A) I never looked, however that is how I discovered my rear bearings were bad.
B) those kits are basically a smaller dia. bolt for the lower strut to knuckle mount bolt, so you have a degree or 2 of wiggle room.
C) I got no faith in them. If the General had wanted adjustable front ends, He would have given them to us. And I'm not sure you can do that much adjusting.
D) not exactly for lowering only, racers need finer adjustment than streeters. Racers are looking for specific handling characteristics, streeters are looking for good tire wear characteristics.

 

You mean like when the redesigned Chevy trucks came out with welded upper control arm bolts? And the general had to refit all those trucks with adjustable cam washers because as the front end settled in the alignment went out by 12k miles? No such thing as a front end never needing adjustment. General does it for cheap assembly. No two parts or cars are exactly alike...adjustments will be needed somewhere all g the way... gotta be able to compensate for normal wear. It's funny how quick a camber adjustment bolt hit the market after these cars did...GM does this knowing the aftermarket will fix it. It's all about money...gm saved...aftermarket makes. Sounds like a combo of both toe and camber did this. Struts may not have been made exactly correctly...lower arms may be out of spec...ever wonder where the rejected new parts wind up? Sold at discount.....3rd party manufacturer's trying to make a living too..

 

My tongue was in my cheek.
My father was a USMC lifer, I heard "if the Corps wanted you to have a family it would have issued you one" at least 2 million times.

 

To the OP.
I lowered my HHR 1.5 inches, then had the alignment checked. Camber was still within specs. Had to adjust the toe a small amount.
I know yours isn't lowered, but it sure sounds like you've got the wrong control arms. Have you still got the old ones? Maybe you could measure them and compare to the new ones.

 

Marine family here too, Don. Thank you for your service, sir.

I agree with IGW, everything needs adjustment, and every new part added can be off just a bit. And yes, the discount stuff especially.

Fireman, I did keep the old ones, and I measured them yesterday before posting this. They appear to be the same measurements, and have all the same little casting marks, which I used for measuring.

I see those bolt kits only give a max of 1.75 degree. Now I may be thinking of this wrong, being a carpenter (sold my car business in 2001 to take advantage of the housing boom market [cough]) , but that does not sound like enough, from what I am looking at kneeling down and seeing the tilt of my front wheels.

I am going to take a pic of that view today. Some of you might tell me if it looks even close to normal. I don't believe they do, but may go on a hunt for another HHR today, so I can compare the views.

 

For those who might need this advise in the future, I installed a camber kit from Moog, bought right here in town ($20 per side), with a max. 1.25 degree correction. My tires look to be flat on the road now.

I am off to the alignment shop for 12:30, and will let you guys know what the results were.

Thanks again for all the input.

 

Done deal. They dialed the alignment to specs no problem, and told me they do the camber kits on HHRs all the time, regardless of them being lowered or not.

The car feels like part of the road again. Amazing actually. The feel is 100% better. Who would have 'thunk' it.

I would suggest ordering camber kits with any lower control arm or strut/spring replacements. Save yourself headaches for the $35-$40 more total.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend.

 

Glad you got it straightened out.
I bought some of those Moog camber bolts for mine when I changed springs. I remember there being 2 different degrees change available for the HHR.
$40 for 2 small bolts,nuts and washers seemed overpriced but then again it is a speciality item.

 

Any explanation about how the camber got whacked in the first place? Evidently everything was fine until you replaced the LCAs.

 

The alignment shop said they use these camber kits all the time, on HHRs, Cobalts, and a certain model Pontiac. I am assuming it is just new parts not having the exact same specs as the original factory component put on during assembly. No other incident that could have caused it.

I can live with the idea GM screwed up with a non-adjustable front suspension, as some said in past posts.