GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I have a question. I see cars almost everyday, most which look to be lowered civics and other imports, that when driving behind them, their wheels/tires are not perpendicular to the road. They look like this: /-- instead of |--|. What causes this? I don't want my Vibe to look like that when I lower it. Does an alignment fix that, or are those worn out struts?Thanks,

I saw a civic today that looked like that. Maybe it's a honda thing.

It comes from incorrectly lowering the car too much and not re-aligning it properly. Probably wrong lowering springs or original springs that were cut or heated.

If you go too low it will throw out your camber (angle of wheels) and you will ride on one edge of your tires.....a general rule of thumb is that any more than about 3 inches of drop will start to worsen your handling. And i dont think adjusting camber is cheap either....it takes parts and precision.

PHILNDZ is right. It is called the camber. It increases the handling of the car. Does not do much for tire wear if you drive normal roads. It is meant for hard turns. Puts more of the gripping surface on the road. INDY cars if you look closely change their camber on oval tracks. All race vehicles especially oval racers change their camber.

I've see the 'coming soon' camber adjustment nuts there before. Makes me kinda nervous about doing a drop before they have those available. I haven't heard anyone complain about the camber being off since making the drop (not here anyways), maybe is something that happens as they settle in? Or maybe its just because the Honda peeps dropped it too much. I'd really like to get those progress 2.1 inch drop springs - but this issue kinda bugs me!

I'm assuming no one has had this problem when lowering their Vibes with quality aftermarket springs, right?

quote:I'm assuming no one has had this problem when lowering their Vibes with quality aftermarket springs, right?its not a matter of quality...it is simply that when you drop it does affect your camber....a 2 inch drop will not affect it enough to really notice or care about but a four inch drop and you've got problems....at that point it would need to be adjusted.

quote:its not a matter of quality...it is simply that when you drop it does affect your camber....a 2 inch drop will not affect it enough to really notice or care about but a four inch drop and you've got problems....at that point it would need to be adjusted.I dont even think their is a 4 inch drop out there. And its really easy to fix. Get a 4 wheel alignment and they shim it to make it correct if its off.You suppose to get an alingment after your do a drop anyways. Just a rule to live by. there are plenty of crazy drops out there....in my opinion they start at 3 inches.......your right silver....definately get an alignment after any suspension changes.

oh i wasnt talking about the vibe....i was refering to all cars....some cars have big drops available or peeps sometimes do custom drops even bigger.

quote:It comes from incorrectly lowering the car too much and not re-aligning it properly. Probably wrong lowering springs or original springs that were cut or heated.not completley accurate. I have a civic as well. I did not lower it but I did put on 17's. I have that /-- problem. It comes fromthe wheel beeing soo much wider that the stock 14*4. I have a 17*7 on it right now. It makes it more noticeable. If you keep up on you tire rotations you won't have tire wear porblems. Actually all FWD cars have this problem. Their is not enough weight in the back of the car to help the tires lay flat. RWD cars have more drive train wieght so they don't have this problem. This is the reason why all FWD cars HAVE to rotate their tires. if not the inside of the tire will wear faster than the rest of the tire. ( I found that out by not ratating my civic tires for 9 months and having to buy 2 new tires) So that should answer your question. It has nothing to do with the civic being lowered it has to do with the drive train type and the weight ratio of the car The camber kit is to corret a simiar problem due to lowering the car too much. the vibe is safe w/o a camber kit to @2" anything more than that I recommend you get your cambers corrected