Motorsport Wheel Alignment: Eccentric Bolts
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Eccentric Bolts
02.52
| 00:00 | - An eccentric bolt is simply a bolt which is offset inside a locating washer. |
| 00:04 | The bolt is placed through the suspension component and is located in the chassis or sub frame by the outside diameter of the washer. |
| 00:12 | By rotating the eccentric bolt the suspension component follows a circular path around the centreline of the locating washer and hence this can be used to make changes to camber or toe. |
| 00:23 | While eccentric bolts are a cheap and easy way of providing adjustability, they aren't without their downsides either. |
| 00:30 | One of the common problems we see with this style of adjustment is that the eccentric bolt can move or slip under high loads that are associated with motorsport use. |
| 00:39 | This is not only going to undo all of your hard work getting the alignment just where you want it but it also could prove to be dangerous, making your car difficult or unpredictable to drive. |
| 00:50 | Another common issue we see with these is the thread being damaged on the bolt itself. |
| 00:56 | This is due to the threaded portion of the bolt being machined with a flat or slot on it to correctly align with the other locating washer. |
| 01:04 | This of course reduces the thread engagement in the locking nut and over the course of multiple adjustments, the threads can easily be worn and damaged. |
| 01:12 | Lastly with eccentric bolts, we're still going to be quite limited in the range of movement available. |
| 01:19 | This might be fine for a stock road car but we could struggle to get our camber where we need it to be for a race application. |
| 01:25 | While I'm not a big fan of eccentric bolts for adjusting our suspension arms in a race application, they do still have their place and often these can be useful for replacing one of the bolts attaching the front hub to the strut in a MacPherson strut suspension system. |
| 01:40 | This can be quite effective at providing camber adjustment and is often used in conjunction with a camber adjustable strut top. |
| 01:47 | Given that I've just mentioned that eccentric bolts do have a habit of slipping or moving under high load, we obviously need to address this and often aftermarket eccentric camber bolt kits will provide a way of locating the washer to the strut so that it can't rotate once it's adjusted. |
| 02:05 | Products such as MCA's camber washers come at this from a slightly different approach and here washer paris with different offsets are available in order to achieve your required camber setting. |
| 02:17 | These washers positively locate to the strut so there's absolutely no chance of rotation. |
| 02:22 | One aspect you do need to be mindful of if you're removing a stock eccentric bolt arrangement from a factory car and replacing it with an adjustable arm is that we'll need a way of locking out the original adjustment. |
| 02:35 | There are eccentric lock out kits available such as the SPL kit that you can see on the rear of our NIssan 350z. |
| 02:42 | These use large square washers that positively locate in the subframe, ensuring the bolt remains central in the hole. |
