Vendor Rear Adjustable Camber Bushings for Model S/X Group Buy

[Mysterylectric]

I realize this is a difficult question so if you have not tested It, please say that. What change to the bump steer of the rear wheels does this give, if any? Raising or lowering the inboard link would change how parallel the pivot arms are and there fore the camber change as the wheel moves up and down. Camber will not affect bump steer like toe in, but it will affect it some.

Bump steer was a concern of mine when installing these (We have god awful roads here in NY, and you will hit bumps in every situation). I tried to compensate for the change in upper arm geometry, by extending the toe arm a little more than stock (See my alignment sheet above). The characteristics of the car through turns and over bumps hasn't changed drastically. The car does turn more with the front (if that makes any sense) and it seems to "pivot" more around the centerline, but there hasn't been any noticeable change to the dynamics of the steering over uneven roads. The major difference I noticed is under HARD braking. I believe the issue lies with the fact I never had the rear suspension calibrated for the change in ride height, so when the car nose dives, it unloads the rear wheels completely, and they go pretty far positive on the camber, resulting in the tires riding on the outside shoulders. The X-Ice tires I had on the car also played a role, as the have exaggerated shoulders, and a very soft compound compared to the all seasons I run the rest of the year. A proper set of performance tires with closed shoulders would likely do wonders on mitigating these issues, but I'm not overly concerned. The car handles a very light rear end very well, and from a high speed stop, it only seems to initially unsettle, and then catch itself right away.

 

[demundus]

This is a significantly cheaper approach to @lolachampcar 's recommendation of CNC machining of the rear linkages to add adjustable bolts to it. Do you have any comparison to the approach used there to here? I'm all in if it achieves the same result with low risk of control arm failure, etc;

 

[EVTuning]

This is a significantly cheaper approach to @lolachampcar 's recommendation of CNC machining of the rear linkages to add adjustable bolts to it. Do you have any comparison to the approach used there to here? I'm all in if it achieves the same result with low risk of control arm failure, etc;

The company that makes them K-MAC has been in the business for 40 years and their bushings are used on V8 Supercars in Australia. The arm should be no more failure prone than with a factory bushing. The way the stock arms are machined they are designed to break in a collision so that part is what it is. Otherwise there is no additional stress put on the control arm than is normal. The whole idea was to use an OE style approach to the situation. Essentially the Factory Rear Toe, Front Caster/Camber are all adjusted this same way only they use an eccentric washer and bolt head instead of a steel bushing core with urethane bushing. Simpler is usually better in my opinion.

 

[zwede]

I installed the bushings today along with adjustable links from Advance Performance. The bushing install was straight forward following the video. I didn't see it in the video, but you want to set the adjustment so the arm is down in the mount as that gives you the least change in ride height (as the arm moves out it also pulls the air suspension sensor with it. Lowering the arm in the mount partially compensates).

Only thing that didn't work for me were the locking washers that spun as I tightened the nut. I replaced them with regular lock washers. Since the threads are fine pitch I'm not worried about them coming loose.

I pointed the offset at 7:30 o'clock as a starting point and also pushed the toe adjustment out a random amount. By some fluke the left side came out perfect on the first try, both camber and toe.

The right side needed an adjustment as camber was still -1.5 degrees. If it's on an alignment rack you can adjust while leaving the measuring sensor on the wheel, but I'm on jack stands and have to remove the wheel to adjust. A trick for this is to stick a digital level with magnetic mount to the brake rotor and then adjust on a relative basis. I didn't care what it showed, just adjusted until the reading changed 0.5 degrees.

I adjusted the links out (longer) 5 turns and that gave me stock ride height or maybe a touch lower. I get 28.5" from the ground to the quarter panel edge/lip.

Final alignment for the rear is -1.1 degree Left and -1.0 degree right with 0.2 degree toe-in.

Car looks great and pushing the top of the wheels out fills the wheel well better. Bushings are well made. The adjustable links are good quality as well.

So in summary: The offset bushings (and adjustable links) are highly recommended.

 

[EVTuning]

Great Review! Thanks very much for the feedback and sharing with others. Glad the install went smoothly and the end result is what you were hoping for!

Today is the last day of the group buy! Don't miss out on the special 20% off pricing!

 

[EVTuning]

Great Review! Thanks very much for the feedback and sharing with others. Glad the install went smoothly and the end result is what you were hoping for!

Today is the last day of the group buy! Don't miss out on the special 20% off pricing!

Until the end of the month camber bushings are $100 off! No discount code needed just add to cart. Ships in 5-7 days!

 

[demundus]

Dumb question... is Qty:1 for a pair or do i need to buy 2 so i can do the rear only.

edit: since im not 100% sure if my control arms were replaced, would you do an even swap return if they are wrong? im 99% sure they are 41mm

 

[EVTuning]

Dumb question... is Qty:1 for a pair or do i need to buy 2 so i can do the rear only.

edit: since im not 100% sure if my control arms were replaced, would you do an even swap return if they are wrong? im 99% sure they are 41mm

It is for a pair of bushings so one “set” will do both left and right control arms. They replace the inner bushing that mounts to the subframe. What year and model is your car? PM your last 6 of VIN and I can try to do some detective work.

 

[milleron]

@EVTuning
It's there any indication for using these bushings in a Tesla withOUT air suspension?

 

[EVTuning]

What do you mean by indication?
They are compatible with both air suspension and non air suspension cars. The one car where the ride height went up it was because it was aligned on "very low" for suspension height so its more exaggerated and it only needed a ride height calibration to fix the issue. This style of adjustment is just like the factory adjustments for Toe in the Rear and Caster and Camber in the front of the car. There will be no ride height issues on a Coil Suspension car. Does this answer your question or did you mean something else?

 

[zwede]

I think he was asking if the coil cars need camber reduction. I've read in the past that coil cars ride higher and have less negative camber.

 

[EVTuning]

I think he was asking if the coil cars need camber reduction. I've read in the past that coil cars ride higher and have less negative camber.

With having a static ride height I would agree that they are less prone to camber wear on the tires. Because the air suspension naturally lowers with speed you’re driving with more camber on the highway.

 

[GatorGuy]

I have bought adjustable lowering links, so I most likely will need these adjustable bushings to counter the negative camber.

How difficult are these to install?

And I have a 2018 P100D so from the page it looks like I need the 43.5mm. Is that correct?

 

[EVTuning]

I have bought adjustable lowering links, so I most likely will need these adjustable bushings to counter the negative camber.

How difficult are these to install?

And I have a 2018 P100D so from the page it looks like I need the 43.5mm. Is that correct?

You are correct 43.5mm bushings are what you would want.

I would recommend watching the video linked in the product page. They come with the removal tool so you really just need a table vice or other equipment to hold the control arm while you are removing the stock bushing. When reinstalling you will want to install the adjusting bolt from the rear of the car instead of the way the factory bolt is oriented from the front so you can do the adjustment without the ride height adjuster bracket and sensor being in the way. This is also shown in the video. I would say 2 hours should be a reasonable amount of time to do both sides.

 

[David.85D]

This was something as a BMW Mechanic I saw all too frequently on E53 X5's and other BMW's.

Ha! Thought I was the only one that went from a beater like an E53 to a Tesla. Love the solution

 

[lolachampcar]

EV, thanks for doing this. We were in need of a simple solution....

For the record, I machined 0.210" longer links as this was the most I could do without replacing the toe links as well. Not a fan of adjustable links and mine most certainly were not

 

[EVTuning]

EV, thanks for doing this. We were in need of a simple solution....

For the record, I machined 0.210" longer links as this was the most I could do without replacing the toe links as well. Not a fan of adjustable links and mine most certainly were not

No problem at all! Can’t tell you how many times I cursed trying to get cars to align or explain why people blew through tires. I am glad this is a well received product.

 

[NuclearPowered]

Just wore through a single driver rear tire in 11k miles.

Will be ordering a set as soon as I get the upperlink part num.

Tesla should have handled this issue internally and not have had to rely on a 3rd party for a solution.

I wonder why they did not do that, since it's obvious now even the service techs knew the issue was rampant.

Question: Is the eccentric bushing a common enough method to change camber settings that a standard big box tire and alignment shop will know how to adjust it?

 

[lolachampcar]

Stability control safety standards for oversteer (FMS???... I can not remember the spec right now) are most easily met by running a lot of negative camber. When the car tries to swing out the rear it "rolls" onto more tire patch thus gaining traction. A lot of european cars use this technique and, coincidentally, the MS looks a lot like a BMW (and a little MB) when you poke around the suspension.

The camber as to be there in a worst case scenario (spring car unloaded??) and Tesla chose to produce only one geometry for monetary reasons so an air car with a lower ride height gets even more camber (camber gain) which is why air cars have the problem and spring cars do not.

 

[mrbruin2k]

Any more upcoming discount codes or sales for Labor Day?