How to get more negative camber on the wheels of a Neon to increase cornering power. Applies to standard Neon and ACR (but ACR gives more adjustment).

There are 3 types of Chrysler bolts for the Neon to attach the struts to the front steering knuckle:

Standard bolt - fully threaded. No adjustment with standard suspension (part no. 6502730 bolts and 6503121 nuts).

'Crash' or camber-adjusting bolt - threaded only part way, so allows slop where the strut and knuckle meet. Can use one or two per side. Be advised, however, that under competition conditions these have been known to slip and loose adjustment. Part number is 4762135.

Cam bolt - fully threaded, but with an offset head, allowing easier fine adjustments when used with the ACR's slotted (lower bolt only) struts. Only one (lower hole) used per side in the ACR, with special washer and bolt (p/n 6500614 bolt, 6500593 Nut, 4014444 Dogbone washer-goes on the nut side). Should give the legal maximum, up to 2.4 deg neg. camber on an ACR ('95-'97).
NOTE: The '98 ACR Koni struts are NOT factory slotted, and don't have the raised flange that make the cam bolt useful. The lower holes must be ground out to make the slots - it is a legal, factory approved camber adjusting method.

The bolts are relatively easy to install. You will need to get the toe reset after installation. You also should borrow or rent a 200 ft-lb torque wrench if you don't have one.

1. Jack up one side in front and support with a jack stand. Remove wheel.

2. Loosen both bolts. Remove and replace one bolt at a time. They go in from front to rear (nut is on rear side). Just put the nuts on finger tight at first until both upper and lower bolts are in. I recommend new nuts when you install new bolts. Put a drop of 'locktite' on the (clean) threads before tightening.

3. If you are putting in a 'crash' bolt: when both bolts are in and just slightly tight, get a helper to pull out the bottom of the knuckle while pushing in on the top and hold it like this while you tighten up the nuts. You can use a C-clamp on the top of the knuckle and strut to make this easier. This will give you maximum negative camber. If installing the lower Cam bolt in an ACR, turn Cam bolt head as it engages flanges on the strut so that maximum camber is attained (strut bottom is as far out as possible) - should give about 2 to 2.4 deg. negative camber. If it doesn't give you enough try taking out as much slack as possible as noted above.

4. Torque the bolts/nuts to about 150 ft-lb (if you are competing on R type rubber, I suggest that if you have to loosen the crash bolts again, install new replacements).

5. Repeat for the other side.

6. Adjust toe. I suggest learning to do your own toe adjustments. It can be done with just hand tools. For example, see http://www.best.com/~akkana/alignment.html. I use a toe gauge 'trammel bar" that cost $80 from a race shop. If you take it out for front end alignment, tell them specifically to adjust ONLY the toe - NOTHING ELSE - and report on what the camber values are. If the camber is at its maximum setting on each side, the sides shouldn't differ by too much. If the camber is too different side-to-side, tell the alignment guy how to adjust and give him a printout of this page.

NOTE: rear camber-adjusting bolts are also available. Not usually needed, however. Part no. is 4773957. Procedure to replace is similar to above. Use 75 to 100 ft-lb torque.

For driving around town and spirited road driving, I don't think 2-3 deg. of negative camber will cause excessive uneven tire wear. If you take any 3000 mile highway trips, you may want to re-align to 0 to -1.0 deg. camber beforehand.

Good luck!