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How I Adjust Camber on a Focus MK1

Using a tool I bought from AliExpress I’ll show you how I adjust the front camber on a Focus MK1

Should I need to be doing this?

I don’t think so. The car had Bilstein dampers previously and you simply lined up the bracket on the damper with the pinch bolt and the alignment was done. Kayaba seems to be different. So this article may or may not be of use to you. But generally, it could be useful if you need to adjust camber on a McPherson strut suspension.

Why am I adjusting camber this way?

Because I read this article


All these steps are covered in this video.


Adjust Camber – Step 1

Flat ground. Park the car on flat ground. I couldn’t so I used the offset feature on the tool. I laid two pieces of wood on the ground either side where the car would be. Then ran a straight piece of wood between the two smaller pieces. Using the camber tool I could offset the slope by adjusting the alignment of the tool itself.

Step 2

Measure the existing camber. I found out what the camber was currently on each wheel and then calculated how many degrees I had to move the suspension by to get the camber I needed.

Also measured the distance between the centre of the wheel and the top of the wheel arch.

Step 3

Jack up car, secure damper. I used a second jack to push the wheel back up to close to the same height as it is when there is weight on the wheel. I did this so the adjustment I was about to make would be close to what it would be when there was weight on the wheel. How did I know how far to jack the wheel up? I used the hub to arch measurement from Step 2.

When I got the height I needed I secured the damper there with spring compressors and a piece of wood. I then lowered the jack supporting the wheel so I could lower the hub.

Step 4

Knock down the knuckle. I used a hammer. I knocked it down until I took out the number of degrees I calculated in Step 2. Before I started hammering I measured the camber with the tool, then subtracted the degree number from Step 2 to get my target camber.

Step 5

When I get the setting I want, I re-tightened the pinch bolt and put everything back together.

Step 6

Before repeating the steps above for the other side I remeasured the camber on the other side again.

Why? Because we have changed the height of one side of the car it will effect the camber of the wheel on the other side. We measure again and calculate how many degrees we need to adjust the suspension by on the other side.

Step 7

Repeat steps 1-5 for the other side.

Step 8

Push down the suspension on the front to settle the springs and remeasure the camber on both sides. Repeat the whole process if you the camber did not get you where you wanted to be.

Adjust Camber Conclusion

As I said above, I’m not sure if I should have to do this. Why doesn’t Kayaba just put the bracket on the damper in the correct place.

Anyway

The whole camber adjustment process took a couple of hours, not exceptionally difficult and now I have the tool I can adjust the camber when I want, if I were to feel the need to experiment with different settings for example.

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This page was last modified Nov 15, 2022 @ 9:33 pm

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