Auto-X and Camber

Integrainside · Post by **Integrainside** » Sun May 28, 2006 3:55 pm

I have been told by several different people that you do not want to have perfect camber for auto-x racing.... Is there any truth to this?

Cobra · Post by **Cobra** » Mon May 29, 2006 1:14 pm

Camber changes are made in Solo racing to keep the tires firmly and evenly planted to the tarmac. Production cars use a compromise camber setting to balance tire wear with performance under varying conditions. Running racing camber settings maximizes traction at the expense of tire and suspension wear. Take your car to an empty parking lot and cycle it through a few hard corners. Promptly check your tires. You will readily see why camber changes are made in Solo racing.

Integrainside · Post by **Integrainside** » Mon May 29, 2006 1:26 pm

Would it be a bad idea to set my camber a few degrees positive or negative for a daily driver that races on weekends? Another problem i am having is my tires rub the wheel well on hard turns with my camber perfect, thats why i kinda wanna set my camber back so that the wheels will fin in the wheel well. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

beth · Post by **beth** » Mon May 29, 2006 2:09 pm

Negative camber will give much better handling but will wear the tires lots faster during street driving.

ROGUE GTS · Post by **ROGUE GTS** » Mon May 29, 2006 7:00 pm

By "perfect camber" do you mean straight up 0 degrees? Personally i've never (save for stock solid axles) run tires straight up. Most always have -1 to -1.5* front and -1 rear, but it all depends on the vehicle. For SOLO you very well may end up at 2-4* depending on tire size, vehicle, speed, etc.

The absolute best way to tell is with a lazer heat gun. Do some hard corners as you would in competition and measure the tire temp inside vs outside. This will give you a good indication of where the highest load is, and you can adjust from there. But just remember driving with a ton of camber will tear the tires up and to some extent reduce straight line traction.

Integrainside · Post by **Integrainside** » Tue May 30, 2006 1:15 am

Is there a such thing as a happy median beween camber set for good cornering and camber that wont tear the hell out of my tires? Would around -3 sound about right?

ROGUE GTS · Post by **ROGUE GTS** » Tue May 30, 2006 1:30 am

sigh... it is entirely vehicle dependant. What may be extreme on my viper with a footprint bigger than some appartments and a huge engine up front, would be minimalistic on an MR2 with 235's all around and mid engine.

YOU need to drive the car and see how it responds. Whos to say on that particular car (what ever it may be) that it will even like a lot of camber. A lot has to do with driving style as well.

Talk to guys who track YOUR CAR and see what they run. There is no magic number, and the fact that you're asking us to dial in the suspension on your car with zero information given on it tells me YOU need to do a lot more studying before you touch anything.

hotrod · Post by **hotrod** » Tue May 30, 2006 7:08 am

I agree with Rogue GTS sounds like you need to gather a bit more background work before you start changing things.

I'd suggest you buy these two books and digest them they will give you a good starting point on a very complex subject.

Secrets of Solo Racing: Expert Techniques for Autocrossing and Time Trials (Paperback)
by Henry A. Watts

How to Make Your Car Handle by Fred Puhn

Larry

Cobra · Post by **Cobra** » Tue May 30, 2006 3:46 pm

You have gotten good responses from those knowing suspension setup. You need to know at least the basics of suspension tuning to make good choices on your particular car. This does not involve witchcraft or rocket science. Check these out: http://www.miata.net/sport/Physics/
http://www.advancedracing.com/chassissetup.php