Hey I just got a front alignment and I was woundering about the rear. The guy at the shop said I don't need a shim kit to do the rear He said the upper link is adjustable. Is this ture? Im driving a 92 AWD Thank you.

I'm almost positive it is not adjustable.

The rear has toe and camber adjustment. You may run out of camber adjustment if you've lowered your car but I'm not sure what "shim kit" is being referred to.

My car has not been lowered but it has some heavy camber. It wears the inside of the tires but I was not sure if I wanted him to start wrenching on it and it not have adjustments so a 65 doller job turns to a 165 doller job. I thaught I read something about a shim kit to push the camber out. I searched but had no luck but I'll try again.

Ok I found something about camber kits but it was all about 2g so they must have a camber kit for 1g also. But as for the stock set up would they be adjustable? I guess I will just have to bite the bullet and let him try to adjust it. Thanks

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I think stock is adjustable on an AWD, but not nearly enough for a lowered car.

Toe is what really causes tirewear problems, not camber. Especially if the car isn't lowered. So at least go in and get the toe corrected to save your tires!

Yes, on a 1G AWD both rear camber and toe have provisions from the factory for adjustment. Eccentric bolts are used. As Rob suggests, very little adjustment is possible in stock form. Large adjustments require modifying the length of the upper control arm (usually accomplished by replacing it with an adjustable version, or by modifying the existing control arm to be adjustable). So the guy at the shop was correct. You don't need a shim kit, the upper link (of the control arm) is adjustable.

OK thanks alot guys. I'll get that checked out and I'll make sure my wallet is full of money when I go, its quite rusty under my car so I should expect way more than one hour of labour. I would like to get this done befor I get new tires on the rear. You can feel the temp diferences on the tire after driving it the insides are warm!

I can absolutely garantee that the rear is adjustable if its awd. I own 3 and work at an alignment shop

and the range of adjustment is actually quite good, even for a moderately lowered car. nearly 2 inches lower in the rear of the red car, in spec.

As stated above, toe is the killer, NOT camber as alot of alignment shops will have you believe. Get your toe set to near 0 and you will be fine. See, the camber is often faulted because it will wear the tires alot faster, thereby making it seem like the camber wore them out. If the camber is near 0, and the toe is out, the tires will take alot longer to wear because they are wearing out across the whole surface, whereas if the camber is negative or positive, the tire will be on a much smaller surface and it will be scrubbed off alot faster.

Now, that all said, if your eccentrics and all your bushings are rusty, its going to take alot of work, some torch work,possibly new bushings and bolts etc to get them to adjust far enough in spec. My silver car was/is that way. I did get it into spec toe wize, but the camber is uneven. when I have more time I will correct the issue.

2 inch drop and in spec, on the stock hardware?!

Steve, go pay John a visit

the rear is adjustable. if the car is lowered these help. http://www.extremepsi.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=17436&cat=926&page=1 It's a bushing kit with the holes offset. I just finished re-building everything (including the suspension). and ended up using these... Now I need an alignment :rolleyes: .

Well I might just have too visit john in the spring I'll be heading to victoria in my talon so who knows whats going to happin. I may need a toe to fix her to get to the island. Well thanks for all the info guys. keep on wrenching!

I'll second that! I was -2.5ish in the rear with just over an inch drop. Wish I could get to -1 with stock hardware...

Are you going to rotate the tires when you get to Saskwatchawan?

I might just have too! I hope she makes it.