Still looking for ideas or best guesses before throwing money at it. Anyone?

 

There is no factory adjustment for camber in the rear.

The rear is a multi-link setup. You have the rear sub frame which has two lower lateral links and one upper lateral link that all connect to the trailing arm. You also have the strut.

Any of these pieces, including the subframe could be damaged and I would not think that some are more or less likly to bend in the event of some sort of collision or accident.

 

There is no factory adjustment for camber in the rear.

The rear is a multi-link setup. You have the rear sub frame which has two lower lateral links and one upper lateral link that all connect to the trailing arm. You also have the strut.

Sorry I've been getting so many conflicting views from average joes and mechanics and auto parts places but, that rear rear arm with the toe adjusting bolt, what arm is that? Is it called the Lateral Arm? People keep bouncing between lateral arm and control arm and lower link and others. So camber isn't adjusted there ok. If it were adjusted where would you place an adjustable camber bolt if possible?
I've seen some using the upper strut bolts to go in and out for camber, and I haven't seen any sliding grooves as far as I've been able to tell.

 

I suppose a severely worn bearing couldlook like a camber problem.

Have you had that corner in the air and looked around for bent parts or worn bushings? Tested the bearing by trying to rock the wheel from 12 to 6 o'clock?

 

I can't imagine the wheel would still be attached to the car if a wheel bearing was visibly causing camber issues

Are both sides off, or just one? Some pictures would speak volumes here.

 

Thanks for the reply's guys. I have had it in the air and looked around. There is nothing visually wrong. I don't specifically remember checking the wheel for any looseness. I will double check that though. Good idea. I do remember having seen some wheel bearings that were loose enough to move and could cause some wear issues over time now that 1 Lucky Texan mentioned it.
Both sides are out as indicated by the tire wear. The left side is worse than the right. I didn't put it on the alignment rack as it's pretty obvious by looking at the tire wear. But not so much that the angle of the wheel looks to be off by degrees.
I saw the aftermarket camber adjust bushings and bolt set can adjust up to 1.25 degrees. That is sounding like a decent option now! I may check the angles I'm at and try that if it would add enough adjustment.
I just know with certain cars, when an angle can't be brought into spec, and there is nothing visually bent, that there are certain parts that are a likely suspect. That's what I was hoping to hear from someone!
I didn't take pictures. There isn't really anything to see besides worn inner tire edges.
Thanks again.

 

I don't think there is bolt set that you can use to adjust rear camber, but Whiteline sells these bushings that go into the upper lateral link bushing and allow you to make an adjustment to the camber.

Edit: Link

http://www.whiteline.com.au/product_detail4.php?part_number=KCA399

Install Pics

http://www.whiteline.com.au/docs/install_guides/Z372.pdf

 

I don't think there is bolt set that you can use to adjust rear camber, but Whiteline sells these bushings that go into the upper lateral link bushing and allow you to make an adjustment to the camber.

Edit: Link

Whiteline KCA399 Control arm - upper outer bushing (camber correction)

Install Pics

http://www.whiteline.com.au/docs/install_guides/Z372.pdf

Right. The adjustment bolts will not work on the rear of your car.

For the initial question. I propose the possibility of extreme bushing wear. Follow me here. If the upper control arm had toasted bushing at the subframe, the distance at the top of the wheel would effectively be "shortened" if the RCA were allowed to push inward. AND/OR either of the rear lateral link(but I am thinking forward is the culprit) If those bushings are stretching, they are prone to. That could effectively "lengthen" distance of the bottom of the wheel to the car centerline. That would equal negative camber.

If the above were the case, I would expect a good deal of clunking when driven aggressively over bumps and whatnot. I would expect that in order to have something affect camber that much, thee would need to be metal on metal contact, rubber would be almost gone. If either of the lateral links took a hit, camber would kind of go positive and toe would be all messed up.

All though, my XJ leaf spring eye bushing were petty much disintegrated, and I had very little noise, but the d*mn thing would almost change lanes on it own as the entire rear leaf/axle assembly would jump back and forth 1/4". Talk about tail wagging the dog.

Dunno without looking...get some pics

 

That bushing kit is what I was thinking. Sorry I said bolts.
Interesting theory on worn bushings. I will look closer and flex them around a bit and see how loose they are. Makes sense to me. Thanks for the idea. It isn't noisy as far as clunking that I have noticed.
What pics do you guys want to see? I can take some. It may be a few days. This is now a secondary problem. My main one now is a seized front axle in the hub. Waiting on a new knuckle and hub.
Hi jacking my own thread here, but have you guys seen that? We have a 25 ton press that couldn't get it out. Then I tried the torch. Still stuck. Yes, I took the nut off the axle. Going with new(used knuckle) parts as I don't see another way to get this apart. And I heated the crap out of it so I'd be afraid to reuse it anyway!

 

whiteline bushings

Has anyone tried the Whiteline KCA399 bushings for adjusting rear camber? I believe my suby will not align due to a bent subframe, but the cost of fixing that seems too costly for this car.

 

Thread's been dead a while, but I have the same problem.

So, even as good as Subaru is in the snow, it doesn't do anything in snow that's on top of ice with big wide wheels, around a corner with a crowned road. 0.o Needless to say, I slid off and hit a curb. It sheared the front lower ball joint off and broke the CV. I've replaced that, but my concern is the rear tire having this crazy positive camber now. I have the car in the air and nothing looks bent or overly worn. I know there's no camber adjustment for the rear, but nothing seems to be broken, so I don't know what to look for. I've attached a picture for reference. My car is a 1997 Impreza OBS.

P.S. It's not my car, and my rear camber isn't *quite* that bad. But still way more than 1 degree. I'm guessing 5-10 degrees.

*grumblemumble* ...worked on my car for 4 months, doing an ej25 swap into this impreza, doing the head gaskets and brand new tires, for it to slide off the road on the first snow day *grumblemumble*

 

The best thing to do is start removing parts and do a full inspection. Remove each control arm and inspect for bushing wear and also see if the bolts sheared or tore into the subframe. Also check the subframe for bends. The other possability is the bearings. If the were real loose they could cause the tire to wobble and make you lose traction.

 

The car had been sitting in a parking lot for a week with the broken ball joint. I fixed it and drove home real slow, even with the rear wheel so far out of whack. It didn't feel as though the bearing was loose. I guess I'll have to take the whole thing apart. I can't tell what's normal. Nothing looks bent or broken.

 

Pictures!

So I've been messing with the toe adjustments and replaced the trailing arm, but nothing has helped at all. Does anyone have any experience with this?

A few ideas came to mind, but I'm not sure they're valid. I thought maybe the shock tower was bent and it was throwing off the camber of the wheel, but the whole strut looks fine and there's no discernible damage inside the trunk where the strut bolts up. On this right side there's a considerably larger space between the shock and the tire compared to the other side, so I was thinking maybe the strut is bent. I took the strut loose of the hub and it moves freely and a lot. I figure that in the hit it would have just moved as much and not taken any damage when the other pieces are much more solid.

I thought maybe I had damaged the CV, but it's designed to move when the tire does, it wouldn't make the camber persist even when I drive it.

Would the lower bushings of the tow adjustment bars cause that much deflection?

Please help me. I can't keep buying parts. I'm going insane over here.

 

perhaps an incorrect part has been installed somewhere? wrong knuckle or ???? maybe try to make comparisons side-to-side?

 

The only thing I installed so far was an OEM trailing arm. The one I took off was exactly identical to the one I put on. I only didn't return it because the bushing was bad on the old one anyway. As soon as I let the pressure back down, the new one distorted the same way as the old one, so it wasn't the cause.

It used to be fine. It was thrown out of whack by running into a curb.

From what I can tell, none of the subframe or any part of the body is bent or different from the other side. I took both rear wheels off at the same time and compared them and I can't seem to find any real difference.

 

Take all the rear control arms off. Inspect the mounting points for damage or crumples, bushings for wear, and the arms for bends. Check the knuckle for cracks or bending. Did you swap the tires left to right? Is the damage in the rim? If the trailing arm was bent did the forward mount twist?

 

It's not damage to the rim, beyond where it hit the bead. I've driven the car like this, up to 50 mph and it doesn't wobble or anything. The hub is fine. I tried to take the bushings loose last night but the bolts are super tight. Even with a 3 ft breaker bar they wouldn't budge. I put some PB on them and I'm letting it sit. At this point, it has to be either a bend in the subframe that I'm not seeing, or it's one of those arms. The bushings are quite bad.

It may be lens distortion, but I swear the first strut pic looks slightly bent/curved.

wonder if a small straight-edge would show anything? lay it on the inside and look for a gap under its center, on the outside see if it rocks end-to-end?

I'll check that, but the strut may be bent because of the hub bending it, and not the other way around. So it's a bit inconclusive.

Also, I just realized that the picture of the messed up strut was upside down when I uploaded it. I'll turn it right-side up for sanity's sake.

 

It may be lens distortion, but I swear the first strut pic looks slightly bent/curved.

wonder if a small straight-edge would show anything? lay it on the inside and look for a gap under its center, on the outside see if it rocks end-to-end?

 

While at the local u-pull it yard today, I looked at the rear geometry of a couple Outbacks. There is a curved strut running from the bottom of the knuckle to the rear end area, it already has a bend in it, a little more bend might not be completely obvious. I would take measurements from bolt to bolt on right rear and compare to the measurement on the left rear. I am betting it's a little shorter.

 

That's the trailing arm. I replaced that. It bent the same way the previous one did, because the hub pulls it out of normal position. I suspect either a bent strut or bent strut tower.

 

check opposedforces.com for some diagrams and part numbers....see what they call the parts?

 

Nothing like bringing an old post back from the dead.........

I am having a similar issue with my 2002 L.L. Bean, except it has a lot of (negative?) camber. The bottom of the wheels are out further, and the tires tucked in at the top. It is identical on each side. The tires are starting to wear heavily there. I inspected the lower control arms, and the front bushings are cracked. I can't see any other issues there, BUT, I know the struts are tired. 306k miles.

How is the camber adjusted, considering that there is no adjustment there? It seems crazy to me to think that Subaru would rely solely on bushings to keep a specific tolerance. Am I missing something?

I bought a parts car that has 150k on it, and can rob whatever parts I need, but I wanted some input before I start stripping off the donor parts, especially if that may not fix the problem. Thanks!!

Deja

 

Nothing like bringing an old post back from the dead.........

I am having a similar issue with my 2002 L.L. Bean, except it has a lot of (negative?) camber. The bottom of the wheels are out further, and the tires tucked in at the top. It is identical on each side. The tires are starting to wear heavily there. I inspected the lower control arms, and the front bushings are cracked. I can't see any other issues there, BUT, I know the struts are tired. 306k miles.

How is the camber adjusted, considering that there is no adjustment there? It seems crazy to me to think that Subaru would rely solely on bushings to keep a specific tolerance. Am I missing something?

I bought a parts car that has 150k on it, and can rob whatever parts I need, but I wanted some input before I start stripping off the donor parts, especially if that may not fix the problem. Thanks!!

Deja

I am also having the same problem on our 06. negative camber on the rear passenger side with the top of the tire pushed in. When we put it up in the air the tire is pressed up against the strut..Wife is supposed to drive to Colorado from Texas in a week and we only noticed this because we had the car in the air to replace the front CV axles.. Car only has 75k on it sooo not sure what to do..

 

The rear camber being “out of spec” is nearly always worn bushings/rubbers in the rear suspension.

If the camber is out you need to replace all the bushings and this should resolve the problem.

Seagrass

 

 

Would it be only one side though?

 

Yes one side can wear more than the other

You can install a “camber pin” in the one side to try and correct the problem BUT if the bushings are worn (as suspected) you will be “chasing your tail”

Seagrass

 

I'll pile on...

I just had an alignment and my rear camber is a little negative, only on the passenger side.

It's not off by much, the alignment tech said don't worry about it.

172k miles, new struts/springs but original bushings in the rear.

 

20254a
20254c
20254e
20254f
Does this mean I need one of each and 2 of 20254F?

 

You need to do both sides of the vehicle, not just one side.

All the bushings/rubber wear, some worse/quicker than others.

If you only do one side the vehicle will feel unbalanced with slightly worn bushings/rubbers in one side and new in the opposite side.

Seagrass

 

Right but I'm saying like for each side I need one of each of those and then 2 of the 20254F?