Is negative camber good?

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#1
Over the summer I installed lowering springs and sport shocks on my car creating negative camber. After 5 months, and not that many miles, the inside tread on my tires is extremely worn down. I had no idea this would cause me to chew through tires so quickly. I was looking at getting adjustable camber correction kits until I came across what Dinan had to say about it. Their kit actually increases negative camber and they claim this increases traction in cornering. Is this true? Because if so I might not mind replacing my tires yearly since I'm working at making my car handle incredibly well.
 
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#2
Yes, everything you have said is correct. Racing setup on a BMW is to add negative camber, and it really improves the turn-in, but at the expense of the inside edges of the tires. BMWs benefit from negative camber more than most other cars, now you know a BMW racing secret!!!! Shhhhhhh........don't tell anyone [:)]
 
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#4
You actually need negative camber up front.

Why? Ideal traction occurs when the tire is perfectly flat on the road surface, so in theory, 0 camber is perfect. But as you go into a corner, the weight on the tire increases, and deforms the tire and the suspension as well. Now the tire/wheel/suspension is twisting towards positive camber, and is no longer flat on the road.

By setting up negative camber, when you go into a corner, the extra weight and energy starts to reduce the negative camber back to 0 camber, the "perfect" tire position with the full tread on the surface. Of course, you can never get it perfect every time due to variations in speed, road condition, etc. But a good professional driver can feel exactly how much camber he needs to control his car for a given general speed and condition.
 
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#6
Thanks.....There is a book that I read several years ago, and re-read every couple months, called "Speed Secrets". This $18 book is full of so much great racing, car setup, etc. information it's unbelievable. It should sell for $100! He spends a whole chapter just discussing basic suspension dynamics during racing.
 

VANCE

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#9
depends.
to a degree more negative camber will help handling but wear the inside of you rear tires faster.
you want better handling or buy more tires.
i would think unless you are tracking your car you would want to prolong the life of the tires.
 
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#10
Kneiselc said:
Do I also want negative camber in the rear or should I get those wheels squared up?
Just a clarification - factory spec for all cars will have some amount of negative camber, typically .5 to 1.5 degrees. If everything (caster, camber, toe in) was at 0 the car would handle like crap, and could potentially be dangerous.

You just have to decide about the handling vs. tire wear costs - which is more important to you?

The bigger question is whether or not the extra camber introduced by the mod'ed suspension can be corrected. It may require caster/camber plates to be installed to get it back to factory spec. That is a pretty common requirement on a lot of cars. My Bentley manual says caster and camber is not adjustable on the E36, I'm 99% sure that is correct. If it is adjustable it won't be very much.
 
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#13
all you have to do is buy a tire machine and a tire balancer. wear out the inside and switch it to the rim across from it and wear out the other side of your tire. Twice the life.

though i don't think you'd save any money buying those expencive machines. haha. I wonder how much those things cost....
 
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#14
Yeah, I was planning on rotating the tires on the wheels if I don't get the camber adjusted but it still doesn't provide the tire longevity that I would get with less negative camber.
 


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