda x5 balljoints. You do not need the plates to get a good alignment

 

[tagappliedfor]

That's what's up, might do that eventually they are not that expensive. My stock GT mounts are doing just fine though, they have 70,000 miles on them now

 

[shikwann]

So for the record if running a pro-kit camber bolts aren't needed?

 

[DDTCM]

Im assuming this would work with the FRPP K's also?

 

[tagappliedfor]

I'm pretty sure my Sportline springs are among the lowest available, if it'll work with these it'll definately work with the Pro kit and Ford K's, like Steve said some Shelby GT500 mounts wouldn't be a bad idea

 

[GrnBullitt08]

The Sportlines, Tein S, H&R SS, and CJ lowering springs are the lowest.... You can get away with rotating the strut mount for sometime, but they OEM Strut Mounts don't last very long with a very aggressive drop.... You'll get popping and vibration eventually.

I'm still running on my OEM Strut mounts though to this day on my k-springs... But you can tell they are on their last leg... (38,000 miles currently)

 

[1SonicGT]

This is great news to me since i'm about to drop my car with a eibach pro kit. So let me get this straight all you do is rotate the strut caps and it will put the car back to almost perfect OEM alignment?

 

[tagappliedfor]

yea, and if the GT mounts do go bad eventually Ford Racing mounts are $77.98 a pair shipped from LateModel Restoration Supply. but like i said, i have had mine like that for 18 months of driving everyday and have had no trouble whatsoever, and the camber is in factory specs no uneven tire wear

 

[1SonicGT]

yea, and if the GT mounts do go bad eventually Ford Racing mounts are $77.98 a pair shipped from LateModel Restoration Supply. but like i said, i have had mine like that for 18 months of driving everyday and have had no trouble whatsoever, and the camber is in factory specs no uneven tire wear

Then why do they say it is so important to put the struts in the way you took them out? Do you have a small write up of what you did exactly? Even if it is just from memory anything would help

 

[SteveP]

remember guys with lowering these cars no matter what spring, your rear end WILL shift to the left. So you will need a adj panhard bar.

 

[tagappliedfor]

if you do that stock, it will have positive camber and wear the outside edge of the tire out so of course thats why you would mount it factory correct. i don't think Ford did this on purpose, but it just so happens that it this will work for cars with simple lowering springs. and Steve is right again, when i lowered my car my axle sat about a half inch to the left, so $100-150 for an adjustable panhard bar is a good idea eventually.

i did'nt take pictures while i did this, if your springs are already on the car it will only take about 15-minutes. loosen the four 13mm nuts under the hood attaching the strut (mark one of the studs with chalk or a paint marker, cause it will be in the hole opposite from it when your done, that way theres no mistakes), jack that side of the car up until the studs are completely out of the holes and reach up top and rotate the strut cap 180-degrees and carefully align the holes back up and lower the car (two people should do this, one on the jack handle and a pair of eyes up top to align the studs so you don't screw the threads up). simple as that. there is an arrow etched in the top that will be facing the opposite way now (if you can see it)

 

[Ken04]

if you do that stock, it will have positive camber and wear the outside edge of the tire out so of course thats why you would mount it factory correct. i don't think Ford did this on purpose, but it just so happens that it this will work for cars with simple lowering springs. and Steve is right again, when i lowered my car my axle sat about a half inch to the left, so $100-150 for an adjustable panhard bar is a good idea eventually.

i did'nt take pictures while i did this, if your springs are already on the car it will only take about 15-minutes. loosen the four 13mm nuts under the hood attaching the strut (mark one of the studs with chalk or a paint marker, cause it will be in the hole opposite from it when your done, that way theres no mistakes), jack that side of the car up until the studs are completely out of the holes and reach up top and rotate the strut cap 180-degrees and carefully align the holes back up and lower the car (two people should do this, one on the jack handle and a pair of eyes up top to align the studs so you don't screw the threads up). simple as that. there is an arrow etched in the top that will be facing the opposite way now (if you can see it)

nice write up and good find. I'm going to do this. I have stangsuspension 2" drop springs and I definitely have negative camber, thanks for the how-to.

 

[tagappliedfor]

I found this out by accident lol. When I lowered the car I put one side in wrong like that (I was rushing for a show) and didn't realize it till I put it on the alignment rack and noticed one side was out of spec, that's when I looked at the struts and figured it out lol.

 

[allinon72]

Do you have the camber specs before doing this? That way we can compare them with the specs after and see how much camber is corrected with this method.

 

[tagappliedfor]

if i remember correctly it was almost a full degree, -1.70 to -2.00 i think but its been awhile

 

[HellsBells]

I think this little "trick" will vary from car to car. You probably just lucked out.

 

[allinon72]

I think this little "trick" will vary from car to car. You probably just lucked out.

Sure it will vary depending on the camber specs beforehand and the type of springs being used, but if it corrects a degree of camber, this will work on a large number of cars.

 

[06tungstengt]

Badass. I should be getting my sportlines next week hopefully, im def going to do this.

 

[05gtkid]

I'm running stock everything and mine wears down the inside of the tire now' I'll be putting sportline springs on this week along with 18x10 fr500s with 275/40 in the front and 295/35 in the back will I need to do this or will it correct its self or make it worse?