PDA

View Full Version : camber help



siver-SI
06-12-2004, 09:05 AM
I was wondering is there a way to find out how many degrees of camber you have in the rear tires. I would like to adjust my camber to get it right without having to by for an alinment since I am getting shocks when they come out. Does anyone know what tools I might need?

Tenacious G
06-12-2004, 09:22 AM
if you need an alignment (and you do after dropping a car), you really should get it done right at a shop.

and moved to suspension.

JohnR
06-13-2004, 06:41 PM
Camber is based on the tilt of the tire away from vertical. In order to get the camber in the ball park in order to drive the car use a level. This will give you 0 Degrees of camber which is not ideal but at least it will not wear your tires. At least this way you can drive the car until you get enough money to have a proper alignment done which is recommneded. Also use a tape measure to check toe after you have altered camber.

siver-SI
06-13-2004, 06:46 PM
All I need it for is the rear tires. The other reason I am asking us because I am looking to do some SCCA racing and I want to add - camber to the car. So when I get done racing I would just like to be able to take a tape measure and get it back to specs for the drive home. I have to say all but the rear camber is in specs. The car goes nice and strait and still drives stait. When I was waxing my car today I did take depth gadge to the tires and in the rears both sides were 5/16 on the inner and outer tread. I think I rotated the tires back there about 3k miles ago when I did the drop. I must be close to were it should be.

If the shocks come in like they should in about 2-3 months I will be set.

BlasTech
06-13-2004, 06:57 PM
The problem is if you change the camber, the toe will change too. That goes for the front and the rear. An angle finder from a hardware store will cost about $5 and get you pretty close on what your camber is, but TOE is the crititcal thing that will get f-d up when you start playing with camber

siver-SI
06-13-2004, 07:16 PM
Originally posted by BlasTech
The problem is if you change the camber, the toe will change too. That goes for the front and the rear. An angle finder from a hardware store will cost about $5 and get you pretty close on what your camber is, but TOE is the crititcal thing that will get f-d up when you start playing with camber

I did not know that on the rear. Thanks that is good to know. Just wondering I see you do SCCA do you play with camber at all? I am still on stock tires and I just want some good grip.

BlasTech
06-13-2004, 07:27 PM
The best grip will come from front negative camber. My ideal setup is zero toe all around, and -2 camber in the front, and -.5 camber in the rear.

In general, once you get your car set up right for auto-x, it will still be driveable as is as long as you dont get too extreme on camber, and you keep your toe to 0. Some guys who bring thier cars in on trailers put thier toe out in front and rear, but that just eats through the tires on a daily driver.


If you want to get involved in autocrossing, just go do it, it wont matter what you have to start with.

When you're starting out, setup doesnt matter, there's tons to learn before bothering with it.

JohnR
06-13-2004, 09:14 PM
If you are racing driving style will dictate suspension setup and what works for someone else may or may not work for you so take it with a grain of salt and there are lots of things to take into account such as weight. You would do better to distribute weight equally side to side (less gas in the tank helps to)and have roughly 60% on the front axle for a front wheel drive but if you can cut weight down it will equate to faster times. Another thing you can play with is tire pressure. A good place to weigh the car is at the scales for trucks, just ask first.