Caster Adjustment

[Haylands]

Hi

Just had my car's geometery checked and the caster is way out, its even both sides but over 1 degree outside the allowable range, Lexus sell replacement lower control arm bushings in different sizes to adjust the caster but this will only bring it within 1/2 degree of tolerance.

Lexus say it doesn't matter as they are both even but the suspension guy says this is a long way out and tyre wear will be excessive (which it is, shot a pair of front tyres in 6000 miles on the inside edge)

Has anyone seen/heard of an adjustable mount for the 2001 LS430 that would allow more adjustment..

Any help/ideas, greatly appreciated

Thanks

Pete

 

[spf_lexus]

I own a 1991 and the geometry allows some correction, not a huge amount but enough to counter a 2'' drop. Thats referring to camber, now caster is a bigger deal as it will eat up tires 2x as fast if out of whack. If i was in your situation take your LS to a very reputable alignment shop. Tell them to "bore" the alignment bolt holes wider. These are rectangular almost, allowing for adjustment from left-right. Making the ends a few mm wider will allow you to correct some of your caster issue. there is plenty of metal that a few mm won't sacrifice integrity. Fabbing could be done yourself if you want, just involves a drill and some time under your car. All you need is a well informed alignment tech to adjust. I plan on doing this in the future to eliminate all of my negative camber. Sure it looks cool but my tires don't thank me. Why is an LS430 out of whack like that anyway? Sounds like your getting bad advice or you have some serious suspension issues. LS models have a LOT of play as far as compensation for mods and thrown alignment.



Also, I have never heard of adjustable bushings.. sounds sorta fishy. Engineers at toyota made them a specific size to balance everything, you start adding special bushing that throw caster/camber on a stock vehicle then you might be getting more problems than your trying to fix. Hope this helps!

 

[Haylands]

I own a 1991 and the geometry allows some correction, not a huge amount but enough to counter a 2'' drop. Thats referring to camber, now caster is a bigger deal as it will eat up tires 2x as fast if out of whack. If i was in your situation take your LS to a very reputable alignment shop. Tell them to "bore" the alignment bolt holes wider. These are rectangular almost, allowing for adjustment from left-right. Making the ends a few mm wider will allow you to correct some of your caster issue. there is plenty of metal that a few mm won't sacrifice integrity. Fabbing could be done yourself if you want, just involves a drill and some time under your car. All you need is a well informed alignment tech to adjust. I plan on doing this in the future to eliminate all of my negative camber. Sure it looks cool but my tires don't thank me. Why is an LS430 out of whack like that anyway? Sounds like your getting bad advice or you have some serious suspension issues. LS models have a LOT of play as far as compensation for mods and thrown alignment.



Also, I have never heard of adjustable bushings.. sounds sorta fishy. Engineers at toyota made them a specific size to balance everything, you start adding special bushing that throw caster/camber on a stock vehicle then you might be getting more problems than your trying to fix. Hope this helps!

Hi

Thanks for that. I have seen for sale adjustable camber brackets for the more "popular" modified cars that get lowered, this is one aspect of lowering, it effects the camber and castor and most cars have fixed castor.

The holes on the original mountings are perfectly round so allow no adjustment, I have worked out that I need to move the holes 5mm, as you say, there is enough metal to do this safely. Making a slot will not work as you could not tighten the bolt enough to stop the mount moving in the slot if you hit a pot hole etc. The adjustable ones have some form of locking into position. I could slot it, adjust it up spot on and then weld a stop on to prevent the bolt moving or try and get some cam bolts from another application that would fit. I haven't decided which to do yet. I just wondered if anyone did adjustable ones as this would save me the bother, or if anyone else had come across this problem.

Thanks for your reply though it's nice to hear someone else with the same idea.

Pete

 

[spf_lexus]

No worries mate. Just FYI, the ucf-10 has the "ovular" slots from the factory. They utilize pinch bolts that "grab" the metal on the sides making them almost impossible to move out of place. If you can find a camber kit that states a caster fix then jump on it. I don't kno about the bushes, maybe a pic would help?

 

[Haylands]

Hi

This is the picture from the alignment computer showing the bush that adjusts the caster, basically the different bushings have one of the holes in a different place to move the bottom arm forwards or backwards



The hole that has to move is the one you can just see the bolt of poking down from the plastic shield, sort of just under where it says "bushing"

Pete