Alternative, DIY refresh Model X rear camber correction

I was thinking about this over coffee. Anybody who is considering spending $400 for the Macsboost kit could DIY this for next to nothing. I need somebody to confirm the relationship between the spacer thickness and the camber, but I don't have a refresh X. If anybody is in the Bay area I'd be down to shim and measure the camber and toe values so we can share the data freely.

Some notes:
- Another member has already confirmed the $400 shims are off the shelf 2.9mm (approx 1/8").
- Factory hardware appears to be M12

To do this at home you will need four M12 (metric, so the nominal diameter is 12mm) washers, approx thickness of 3mm; 1/8" is a close standard equivalent. A correctly sized washer will work in pinch.

If we can measure the factory arm's flange, I can draw a simple square part that others can customize for their desired thickness, if they want to hit a target alignment. There are plenty of shops that will mill these for you

Quick mock up with a non-standard thickness that I priced through Xometry. I quoted laser cut 6061 below but other materials are available for an additional cost. Grade 5 Titanium will double the price...to a whopping $11.

If you are happy with the alignment from the 1/8" thickness there is no reason to have a spacer machined.

Of course, the cost goes way down with volume and we can do cool things like anodize or powdercoat. There are also other manufacturing options available with volume.

If none of these options speak to you grab some 1/8" stock, a hacksaw, and a drill!

 

[ngng]

Ok another question. I'm asking in regards to the 2021+ refresh models.
Between Mountain Pass Performance vs the N2itive which is best to go with? Which is the better setup?

No I'm not going to Race-Days....or Track my car.....regardless of the price between the 2 manufacturers. Which is the best setup....if I wanted to go with the Camber Kit route....

Thankyou in advance

Neither. All of this has been throughly discussed in the thread.

 

[N2B8]

I did the $60 EVPE camber install on both my cars. Got my X LR camber to -1.5 on LOW setting. After 6k miles, both rear tires are perfectly even. Same with the S except the camber was -1.1 and -1.4.

 

[davenlei]

I have the shims. Cost me ~$80 and I have 1.1-1.5° rear camber now.

Hey towndrunk. I still have not bought the shims we talked about several months ago. I wanted to see how my car behaves with the wear first. So far I have 12K miles and my tires seem to be wearing fine and I don't see any excessive wear on the inner side. I will keep monitoring.

Someone posted earlier in one of the threads that the only concern a person may have with shims is corrosion due to different metals in contact with each other in areas that salt the roads or near coastal areas which have more salt in the air. I live a couple miles from the beach and my air is 'saltier'. I am aware that the anodization of metal creates separation of the metals so you reduce the chance for that type of corrosion. Do you know if the 'silver' shims are anodized or are bare metal? I assume the red ones are anodized.

 

[Secret-EV]

Typo in my previous post. Sorry.
I meant Unplugged Performance Camber kit vs N2itive

WTC in Irvine has work on few of our customer car before. (Shim installation + alignment) 51 Auto Center Dr #16, Irvine, CA 9261

 

[Secret-EV]

Hey towndrunk. I still have not bought the shims we talked about several months ago. I wanted to see how my car behaves with the wear first. So far I have 12K miles and my tires seem to be wearing fine and I don't see any excessive wear on the inner side. I will keep monitoring.

Someone posted earlier in one of the threads that the only concern a person may have with shims is corrosion due to different metals in contact with each other in areas that salt the roads or near coastal areas which have more salt in the air. I live a couple miles from the beach and my air is 'saltier'. I am aware that the anodization of metal creates separation of the metals so you reduce the chance for that type of corrosion. Do you know if the 'silver' shims are anodized or are bare metal? I assume the red ones are anodized.

All of our shims are anodized included the silver color. FYI, our shims come with 6 years warranty

 

[towndrunk]

Hey towndrunk. I still have not bought the shims we talked about several months ago. I wanted to see how my car behaves with the wear first. So far I have 12K miles and my tires seem to be wearing fine and I don't see any excessive wear on the inner side. I will keep monitoring.

Someone posted earlier in one of the threads that the only concern a person may have with shims is corrosion due to different metals in contact with each other in areas that salt the roads or near coastal areas which have more salt in the air. I live a couple miles from the beach and my air is 'saltier'. I am aware that the anodization of metal creates separation of the metals so you reduce the chance for that type of corrosion. Do you know if the 'silver' shims are anodized or are bare metal? I assume the red ones are anodized.

Yes, I was the one who made the statement about corrosion. The shims I have were anodized and came from Thadeus Strong from the Tesla Model X Plaid Facebook group, but they look identical to the one sold by Secret-EV. Possibly the same people, although I paid $85 for my red set.

I will say the red set isn't enough to get my camber where I want it, so I wouldn't bother with the silver set. My Plaid X is very near to stock height, yet I still have 1.1 and 1.5° negative rear camber.

 

[towndrunk]

I had -1.4° rear camber on the left and -1.1° on right after shimming with the thicker red shims and adding lowering links to the rear. The rear was lowered no more than an inch.

I lowered the front (+6 mm on the lowering links) and maxed out the rear (+9 mm) last weekend. Today I added 2.5 mm shims left and 1.25 right.

I'm hoping the rear will be even now and just under -1°. I'd hate to get OCD and have to have add one more shim to each and get a 3rd alignment.

What took me 6 hours left and 4 hours right last time for shims, toe and lowering links only took 2 hours to shim both. I removed both rear bolts (where the shims go), and the big bolt on the front, then added the shims and re-inserted the front bolt. Couldn't be easier, but this is also what I ended up doing last time, but also had trouble getting that front bolt in on one side. I didn't mess with the toe this time. Now to get it aligned before my 500 mile road trip on Thursday.

 

[towndrunk]

Had no trouble getting in for my second alignment today. Dropped it off and it was done 30 minutes before my appointment time. Again, I gave them N2itive's recommended alignment settings.

Lowering the front wheels with lowering links increased the front camber from -1.0° to -1.2°. I was disappointed that they left my front camber at the upper limit of my recommendation and just adjusted toe, but technically it didn't exceed the upper limit of my specs.

Rear toe after alignment (.44°) was double my recommended high limit of .20°.

Here's a paradox for you:
Rear camber after my first alignment was -1.4° left, -1.1° right. Then I evened out both rear lowering links (this time with calipers), and dropped the rear a little more, then added two shims to the left and one to the right, expecting them to be pretty close and under -1°. After alignment, the left rear camber was close to what I expected (-1.0°), but the right increased to -1.4°? The only thing I can think of is evening out the lowering links (probably less than 2 mm difference) was responsible for the shift.

So I figure I have several options.

1. Leave it for now and reevaluate when they're half life and it's time to do a side-to-side rotation. (My OCD has a problem with waiting.)
2. Add two more shims to the right and adjust right toe manually 1/2 turn, hoping I didn't get the direction wrong, and maybe give the left toe a little bump, just enough to know it moved a bit.
3. Monitor rear tire wear and if it looks like I'm getting excessive inner wear on the right, add two more shims to the right and get another alignment ($105).
4. Give my shims to the alignment place and let them sort it out.

 

[NJturtlePower]

I had -1.4° rear camber on the left and -1.1° on right after shimming with the thicker red shims and adding lowering links to the rear. The rear was lowered no more than an inch.

I lowered the front (+6 mm on the lowering links) and maxed out the rear (+9 mm) last weekend. Today I added 2.5 mm shims left and 1.25 right.

I'm hoping the rear will be even now and just under -1°. I'd hate to get OCD and have to have add one more shim to each and get a 3rd alignment.

What took me 6 hours left and 4 hours right last time for shims, toe and lowering links only took 2 hours to shim both. I removed both rear bolts (where the shims go), and the big bolt on the front, then added the shims and re-inserted the front bolt. Couldn't be easier, but this is also what I ended up doing last time, but also had trouble getting that front bolt in on one side. I didn't mess with the toe this time. Now to get it aligned before my 500 mile road trip on Thursday.

So your current N2ITIVE link settings are -6 Front and -9 Rear?

Just FYI you listed as "+" which is adding length, but actually lowering the ride height, but I got you. "0" would be factory link lengths.

Lowest I ever tried in the front was -5 and found it really degraded the ride quality a lot (could have been due to cooler weather as well). With my current aftermarket wheel/spacer setup pushing the wheels out about an inch on each side I'm at -2 front and -8 rear with consistent fender to wheel gaps front and back with no clearance or rubbing.

 

[towndrunk]

So your current N2ITIVE link settings are -6 Front and -9 Rear?

Just FYI you listed as "+" which is adding length, but actually lowering the ride height, but I got you. "0" would be factory link lengths.

Lowest I ever tried in the front was -5 and found it really degraded the ride quality a lot (could have been due to cooler weather as well). With my current aftermarket wheel/spacer setup pushing the wheels out about an inch on each side I'm at -2 front and -8 rear with consistent fender to wheel gaps front and back with no clearance or rubbing.

I have Blox Racing lowering links, which aren't as expensive, but require setting a length with calipers, which is why my measurements are +mm over stock. So I'm a little lower in the back and a lot lower in the front, compared to yours.

If your max setting is -9, I suspect our links are calibrated similarly.

You did a nice job of making front and back a similar clearance.

 

[towndrunk]

So your current N2ITIVE link settings are -6 Front and -9 Rear?

Just FYI you listed as "+" which is adding length, but actually lowering the ride height, but I got you. "0" would be factory link lengths.

Lowest I ever tried in the front was -5 and found it really degraded the ride quality a lot (could have been due to cooler weather as well). With my current aftermarket wheel/spacer setup pushing the wheels out about an inch on each side I'm at -2 front and -8 rear with consistent fender to wheel gaps front and back with no clearance or rubbing.

Did you try cheetah mode? I've never tried it, but suspect it probably no longer works on mine due to maxing out the rear.

 

[NJturtlePower]

Did you try cheetah mode? I've never tried it, but suspect it probably no longer works on mine due to maxing out the rear.

I have Blox Racing lowering links, which aren't as expensive, but require setting a length with calipers, which is why my measurements are +mm over stock. So I'm a little lower in the back and a lot lower in the front, compared to yours.

If your max setting is -9, I suspect our links are calibrated similarly.

You did a nice job of making front and back a similar clearance.

N2ITIVE links go to -13 on the low end and +5 on the high end. 1mm steps or even 1/10mm with these newer ones.

I have not tried Cheetah Mode/Launch Control yet, but I did hear that is an issue if the front can't drop enough to engage....didn't think the rear would be a problem, but maybe.

Thanks, it definitely takes some trial and error to get the ride even or where you want it because you don't really know the result until you reinstall everything and cycle the suspension settings. For me that sweet spot seems to be 6mm longer in the rear vs. front.

Looks like you could probably come back up in the front a bit if you want.

 

[towndrunk]

Looks like you could probably come back up in the front a bit if you want.

Either that or raise my headlights. I'm a bit low.