Camber setting on a track car

[SLOBRO]

hey guys just wanted to ask what setting works best on a track car to start with or if you know a good shop that do wheel alignment for track cars??

[liberx]

I've been running -2.5 front and about -1 rear camber. Slight toe in on front (only to avoid wear), or neutral. Works pretty well for street & track.

If you don't drive it daily, you can go more aggressive -3-3.5 front and some rear toe out. This is all on EG with Type-R springs. Cheers.

[SLOBRO]

thanks :) yea just a track car

[dc5dave]

If you get a temp gun and measure your tire temp at 3 points outer, center and inner after some hot laps u can see how much of the tire your actually using and adj ur camber accordingly
This is the best way to see how much camber you actually need

[dc5dave]

Also Pedders on sunnyholt rd blacktown do mine, their hoist is in-ground so it doesn't matter how low your car is it'll get on, they do camber, height adj ect

[ekslut]

Yep, start with something a bit mild and get a temp gun and check tyre temps on outside, middle, and inside of the tyre. To give you an idea I'm running 4deg front and 2.5deg rear.

[SLOBRO]

thanks, yea had that in mind but wanted to get a rough idea of what setting i will need to start off with

[SLOBRO]

thanks guys

[SLOBRO]

If you get a temp gun and measure your tire temp at 3 points outer, center and inner after some hot laps u can see how much of the tire your actually using and adj ur camber accordingly
This is the best way to see how much camber you actually need
thanks, yea had that in mind but wanted to get a rough idea of what setting i will need to start off with

[dc5dave]

No probs:)

[intertia]

If you get a temp gun and measure your tire temp at 3 points outer, center and inner after some hot laps u can see how much of the tire your actually using and adj ur camber accordingly
This is the best way to see how much camber you actually need

Just for clarifications sake (even though it is obvious), the area with the lower temp would be the one not getting enough contact and the area with the higher temp means it's getting too much contact, all equal temps or close to it would mean you have correct camber and (in general) tyre pressure. Correct tyre pressure can be determined by averaging the 3 temperature readings which should equal the temperature reading on the centre of the tyre. If the average of all 3 is lower than the centre temp then it would mean there's too much pressure, if the average of all 3 is higher than the centre temp the it means there's not enough pressure.

[butterfingers]

i thoguht it was normal to have more neg camber in the rears

[intertia]

i thoguht it was normal to have more neg camber in the rears

As opposed to what?

[butterfingers]

first few posts all said front camber being higher.

[intertia]

first few posts all said front camber being higher.

Ahh right, I can't think of a situation where you would want the rear to have more static camber than the front, because the double wishbone setup on the rear gives more dynamic camber gain during cornering than the front Mcpherson Strut type setup. This means the rear suspension gains more negative camber under roll, so it's natural to have more static negative camber on the front if you want to generate enough grip during cornering to maintain a good balance of Front vs Rear grip during cornering.

To visualise this, take a setup with -1.5 deg neg camber front/rear, when the car rolls the rear keeps gaining camber and keeps a flat tyre contact patch but the fronts either gain very little or no neg camber and actually roll onto the outside of the tyre, not using the inside part of the tyre. Now if you had -3 deg neg camber up front and -1.5 at the rear, during cornering both the front and rear would have good tyre contact to the road. I just pulled those numbers out of thin air as an example.

[butterfingers]

Ahh right, I can't think of a situation where you would want the rear to have more static camber than the front, because the double wishbone setup on the rear gives more dynamic camber gain during cornering than the front Mcpherson Strut type setup. This means the rear suspension gains more negative camber under roll, so it's natural to have more static negative camber on the front if you want to generate enough grip during cornering to maintain a good balance of Front vs Rear grip during cornering.

To visualise this, take a setup with -1.5 deg neg camber front/rear, when the car rolls the rear keeps gaining camber and keeps a flat tyre contact patch but the fronts either gain very little or no neg camber and actually roll onto the outside of the tyre, not using the inside part of the tyre. Now if you had -3 deg neg camber up front and -1.5 at the rear, during cornering both the front and rear would have good tyre contact to the road. I just pulled those numbers out of thin air as an example.

Good info. I guess the examples I saw were all street/stance cars. Thanks

[SLOBRO]

thanks for all your help guys good info :D

[liberx]

2 more (inter-related) reasons for more camber on front:
1. Front gets higher lateral load because most of the weight is on the front axle. This means more sidewall flex under corner load, and a larger compensation angle through camber is required
2. FWD tends to understeer - you are trying even out grip levels front and rear. Actually not just FWD, check out the camber front and rear of V8s and F1 - all have more on front.