Camber Adjustment

[Prodigal]

I’m about to make some suspension and tire changes. Steed dual rate MR Springs, 20x10” wheels, etc and am confused on the need or not for aftermarket camber plates on a Mach 1. I thought I read somewhere that the m1 had more adjustment from the factory than the GT. True? If my car is a 99% street vehicle for weekend fun and occassional Mexico trip, will I need to add aftermarket parts to add more camber adjustment?

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[EFI]

will I need to add aftermarket parts to add more camber adjustment?

Not really. Big negative camber is usually needed to maintain proper tire wear on track and for R compound type tires. On the street, you don't really need it unless you plan on going hardcore around turns and need to eek out every single G of cornering.

 

[DRAGOON]

I’m about to make some suspension and tire changes. Steed dual rate MR Springs, 20x10” wheels, etc and am confused on the need or not for aftermarket camber plates on a Mach 1. I thought I read somewhere that the m1 had more adjustment from the factory than the GT. True? If my car is a 99% street vehicle for weekend fun and occassional Mexico trip, will I need to add aftermarket parts to add more camber adjustment?

What sort of tire changes besides going to 20” wheel ? Will new wheels be a square setup ? Lowering springs will change camber from what you have now. Do you know your current alignment specs ? I see from your profile that you have Mach 1 non-HP, is this true ?

 

[Prodigal]

What sort of tire changes besides going to 20” wheel ? Will new wheels be a square setup ? Lowering springs will change camber from what you have now. Do you know your current alignment specs ? I see from your profile that you have Mach 1 non-HP, is this true ?

Correct. Factory alignment currently. Going to Staggered set up . 10/11” steeda dual rate springs. Only 700 miles on the car now but wanting to have all the parts in hand to do it right the first time rather than to go back and add things later.

 

[mattlqx]

If you're not tracking it, the stock alignment is probably fine for your purposes and you'll have longer tire life.

 

[DRAGOON]

Correct. Factory alignment currently. Going to Staggered set up . 10/11” steeda dual rate springs. Only 700 miles on the car now but wanting to have all the parts in hand to do it right the first time rather than to go back and add things later.

I realize your concerns about doing every thing right the first time. Others doing what you plan do might post up their process so you maybe wait till then. Ford / Steeda camber plates are $400ish if you want to add that to the package you’re after. Lowering also affects your front toe so you’re going to need an alignment after your springs, wheels, tires are installed. I’m not sure Ford gave enough adjustment for camber but the spec has different settings for track/ street so maybe there is for non HP knowing that the camber plates only came on the HP. Your front struts are coming out to swap springs so, yea, that would be the time to put in some camber plates.

 

[MLO 351]

If your looking for the next level in handling, Id say the Camber plates are a great addition. There not expensive to buy and you will have the front struts out to replace the springs so no additional labour cost to fit them.

Coming from a Non HP Mach 1 and having added the HP springs, rear solid sway bar, Camber plates and HP wheels all this has made a massive difference to how the Mach 1 handles.
A professional wheel alignment with the HP settings in between the street and track above and you will have a great all round car.

 

[Ratical]

Yes if you install Steeda springs you will need some camber adjustment installed. Most prefer camber plates. But they do make eccentric bolts. After installation you will need an Alignment. The rear is adjustable although a lot of shop say not.

 

[RobZ71LM7]

Non-HP front camber really isn't adjustable. HP has camber plates, but there are plentiful aftermarket plates to make camber easily adjustable up front.

Rear camber is adjusted the same way as on all S550's, but it is difficult and some shops are too lazy to do it or do it right.

 

[TRDFurgesson]

Without camber plates there is practically no front camber adjustment available. If you're going to swap the springs I would add the Steeda plates. They replace the standard plates that hold those springs on your front struts. Drop on the MR dual rate springs isn't much but still nice to have the adjustability. I've easily gotten 3 degrees without cutting the shock towers. Here is how mine sits on dual rates MR springs and camber plates with HP wheel and cup 2's.

 

[TRDFurgesson]

Yes if you install Steeda springs you will need some camber adjustment installed. Most prefer camber plates. But they do make eccentric bolts. After installation you will need an Alignment. The rear is adjustable although a lot of shop say not.

The rear is adjustable, I know because I removed the stock arm/eccentric bolt and installed Steeda's Turnbuckle Billet Camber arm. Much easier to adjust if you do your own alignments!!

 

[murick]

I just passed a regular annual check-up at my dealer and I asked them to check the wheel geometry as well. They found out that all the parameters were at stock values except the front right wheel, which had camber -1.8° (-1.78° was the limit). The front left wheel had -1.58° (so apparently set up for track).

The value for the front right is not that far from the limit, but what was worse, they claimed that this could not be corrected and speculated that either the bearing housing or the suspension was damaged (or both) and suggested a replacement. Since I had the front right shot and repaired last year, it looked like some unfinished business, though the wheel was not visually damaged (or even touched).

I know that regular Mach 1 (without the adjustable camber plates), does not have a user friendly adjustment, but I would assume there still has to be means to adjust it, if only to be able to go for either street or track settings (-1.03° vs -1.5°). So I would assume even if the right wheel was somehow damaged and moved from -1.58° to -1.8° there should be some leeway to compensate (not that I would want it without understanding the cause), but since the shop said they could not do it, I assume something else has to be in play.

Does anyone know what are the limits for the camber adjustment for non-HP Mach 1, and what could cause that it is not correctable?

 

[RobZ71LM7]

I just passed a regular annual check-up at my dealer and I asked them to check the wheel geometry as well. They found out that all the parameters were at stock values except the front right wheel, which had camber -1.8° (-1.78° was the limit). The front left wheel had -1.58° (so apparently set up for track).

The value for the front right is not that far from the limit, but what was worse, they claimed that this could not be corrected and speculated that either the bearing housing or the suspension was damaged (or both) and suggested a replacement. Since I had the front right shot and repaired last year, it looked like some unfinished business, though the wheel was not visually damaged (or even touched).

I know that regular Mach 1 (without the adjustable camber plates), does not have a user friendly adjustment, but I would assume there still has to be means to adjust it, if only to be able to go for either street or track settings (-1.03° vs -1.5°). So I would assume even if the right wheel was somehow damaged and moved from -1.58° to -1.8° there should be some leeway to compensate (not that I would want it without understanding the cause), but since the shop said they could not do it, I assume something else has to be in play.

Does anyone know what are the limits for the camber adjustment for non-HP Mach 1, and what could cause that it is not correctable?

It’s the same as any other S550 without camber plates. There really is no adjustment either than slop in bolt holes at the top of the strut or knuckle. Your options to adjust are either camber bolts (ghetto) or camber plates. I wouldn’t be worried at all about the numbers you have unless you’re going to track the car and need more negative camber. Id leave it alone. The difference side to side is not an issue either. If it were a caster or toe difference side to side I’d be more concerned.

What were your caster numbers?

 

[K4fxd]

I just looked at my alignment sheet. I have -2.56 left and -2.68 right I have no issues with tire wear. It corners like a much lighter car.

 

[murick]

What were your caster numbers?

These are the numbers I got from the shop:

The user manual section (posted above) mentions different camber settings for "street" and "track" and my values would correspond to track (front, the rear is the same for both).

How am I supposed to change street vs track, from what you wrote, without camber plates is not clear to me. How is the shop to adjust the values is not clear either.

Anyway, while I agree that the margin by which it exceeds the recommended values is negligible, the reason why I asked for the geometry check was that at maximum turn to left, while driving on sharp winding road, the front right tire seems to be colliding (and screeching over) the front vent.

The shop concluded that since the wheel cannot be set correctly they would not look into this issue either. I am sceptical about the wheel setup being cause of this, it looks more like a loose vent (not properly fixed during the repair), which gets pushed onto the tire when driving a bit faster (~25 mph). At a shopping mall parking lot I cannot reproduce this.

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