need help choosing camber kit, its for a civic...please show mercy >.> Options

[k-weaver]

Alright guys so here is the deal. My wife's got a 99 Civic that we purchased about a year ago. It was lowered with no camber kit and from what I can tell the springs were heated. Needless to say she is now in need of tires. Before I shell out for that though I want to fix the issue by installing front/rear camber kit. I can't stand honda forums, just a different vibe on them. Lots of bashing and biased opinions which is why i'm asking here.

This car is used to drive back and forth to work and the occasional road trip. That being said I don't see the need to spend $400 on a high end setup that is designed for track use. On the flip side I don't feel comfortable purchasing a no name kit on ebay that will potentially fail down the line.

I found a brand "VMS Racing" on amazon and also ebay but can't find too many reviews on their camber kits. On Amazon they have the front/rear kit for $129.99. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I was also looking at the OBX kits. They "look" solid and i've read mixed reviews from the honda forums. Full kit can be had for about $140.

After these two brands the price shoots up to $200 and over. I'd like to be at $150 or so but if need be i'll by the front and rear seperate and get the better stuff. Let me know what you guys think.

[epocsirhc]

I don't run camber kits on any of my civic's(3 all of them moderately lowered). What really destorys the tires is the toe not being in spec. It might be more cost efficient for you to just get stock springs if it's a daily to get the car back to stock height(could be found at pick n pull or craigslist for dirt cheap I'd imagine). My gripe with aftermarket front camber kits is the ball joints are terrible, and will fail rather fast.

Don't forget to check the bushings if the car has lots of miles.

[k-weaver]

I don't run camber kits on any of my civic's(3 all of them moderately lowered). What really destorys the tires is the toe not being in spec. It might be more cost efficient for you to just get stock springs if it's a daily to get the car back to stock height(could be found at pick n pull or craigslist for dirt cheap I'd imagine). My gripe with aftermarket front camber kits is the ball joints are terrible, and will fail rather fast.

Don't forget to check the bushings if the car has lots of miles.

You were right on this one. Got the car aligned today and the toe was horrible. I think it was about 2.6 degrees off in total for the front and about .8 total in rear. I ended up getting the SPC front upper control arm and the VMS racing rear links. Found a guy selling a set of Teins for a 92-95 civic so i purchased them. My research showed they will fit but the spring rate was different. For 50 bucks I figured I couldn't really go wrong. Oddly enough the car sits in about the same position as it did. I am really glad I swapped them though. The stock heated springs were really bad. Thought you guys would get a kick out of it so I snapped a pic of what it looked like outside the car. Thanks for everyone for the advice!


Consequences of heated springs (all four were like this):