Q. - Hey ipd,

I bought your Eibach lowering springs for my 2001 V70 and it seems the rear tires are now ‘leaning in’ a bit at the top. I noticed this after a friend pointed out the difference between his S60 that is stock ride height. I went to have my car aligned but my alignment shop says there is no factory adjustment for this so I just have to live with it. I don’t want to have to replace my tires every 10,000 miles and it doesn’t really seem right to have the car this way. What can I do to correct this?

A. - Glad you asked!

This is a concern we have heard for a little while now and we really spent some time thinking of how best to address this issue.

Since the factory has no provision for rear camber adjustment we had to come up with a solution that would maintain the quality of ride, safety of design, and performance of the vehicle. We are now proud to offer our exclusive ipd offset bushing for cars suffering from rear camber issues. Our camber bushing installs into the factory location and can be oriented to help add or subtract up to 1 full degree of camber. No more edge worn tires or improper road manners from your lowered Volvo! (ipd camber kit 8k0154 available below!)

ipd’s new rear camber bushing allows you to adjust for excessive rear camber that can cause premature tire wear and poor braking performance. Typically excessive negative rear camber occurs when lowering a vehicle via sport springs although, some stock vehicles can also require adjustment. Since there is no factory provision for rear camber adjustment ipd has developed an eccentric offset bushing that provides up to 1 degree of camber adjustment (negative or positive) to help correct your alignment problems. Not only will this alleviate poor tire wear it can also restore lost braking performance by increasing the contact surface of the tire to the road. Be sure to have your vehicle aligned before installing these bushings so that you can have a baseline to adjust from. If it’s been more than 6 months since your alignment angles were checked, consider having them re-aligned. ipd strongly recommends professional installation to ensure the proper amount of adjustment is obtained.

Believe it or not, we here at ipd spend a lot of time thinking about how to serve our customers better. We try a lot of different things – some work great and some don’t pan out as well as we’d hoped. The bottom line is that we’re here for you and feel privileged to be able to help you keep your Volvo in tip top shape! As part of our continued effort to serve you and your Volvo’s needs better we’re separating our newsletters similar to how we separate our annual catalogs. That is, we’ll be focusing this newsletter exclusively on the front wheel drive and all wheel drive models. The goal is to bring you just the products that most pertain to you. Another advantage of switching to this format is that it allows us more space for enriched content and helpful tech tips. To help us in this venture we want to hear from you! Tell us what kind of products you’d like us to carry, what projects you’re currently working on (send us pictures too!), your favorite Volvo links on the web, or anything else Volvo! You can email us directly at rarnold@ipdusa.com or you can write us as well at PO Box 20339 Portland, OR 97294. Do you own a vintage Volvo or a rear wheel drive model Volvo as well? Make sure to tell us what model Volvo(s) you currently own so we can ensure we send you the correct mailers for your cars! Be sure to send us your feedback on how you like the new layout.