are these things the same thing? why or why not?

 

Generally, yes. The camber kits help the wheels contact patch stay on the ground. Depending on how far the camber of the tire, plus or minus, you may need a kit. Sometimes you do, and sometimes you don't.

Here is a quote from Cov Import's website:

What is Camber?
Camber is the inward or outward tilt of the tire/wheel assembly. This angle is measured from a true vertical line, i.e. perpendicular to the ground. A tire/wheel assembly that is tilted outward at the top is considered to have positive camber. While a tire/wheel assembly tilted inward at the top, displays negative camber. For a zero setting, the tire/wheel assembly is in the exact vertical position or perpendicular to the ground. To rephrase, if the top of the tire/wheel assembly is tilted inward towards the engine, it has a negative camber. If the top of the tire/wheel assembly is tilted outward from the engine, the camber is positive.

Anyways, I've always found my information about this stuff by Googleing, then going to different forums and asking specific questions.

Hope this helps,

StevePhy