falls profet

I'm curious to hear from any of you guys that have installed or had installed, the KMAC FRONT camber kit.

How much of a pain in the *** was the install? How did you like the final results?

Mine gets here on Thursday and the car goes to the alignment shop first thing Friday morning. I just wanted to offer the shop guys any advice I may get from you all to ease the process.

Anyone have any suggestions or input?

deyainrdy4ds

i forgot which was the more difficult one between from front and rear, but i THINK it may have been the front....every place i took the front and rear kits to were saying the labors a ***** and about 4-6 hours i believe...so be prepared ....

and i dont know what the hell is going on, but i got some sick POSITIVE camber going on now....i used to have negative like most lowered cars but now its wearin like crazy on the outside instead of inside...i might have to take it to the alignment shop...that is after i get some of the turbo sht resolved lol

falls profet

I was JUST about to PM you Hersh!

I remember you telling me that the rears were a pain in the *** a while back...

Hmm...the fronts don't look like they would be too difficult in install the bushings, but that's just my guess at a glance of the undercarriage.

I also remember you telling me about your wicked positive camber. To me that sounds like an adjustment problem that the alignment shop should be able to take out; being the kit allows for the top and bottom adjustments.

I'll let you all know how it goes after I get it back.

wnycec

Anyone who could post installed pics of kmac fronts that would be awesome. I am in the same boat as you FP. I have 4 springs and 4 struts waiting to be installed but along with it I would like to install the front KMAC camber kit. I have Ghost's rears so I will install those seen in the other threads created.

GL and please post any tips you find out as you move fwd.

TVT_DESIGN

We offer front and rear camber kits that are extremely easy to install and much less pricey then the Kmac.

Check out our site: www.tvtdes********.

And yes I realize this is a cheap plug.

dlbehrns

went to your site, clicked on Products, clicked on CLK and got "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" WTF?

big_mike1979

i got kmac front and rear.. yes it took my mechanic 5hrs and 30mns hours to get it installed... To remove the old bolt was a ***** and his wrench broke but he got it done ..
again i dunno how much u slammed your car, but if u slammed it normally, u will get the camber within the spec but if u did it like mine slammed to the max, i could not get it to hit the specs.. i was close ...
def now im wearing less comparing to b4 where i had to change my tires every 3 months LOL..
ps: first couple of weeks the kamc will make noisesssssssssssssss and its annoying till the bushing breaks in.. then u are good to go.
good luck and keep us updated

deyainrdy4ds

ohh maybe it was the REAR that were of the PITA lol i dont remember....

in response to big mike...i didnt have the notorious squeeking problem...i heard about that and was told to just grease em up or something so i made sure to tell the shop about that and didnt have any squeeking...


heres some pics if it helps...

dlbehrns

ok, so how are they adjusted? TIA

falls profet

If I understood my alignment guys right, the diameter of the hole in which the bolt goes allows for them to make the adjustment with bolt itself in each bushing for the camber and caster.

This "sort of" makes since to me, and maybe I completely misunderstood. But that's what I got...

deyainrdy4ds

if u have the bushings in your hands, you can kinda see how they work...for example, look at the last pic that i posted...u see how the bolt is not like dead center with the bushing...when turned, that bolt goes in a small circular pattern along the bushing (instead of just turning like a normal bolt) ...its kinda hard to explain...but while its traveling in that circular pattern, it pulls the control arm ....i think neway lol

big_mike1979

mine it squeeked a lot in the front and died down once the bushing got broken into...

TVT_DESIGN

On the homepage you can order the camber kit. Fits all listed MB. I know, I know the site severely needs work, but right now the cars sitting in the garage need to be finished.

falls profet

Just got back from picking the car up...

To say the least, my tires now wear perfectly (I'm well within specs) it feels even more responsive now, especially in turns; much more "stable" feeling. The straight line had really improved, but it does "ride the road" more as well (wanting to go with the crown of the rode when the degree is great).

My alignment guys said it wasn't too bad, but definitely took some time. They had my car for about 6 hrs. today. The control arms had to come off and a couple of the bushings were a pain in the *** to get out, so they said.

The KMAC kit that I got is NOT like Hersh's. I guess they reengineered the design, and instead of just having to install the bushing itself, there is a metal housing that incases the red bushing. I assume they did this to help keep the bushing cleaner and not allow it to dry out...?

All-in-all I'm VERY happy thus far. Cost me $280 for the install and front-end alignment.

I thought it might cost less than it actually did, but...it sure beats wearing my tires after 8,000 miles.

big_mike1979

good to hear bro. at first i was wearing tires like every 2months and half..

Ghostrider

Those are some mighty expensive factory eccentric bolts...

Leeward

While the bolt itself turns in the normal way, it is keyed into a bush within the mount that's eccentric. As that eccentric bush turns it moves the effective mount point in or out to give the desired effect to camber, caster or toe, depending in which bush is involved.

Some of them are parallel, other models demand that they be like a pillow ball to allow multi-axis movement. These ones will replace those rubber bushes with the holes in them, the holes being there to allow the sideways (if you will) movement because the suspension requires that to happen.

Obviously, if this is the case, the twisting of the rubber is destined to tear it apart, while the K-Mac bush forms an effective ball joint in urethane that's going to simply keep on doing the job it's made to do.

I understand that K-Mac has just recently done a series of re-designs of bushes where squeaking has been reported. One of the main problems has been that the bolts have not been able to retain the correct tightness so the teeth machined into the ends of the eccentrics can get a good hold on the mounts to retain their settings, so K-Mac has been incorporated changes to eliminate this problem.

big_mike1979

my camber is doing well and not a prob but if Kmac is redoing its design to eliminate more probs that has been reported, its AWESOME.
TIRES GETS TOO EXPENSIVE

Leeward

I understand that the changes have been minimal, relating mostly to washer types and nut supplied to retain tightness, while in some cases the outer urethane colour has been changed to help with our German friends who, I'm told, aren't allowed to fit non-standard components.

But a couple of the kits have been re-jigged, if I have the story right, to increase the available range of camber adjustment. Where before, I gather, they gave just a little under twice the factory camber bolt adjustment range, they are now set up to give over twice that range.

Of course, there are infinite settings within that range to enable a wheel aligner to get everything set just right. Now that the wheel aligner I use has come to understand them he is always happy to spend the time to get things perfect for customers. It really is a case of 'near enough is simply not good enough!'

dlbehrns

Leeward, would you be kind enough to post your aligner's contact info if it is ok w/him?
FWIW: I still can't get www.tvtdes********. page to load. Anybody else out there?

big_mike1979

bro take your car at the dealer.. I went to 3 diff shop and knowing my drop is too low and no pad, every shop had my car around -3.3 front and some at -3.6 front and rear at -2.9 both time.. they had no idea what they were doing and they were german auto shops as well...
Finally i got upset and took it at the dealer and they got my front at -2.6 both and rear at -2.2 and i got happy and less tear.
The dealer told me if i put my pad #1 back in they cant get it to be away by -.2 close to spec but i chose not too because i wanted my top of my rim and my tire tucked in the fender.
Good luck

dlbehrns

If you put a #1 pad back on I will bet you $100 you won't be able to see the difference. the difference from a #1 pad to a #5 pad is only .67". thats a hair over a half an inch form thinnest to thickest so for a #1 you would be raising your car a little over one tenth of an inch in order to keep your tires from wearing too quickly.

MarcusF

You know David, just between me and you, "I think" the pads work best for adjusting corner weights. But don't tell anyone. I kinda like an advantage or two in handling.

dlbehrns

Duh! My preference would be performance while others prefer visual. I know we're only talkin ride height here but my 320, slow my some people's standards, looks bone stock, but given what I have put on it most would be surprised how well it runs. I have Vogtlands, ghost's rear camber arms in the garage and bilsteins coming to install as soon as the frickin weather warms up. 3 degrees F today.