How to best adjust camber?

[iamsam]

My 318is is lowered on H&R Race and Bilstien Sports, with IE RSMs, and all 4 wheels are cambered out (negative camber, where insides of tires get worn bad) and i want to restore the camber to where it was, when the wheels were pretty much straight up and down.

I am looking for a relatively inexpensive set-up, but still effective and durable, obviously.

I have done alot of searching, and i have a few remaining questions:

What are the best plates to restore camber which are relatively cheap, AND that actually lower the front of the car (NOT raise it), i have heard GC plates do that, and that is what i want.

Are the IE fixed plates any good? can i flip them around to restore factory camber? will it be enough?

Thank you for any help you can offer.

[CorvallisBMW]

You can flip around the IE plates, but you'll have to have to drill new holes in the shock tower to match up with the reversed plates. For the rear, the only way to do it is to get eccentric adjustment bolts, such as those sold through IE. Vorschlag and GC both make very good camber plates, but I believe the Vorshlag models will raise the stack height.

[iamsam]

You can flip around the IE plates, but you'll have to have to drill new holes in the shock tower to match up with the reversed plates. For the rear, the only way to do it is to get eccentric adjustment bolts, such as those sold through IE. Vorschlag and GC both make very good camber plates, but I believe the Vorshlag models will raise the stack height.

thanks!

but the IE fixed plates must raise the front ride height of the car, right?

[CorvallisBMW]

thanks!

but the IE fixed plates must raise the front ride height of the car, right?

less than 1/2", it's not much. Probably closer to 1/4"

[Fidhle007]

Why is that people want slammed cars but then want to fuck up their suspension geometry and handling just to save a few bucks on tire? Can't you rotate them like the rest of the world?

[CorvallisBMW]

Having tires dismounted/mounted can be spendy. Besides being able to adjust your geometry for track days or autoX is kind of nice.

[Fidhle007]

Having tires dismounted/mounted can be spendy. Besides being able to adjust your geometry for track days or autoX is kind of nice.

I didn't say that, just flip them front to rear on the same side and you'll gain a lot of life. Adjustability is nice but not cheap so therefore doesn't seem to fit with the OP's theme.

[iamsam]

Why is that people want slammed cars but then want to fuck up their suspension geometry and handling just to save a few bucks on tire? Can't you rotate them like the rest of the world?

let me clarify:

I wouldn't say my car is "slammed", and why would getting the camber back to normal be "fucking up" the suspension geometry? The biggest reason i want to get the camber straight again is mainly for the looks. I want to look down the side of the car and have the wheels appear mostly straight up and down, and more importantly, parallel to each other. The tire wear is also a concern for me, because i am planning on getting staggered wheels, and you can't rotate staggered wheels.

last point: tires aren't just a few bucks.

[iamsam]

I didn't say that, just flip them front to rear on the same side and you'll gain a lot of life. Adjustability is nice but not cheap so therefore doesn't seem to fit with the OP's theme.

wouldn't swapping the wheels on the same side still cause the inside of the tire to wear due to camber?

i am trying to strike a good balance between adjustability and "cheapness"

[Fidhle007]

let me clarify:

I wouldn't say my car is "slammed", and why would getting the camber back to normal be "fucking up" the suspension geometry? The biggest reason i want to get the camber straight again is mainly for the looks. I want to look down the side of the car and have the wheels appear mostly straight up and down, and more importantly, parallel to each other. The tire wear is also a concern for me, because i am planning on getting staggered wheels, and you can't rotate staggered wheels.

last point: tires aren't just a few bucks.

The point of lowering a car is to get the center of gravity closer to the ground, stiffen the ride AND ADD STATIC NEGATIVE CAMBER. Adding positive camber will be fucking up your suspension geometry and doing it for looks is just plain stupid. Get a civic.

wouldn't swapping the wheels on the same side still cause the inside of the tire to wear due to camber?

i am trying to strike a good balance between adjustability and "cheapness"

Front tires will wear faster because the camber angle increases during a turn and puts your outside tire more on it's outside edge. The rears wear flat across with only a slight inside bias so rotating them front to back will improve tire length.


This is all assuming your car is straight though, why not get it aligned first before you go around fucking up the geometry?

[iamsam]

The point of lowering a car is to get the center of gravity closer to the ground, stiffen the ride AND ADD STATIC NEGATIVE CAMBER. Adding positive camber will be fucking up your suspension geometry and doing it for looks is just plain stupid. Get a civic.


This is all assuming your car is straight though, why not get it aligned first before you go around fucking up the geometry?

ok i guess we have different ideas as to why someone would lower their car. Adding static negative camber was not one of my goals in loweing my car. i just see it as a side effect. My goals were as you described, to lower the center of gravity and to stiffen the ride. This is for better cornering ability and of course there is always the looks. And you still have not told me exactly how it would "fuck up" my suspension geometry to adjust camber back to normal, i am still curious as to why this is. I am also truly sorry that you think me doing this is "just plain stupid", and that i should get a civic. Those comments aren't neccesary, if you want to further say things like that to me, you can PM me, but don't fill this thread with it.

does anyone else have any useful info?

[Fidhle007]

The suspension gains camber as it cycles through it's travel, this is why lowering it increases that camber. At stock ride height with stock springs there is a fair amount of body roll so as it cycles through this the camber is increased to keep the tire better on the road surface. When you lower the car you're maintaining this and in certain situations an increase in negative camber is desirable (track, autox) but to ADD POSITIVE camber is changing the geometry in a way that is not beneficial in any way. If you want your car to drive like stock, put the stock suspension on. If you want the car to look cool, go to E30 tech. If you want to improve tire wear, get an alignment.

[Knockenwelle]

OP:

Toe out will wear the insides of tires WAY faster than negative camber. Toe-out is a scrubbing situation, while negative camber is a rolling one. The E30 is sorta unique in that the rear alignment goes toe-out as well as camber neg when lowered or RTABs are shot. This presents a compounded tire wear problem. My point is that you should do whatever you can to correct toe before camber.

[838Kelli]

Bavauto has a sale on camber plates. But my concern is are they any good??

[iamsam]

The suspension gains camber as it cycles through it's travel, this is why lowering it increases that camber. At stock ride height with stock springs there is a fair amount of body roll so as it cycles through this the camber is increased to keep the tire better on the road surface. When you lower the car you're maintaining this and in certain situations an increase in negative camber is desirable (track, autox) but to ADD POSITIVE camber is changing the geometry in a way that is not beneficial in any way. If you want your car to drive like stock, put the stock suspension on. If you want the car to look cool, go to E30 tech. If you want to improve tire wear, get an alignment.

thank you, that makes much more sense. Since i am relatively new to this whole thing (my first E30, my first time lowering a car substantially) i have alot to learn. I never thought of the fact that as the car leans around a corner, camber increases (negatively) to keep the wheel flat on the road. good info.