cfilling

I purchased a used 2004 GS300 and the suspension had been lowered. Now, the front and rear camber cannot be brought into spec. They say the toe is also out and the camber is maxed. Does anyone know of any kits (arms) that will help solve this problem. In six months, mfront y front tires wore down to the metal on both tires on the inside edges.

firelizard

iTrader: (1)

FIGS, Serial Nine, Battle Version.

azndriver

How low is this car? Is it on springs or coilovers?

any pictures of it,

seeing how low could give a clue to if you need those parts...

ZanderZ32

iTrader: (2)

SPC makes reasonable quality parts. Front and rear alignment kits are readily available fro them. Granted you will not get the range of adjustments as the extremely high end brands.

deecraig32

Hello,I had that same problem when I lowered my 2GS as well. I had taken it to Toyota to be aligned and went to go pick it up and it wasn’t great like it usually was, well come to find out from the guy there who did my alignment, that it was “too far out” and couldn’t be aligned. Ok so I asked more questions only to find out that he did the best he could do.... only I wasn’t told any of this and if I hadn’t asked to speak the the mechanic and hadn’t continued to ask
questions I would have never known that the solution was to replace the faulty camber and caster bolts up front, but me being me I did the front and the back, since my guess was that they went on at the same point and time so why not do them both, also it was relatively inexpensive. Hope that helps, Dee

BayAreaLex

My car is lowered on coilovers.

The wheels have a one finger gap to the fender (lowered about 2”).

I needed adjustable upper control arms and a rear camber kit to align within spec. Tires have worn perfectly even over the last 6yrs.

Before that, I would chew up 25,000 mile tires within 5,000 miles

CurlyG

Upper controls arms: Front, Rear or Both? Which brand/model?
Rear camber kit: Which brand/model?

GrVitesse

Same issue here. BC Racing BR series coilovers all around, and the camber has been negative from day one despite multiple attempts from shops to align it. My fronts have adjustable upper control arms, but the rears need a camber kit to correct the issue.

What type of camber kit do I need to get to remedy this? Does it need to be just one component, like this FIGS Offset Rear LCA Inner Bushing, just adjustable upper control arms, or a combination of components?

I'm aiming for close to stock ride height.

firelizard

iTrader: (1)

If you are aiming for close to stock ride height you shouldn't have much issue setting camber to stock or nearly stock.

As you can see on the page:
​​​​​​​So, is that enough to get the camber to the specification you want?

GrVitesse

Thanks for the response. My fronts are ok. The issue is the rears. I’ve had two different shops try for alignment with stock ride height, and neither could get a proper alignment with my stock arms. Unfortunately, I don’t have the alignment record handy so that I can know how many degrees of adjustment it needs.The best result I got was to raise the coilovers to max height, but that still caused the rear tires to wear prematurely. I finally found a shop with someone who knows how to work with performance suspension setups, though, and their guy told me I needed a camber kit.

He said it just needed upper control arms (“A-arm”?), but looking at the various components for sale that adjust camber, I’m not 100% sure what to look for. There are camber-adjusting suspension parts galore that seem to go under a variety of names: bolts, bolt kits, A-arms, upper control arms, camber arms, toe arms, lower control arms, front arms, trailing arms, and lateral arms. The part names listed in the Lexus schematics are even more generic.
I’m no mechanic, but I want to learn what needs to be learned to make the best decision here - any help is appreciated.

firelizard

iTrader: (1)

The stock way camber is adjusted is via the eccentric bolt that attaches the knuckle to the lower control arm. The toe control arm (the one in front of the lower control arm, at an angle) also needs to be adjusted with its eccentric bolt because its position will be changed by camber changes. You can adjust the camber of a double-A-arm suspension by changing the distance between the inner and outer mounting points of either the upper or lower control arms.
The FIGS bushing adds adjustability to the inboard side of the lower control arm. Adjustable upper control arms are... adjustable. Adjustable lower control arms also exist. The actual part names are generally descriptive of what part they replace and what they do, unlike "camber kit" which is a catch-all for any combination of parts used to adjust camber beyond factory limits.

You shouldn't need a camber kit if you are at stock height. If an alignment to factory specifications is impossible at stock height, something else is wrong. Even at a low ride height with excessive camber, it is still possible to have correct toe with the stock arms. It would be helpful if your mechanic gave you the print-out from the failed alignment so we can see what they were able to get.

I also don't think your performance mechanic is very familiar with the 2GS because adjustable rear upper control arms are kind of overkill. If anything, when people replace (2GS) rear control arms for extra adjustability, they replace the lowers, which is why there are so many more options for this, ranging from ultra-affordable Megan Racing, to ultra-expensive Ikeya Formula, or billet SerialNine.
Still, none of these should be necessary for a mild drop.

GrVitesse

This is a seriously helpful explanation - I appreciate it. You just saved me a lot of time and money. 😉