'93 Civic 2.5" drop - camber kit required?

[tim3058]

Hey guys, I picked up a set of used 2.5" lowering springs for $40 and would like to throw em in the car, 2 questions:
1) Have any of you been able to compare before/after mpg for a lowering kit?
2) For those that are driving early 90's Civics, did you have to get a camber kit to fix the alignment? I know TomO's VX was lowered, I'd be interested to know if he or anyone else ran into problems aligning the car, or if you've seen bad tire wear. I found a ricer site arguing over whether camber kits are needed but there was mixed feedback on it. Thanks for the help.

[TomO]

I lowered my car the first time on a set of Ksport full coilovers (threaded struts and adjustable coils, dampening adjustment as well). Lowered the car nearly three inches in the front and back. I only had to adjust front toe (tape measure and a friend way) to get it back into spec. Front camber was at 1.5° negative which is just inside allowable spec for my car so I didn't worry about it, it actually helped my cornering. Rear camber was at 1.2° which was also in tolerance.

No abnormal tire wear although the inside of the tires were worn about 1/32" more than the outside of the tires, I also kept up on rotating the tires normally. Tires were Sumitomo HTR200 with about 20 miles of autocross on them and roughly 42K miles of daily driving. They still have 4/32" of tread on the insides of the tires and 5/32" of tread on the outside of all tires. Front tires were always ran at 50psi and the rears were always ran at 48psi. I'm actually going to run them once more when spring comes around until I save up and buy more of the same tire.

Whether or not you'll need a camber kit will be up to you and your handling needs. If you want to have less camber after lowering then you will need the kit. If you're fine with still being withing alignment specs then you won't need the kit.

I have since blown the front struts and am in the process of replacing them with OEM units (struts and springs) from the 88-91 Civic/CRX generation. That way I get to stay at my lowered stance and still ride like a stock Civic VX.

[Christ]

For the rears, you can fix the camber issues with washers behind the compensator arm (the upper "dog bone" part on the trailing arm) if you're not happy with the camber after lowering. On the front, the extra camber will help corners, and shouldn't affect straight stability at speed. It will make low-speed maneuvers a little choppy, though, because the car won't have as much steering "play" as you're used to, especially if you hyper inflate.

The camber isn't what causes funny wear on your tires, it's the toe angle. That will also cause your tires to scrub, meaning it takes more power to go the same distance. Make sure your toe is in spec, and you should be fine.

Mileage figures, I can't really help with. Some say it affects negatively unless you have some treatment under the car as well, but I don't see it working this way.