How to best adjust camber?

[Fidhle007]

you can adjust front toe, but that's it.

fidhle's point is a lot of the excessive camber in the back is caused by 20 year old worn out rubber bushings. replacing them with new parts will make a big difference.

What he said.

And FYI I meant trailing arms.

[87e30]

WAit, so after putting on GCs and Konis (had cut springs, fail I know, yell at PO) and now my steering wheel is slightly off from center I can't fix this with an alignment?

I mean I know toe would help this but what about the back? No such thing as a 4 wheel alignment on our car?

[Fidhle007]

WAit, so after putting on GCs and Konis (had cut springs, fail I know, yell at PO) and now my steering wheel is slightly off from center I can't fix this with an alignment?

I mean I know toe would help this but what about the back? No such thing as a 4 wheel alignment on our car?

No.

[nando]

WAit, so after putting on GCs and Konis (had cut springs, fail I know, yell at PO) and now my steering wheel is slightly off from center I can't fix this with an alignment?

I mean I know toe would help this but what about the back? No such thing as a 4 wheel alignment on our car?

you can center your steering wheel (by adjusting front toe) but nothing in the back is adjustable. They will still do a 4 wheel alignment but in our case that just means you get to see what your static settings are.

[87e30]

you can center your steering wheel (by adjusting front toe) but nothing in the back is adjustable. They will still do a 4 wheel alignment but in our case that just means you get to see what your static settings are.

Interesting.

Looks like I should buy some new bushings then. Then get the alignment... Good thing I don't care about hte tires that are on there right now.

[twistednut]

Febi makes an eccentric TA bushing that allows some adjustment. PN 33329058822. I used two sets. I use the outer set to take a little bit of camber out and the inner set to get the rear toe back into spec. As for the front camber, I flipped a set of GC plates and was able to set the camber at -.7.

[nando]

-0.7 is at the very edge of the factory acceptable settings (-1.7, -0.7). it also doesn't sound very exciting. :p

also the bummer with those bushings is setting camber and toe independently is pretty tough. They also have a reputation for coming loose.

[Massive Lee]

If I refer to the title of the thread (How to best adjust camber?), my reply will be very simple. Whatever value people will give you, it is not worth diarea chicken shit. The only valuable tool to measure what is the best camber adjustment for your car requires that you measure how your tires work. That "work" will change depending on the car's suspension, car weight distribution, driver weight, wheel offset, speed, track etc and can be measured in the form of heat. You need a pyrometer, either a probe style, or infra red.

The best camber/toe setting is the setting that allows peak contact patch of your tires. Ideally, not only you should have a linear progression of temps across the tires, which would indicate proper inflation, but also the temps should ideally be the same across the tire (proper angle of the tires).

That being said, the previous methodology applies to an ideal situation where you are well equipped and can do testing. So be aware that anything else is just pure guessing...

With the simplified information that was supplied above, anyone can tune a racecar to its full potential. It is that simple and can be worth several seconds per lap. :pimp:

[Axxe]

Real men wear out the outside shoulders on all 4 tires, with max static up front and non adjustment in the back.

[Knockenwelle]

^^A fat, Bangled late-model serving duty as a cone-killer? Sure, that'll wear outside shoulders...

[nando]

If I refer to the title of the thread (How to best adjust camber?), my reply will be very simple. Whatever value people will give you, it is not worth diarea chicken shit. The only valuable tool to measure what is the best camber adjustment for your car requires that you measure how your tires work. That "work" will change depending on the car's suspension, car weight distribution, driver weight, wheel offset, speed, track etc and can be measured in the form of heat. You need a pyrometer, either a probe style, or infra red.

The best camber/toe setting is the setting that allows peak contact patch of your tires. Ideally, not only you should have a linear progression of temps across the tires, which would indicate proper inflation, but also the temps should ideally be the same across the tire (proper angle of the tires).

That being said, the previous methodology applies to an ideal situation where you are well equipped and can do testing. So be aware that anything else is just pure guessing...

With the simplified information that was supplied above, anyone can tune a racecar to its full potential. It is that simple and can be worth several seconds per lap. :pimp:

yeah, I have an infrared thermometer and I borrowed a pyrometer last year - need a little more neg camber in the back and more on the drivers front, the passenger front was fine. :)

also it is better to be slightly hotter on the insides, than hotter on the outside of the tire. even is ideal but not always possible to achieve..

[Knockenwelle]

Tire temps FTMFW. Tells you everything you need to know.

[aTron12]

Hey Guys.. I'm new to this subject and have a really simple question. I have an '89 325is and recently had Bilstein HD's installed. I'm wanting to lower it to get rid of the gap but not slam it down to the ground. It will be (at most) 1-1.5". How bad will the negative camber be and is it worth getting camber plates so I don't shred my tires in 12 months?

[iamsam]

Hey Guys.. I'm new to this subject and have a really simple question. I have an '89 325is and recently had Bilstein HD's installed. I'm wanting to lower it to get rid of the gap but not slam it down to the ground. It will be (at most) 1-1.5". How bad will the negative camber be and is it worth getting camber plates so I don't shred my tires in 12 months?

get H&R sport or H&R Race springs, and don't worry about camber, its not too bad, and no you won't destroy your tires.

old thread btw...

[Fidhle007]

Hey Guys.. I'm new to this subject and have a really simple question. I have an '89 325is and recently had Bilstein HD's installed. I'm wanting to lower it to get rid of the gap but not slam it down to the ground. It will be (at most) 1-1.5". How bad will the negative camber be and is it worth getting camber plates so I don't shred my tires in 12 months?

Holy fucking Search/Thread Jack/Back From The Dead Thread/Etc....



If you lower the front of your car, you will have more camber. If you don't want camber, don't lower your car. If you don't want tire wear, get it fucking aligned and don't drive like a shithead.