Front Camber Adjustment

[TerribleTim]

My dealer has a new revenue enhancement procedure.  They check alignment on all cars right in the intake bay. Lasers sure are great.  He reports that my camber on both fronts is out and wants $100 to adjust.  This would have been a good deal if it included the front camber bolt retrofit kits, since the Vibe has no front camber adjustment from the factory.  I'm sure it didn't include the kits, so I declined and am taking it to my regular alignment guy tomorrow for a recheck.  You can buy three different brands of adjustable camber bolts(Raybestos, Delco, Moog) from Rock Auto for $20-30 per pair, or  Specialty Products bolts at OReillys for $31 per pair.
I suspect the out of whack camber may be ball joints going out(they're getting loud), if in fact, it's real. So I will get them checked tomorrow before even buying the bolts, but the bolts couldn't be easier to install. On the other hand, my daughter just banged the car up on a wall sideways (replace front bumper). Since the camber is out in the same direction on both sides, she may have tweaked the strut mount bolts. I see no unusual edge wear on the tires, but they're relatively new stiff Pirelli's with hard compound.

There's a thread here that says loosen the strut bolts and pull on the wheel for minor adjustment.
Theoretically, I could elongate one of the strut bolt holes and get more adjustment and skip the retrofit bolts. The camber retrofit bolts just have a cam shaped lobe for this same adjustment. They're quite commonly necessary after a suspension lowering mod eg. Coilovers.

[Chiadog]

Be sure you see a print-out of the specs. before you decide what to do. For me, Camber is the least important measurement and if the camber angle of the wheels look equal and not unusual from the front of the car, I wouldn't worry about it. Many older cars had variable camber in their swing-arm suspensions without any real concerns!

[TerribleTim]

Good point, I can remember many VW Bugs in the 60's with rear wheel camber that was obviously extreme due to the short half shafts, especially when retro with big tires/ wheels.

Regarding the Vibe, the specs are right on the computer printouts which is in nice diagram format.

My regular alignment guy checked the car out (all angles F & R) and it showed nothing out of spec on the alignment and he says many dealers are upselling around here. All this over nothing.

He did comment that the noise I was hearing in the LF was probably the strut since it was leaking and the ball joints were tight. He wants $750 for 4 Monroe struts and $750 to install!! Glad I have a toolbox and OReillys loans out safe spring compressors.

Anyone have an opinion (LOL) on decent struts for this car??
I had bad experience with Monroe many years ago on MacPherson cartridges and tend to shy away from them.

[vibedrivermatt]

yea, I had an alignment done once at a tire shop. I remember it costing less than $80 and they also had one of those fancy laser machines. It was cool because I got a neat piece of paper with a graphic image that showed the before and after alignment settings. Also, the nice thing about the place I went to is that they have a really good reputation where I live.

But, your dealer is not that far off asking for $100. You shouldnt need to buy any special camber bolts. They will take care of that for you. If needed they will just replace your bolts with whatever hardware they have in the garage to get a correct alignment.