By the 1980's, the majority of new car manufacturers had deleted adjustment facilities, other than front toe (but adjusting "toe" however only alters wear position, and actually increases the overall wear rate. This deletion was brought about by cost cutting and the ever increasing speed of vehicle assembly lines allowing insufficient time for adjustment.
K-MAC - therefore saw the need and set about to design and manufacture a complete "Bolt On" range of front Camber and Caster & rear Camber and Toe kits to satisfy the demand from sports and competition enthusiasts or simply frustrated consumers with expensive premature tyre wear problems.
These problems included uneven wear, altered suspension height, carrying extra load, curb knocks, driving on high cambered roads or front and rear wheel squat, with subsequent inner edge tyre wear. This was further exacerbated by the advent in the 1980's of "off the shelf" wide, expensive low profile tyres, where facilities for adjusting camber because of the extra width are an essential requirement to maintain even tyre wear and traction.
K-MAC have revolutionized the alignment industry by setting new standards with unique "Bolt-On" kits to simplify ease of installation / adjustment and also provide increased adjustment range.
K-MAC have created, tested and taken out international patents on these exclusive designs to fit the entire five basic types of vehicle suspensions:
McPherson Strut Suspensions:
- Bolt-On kits that simply replace the upper strut mounts, quickest and biggest adjustment (change to road or race settings in 30 seconds - just the time taken to loosen 3 strut tower mount nuts).
They are available in 3 Stages:
Stage 1: - Steel with Urethane bushed centers "captive" ball race thrust bearings designed for Street.
Stage 2: - All alloy with Urethane and self align "Pillow" ball centres for Street / Race or
Stage 3: - Similiar to stage 2 but no Urethane / Flex for tauter / quicker steering response times! - specifically for full race applications where ride harshness and durability are not the criteria. - This K-MAC system, by providing the quickest / biggest adjustment (plus increased strength / support) supercedes the current industry standard which has been around for years - a non flexible 'slot' design with pillow bearings. This slot design, besides having less adjustment because of the hold down bolts required, also is time consuming to adjust and on many vehicles requires removal of the strut.
K-MAC PATENTED STRUT TOP CHECKLIST:
- All positional / biggest adjustment range.
- Quickest to adjust (Time taken to loosen the 3 top strut nuts).
- Can adjust accurately (underload). Can record road or race settings.
- Available in Street, Street/Race or Full Race versions (Pillow Ball and Pillow Ball / Urethane centers are replaceable for virtual lifetime usage).
- Can be fitted with or without Coil-Over shocks.
- As they are not an add-on Camber plate, majority height is not increased or contained within 5mm (1/4").
Strut Bushings kits Design for Strut Type Suspensions
The majority of Camber kits on the market for these types of struts replace one of the two strut to axle mount bolts with an 'undersize' crank shape bolt to gain adjustment. This undersized /weakened crank bolt design was rejected by K-MAC as these 2 bolts are a critical suspension component, holding the stub axle /wheels on (and the new car industry isn't noted for oversizing componentry!).
Instead the K-MAC patented design uses a straight aircraft grade bolt and instead oversizes the actual 'strut flange' hole by using a high speed steel drill bit which is enclosed with each kit. This design, besides being stronger than the original factory bolt, also provides more than twice the range of adjustment than the 'crank bolt' design 1.75 degrees of either Positive or Negative Camber (versus 3/4 of one degree) which is the range of adjustment necessary to adequately resolve most alignment problems. With four only Part No's covering over 300 makes and models.
Design was for Ball Joint Suspensions
- K-MAC revolutionized the adjustment of this type of suspension by inventing and patenting a unique slot system, whereby an actual ball joint could be adjusted in or out to vary Camber settings (by up to 3 or 4 degrees - which was unattainable with other designs because of the lack of inner fender clearance). Then a separate adjustment allows for Caster setting. Most popular kit is for the 1990 - 2000 Honda / Acura front where one only part No. (331116) covers every model from Accord to Odyssey. Like all K-MAC kits, they are bolt-on and no special tools are required.
Top of Strut Kits Design also for Strut Type Suspension
- Honda / Acura 2001 to 2008 Civic, CRV, Element, Integra and Odyssey ('Strut' front suspensions - Note: Latest Civic 2005 / '08 patented kit also manufactured). Like earlier models, they have no Camber or Caster adjustment ex-factory. K-MAC again is the only company to invent, patent and manufacture unique 'Top of Strut' kits, to provide separate Camber and Caster adjustment (with either original coils or adjustable coil over struts).
K-MAC challenge was for an Eccentric Adjuster - A simple method was required for the numerous pivoted connection points found throughout vehicle suspension systems.
So that Front Camber and Caster or Rear Camber and Toe could be adjusted easily, unlike the current labour intensive adjuster designs over the last 40 years, where special tools to be used in confined spaces, were required each time.
K-MAC therefore again set new industry standards by designing and patenting a system whereby the original size hexagon bolt could be simply turned to precisely adjust the bush to the required alignment setting, then locked in this position.
This labour saving system was accomplished by the concept of the bolt being designed in such a way that it interlocked with the steel eccentric inner bush - turning the easily accessible bolt head adjusted the alignment setting.
All above K-MAC "eccentric adjuster bush kits" are supplied with extraction / insertion tools where required to further simplify installation and are available for numerous models Audi A4 / S4,/A6, BMW, Mercedes, most Japanese makes etc. through to the latest Volkswagen Golf and Passat.
