What are your Ideal camber settings?

[Sleeper519]

The GC camber plates are being installed now and alignment next week. Now I'll have the opportunity to have a distinctly separate setup for street and track instead of one compromise for both.

Yes, I've searched, and have read through the Sticky on the suspension section, but most posts focus on non-adjustable situations and hence the compromise.

Obviously the front would change and rear stay same. My thoughts are these:

Street--camber F -1.6, R -2.0
toe F&R ~1/16 in

Track---camber F -3.0, R -2.0
toe F ?1/8 out? R ~1/16 in

The opinions I'm seeking are whether you'd go more conservative/aggressive in either situation.

Thanks.

[VictorH]

Are you going to be at the Tarheel VIR event next week?
I have the GC plates too. I think a toe of 1/8" is way big either in or out. My understanding is you want just a tad front toe out for the track but probably more along the lines of 1/16 or 1/32".

All I can measure at home is camber and I'm going to start with -2.5 neg on both fronts. I have stock rear suspension and stock alignment so I'm at -1.5 at the rear. I think this will be pretty good for VIR. At Barber or CMP I would dial in more neg camber because of the number of slow tight corners. I just put my track pads in the morning so I'm going to play with the camber now.

[bigjae1976]

Sub'd... Curious to see what range of camber you get with those plates.

[Sleeper519]

Originally Posted by VictorH

Are you going to be at the Tarheel VIR event next week?
I have the GC plates too. I think a toe of 1/8" is way big either in or out. My understanding is you want just a tad front toe out for the track but probably more along the lines of 1/16 or 1/32".

All I can measure at home is camber and I'm going to start with -2.5 neg on both fronts. I have stock rear suspension and stock alignment so I'm at -1.5 at the rear. I think this will be pretty good for VIR. At Barber or CMP I would dial in more neg camber because of the number of slow tight corners. I just put my track pads in the morning so I'm going to play with the camber now.

No, my next event will be Peachtree chapter at RA March 3-4.

From what I understand, I need to start off with a whiff of toe-in with "street" camber at ~1.5-2.0, then when swinging that out to ~2.5-3.0 for "track" will bring toe-out to hopefully some small amount, all other things being equal. Starting out neutral toe might bring you out too far as you indicated, maybe >1/8".

So you think a baseline of -1.5 F & R might be better Street camber?

[Sleeper519]

Victor, BTW, I did build my own camber gauge from your DIY! Thanks.

[Brainofjjj]

Got the same plates going in shortly. I'm running way more in the rear, I don't get even tire wear without at least -2. Im currently at -2.4.

I should be at RD AtL as well next month.

[kaiv]

I have the GC street plates installed on my KW V3s.

Car is corner balanced with 50.0% crossweights (with me in it).

Alignment specs are:

Front camber: Left -3.4 / Right -3.3
Front toe: 0
Rear camber: Left -2.4 / Right -2.35
Rear toe: 1/8 in

Those specs were dialed in by The R's Tuning. Leo and Ricky know what they're doing and Ricky (wwjd15 on here) clocks in the fastest lap times in SoCal with his E92.

I'm nowhere near as fast as him but I have to say the car feels fantastic. I have absolutely no understeer whatsoever (running R-S3s 265/285s on 9.5/10.5 wheels) and the car oversteers on demand.

The car is also my daily driver and I haven't noticed any odd tire wear.
Couldn't be happier with the specs.

I would also recommend against adjusting camber back and forth as it'll probably screw up your toe in the process.

Hope this helps!

[Richard@M-World]

I think what you have is a good start. As for front toe on the track, unless you plan to adjust it, you are stuck with whatever front toe the change in front camber brings you.

There really is no one-size-fits-all set up. Different cars with different suspension using different wheels/tires at different tracks on different days will yield different "optimal" set ups. In addition to looking at other people's set up as a reference, I would recommend doing a visual inspection on your tire wear after each session and make adjustments accordingly (camber, toe, and/or pressure). And if you want to get scientific, the ideal tool to use would be a contact pyrometer to measure the temperature across the width of the tire.

[VictorH]

Well I adjusted my camber today and I have more than I thought I would get (see suspension/brakes section). Now I wonder if I have too much front camber as I'm more in the -3 1/2 range in the front. I've not been one to complain about understeer and with my driving style I'm more prone to a tail happy car, I wonder if that's going to be even more of an issue since I can't adjust the rear camber myself.

Anyone think I should dial it back to -3 or -2.5 degrees? I'm running VIR next weekend and then Road Atlanta two weeks after that. I don't think either track needs a whole bunch of negative camber, but maybe I'll like it.

[bigjae1976]

Originally Posted by VictorH

Well I adjusted my camber today and I have more than I thought I would get (see suspension/brakes section). Now I wonder if I have too much front camber as I'm more in the -3 1/2 range in the front. I've not been one to complain about understeer and with my driving style I'm more prone to a tail happy car, I wonder if that's going to be even more of an issue since I can't adjust the rear camber myself.

Anyone think I should dial it back to -3 or -2.5 degrees? I'm running VIR next weekend and then Road Atlanta two weeks after that. I don't think either track needs a whole bunch of negative camber, but maybe I'll like it.

I think you'll be OK with -3.5 in the front.

I dial in a little bit of toe in in the rear to help keep the rear end from getting too wild. Most advanced drivers who are in BMWs like to dial in a lot of neg front camber and then rotate the rear end by using the throttle.

[OC3]

I have Ground Control suspension. And, square setup with Apex 18x10, R-S3 275/35/18.

Corner balanced: 50.2% crossweight

Alignment:

Front camber: Left -4.0 / Right -3.9
Front toe in: 3/16
Rear camber: Left -2.4 / Right -2.3
Rear toe: 0

[quads]

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

I think you'll be OK with -3.5 in the front.

I dial in a little bit of toe in in the rear to help keep the rear end from getting too wild. Most advanced drivers who are in BMWs like to dial in a lot of neg front camber and then rotate the rear end by using the throttle.

I use my brakes to rotate the car It's called trail braking...

[bigjae1976]

Originally Posted by 4sevens.com

I use my brakes to rotate the car It's called trail braking...

brakes FTL...throttle FTW!

[quads]

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

brakes FTL...throttle FTW!

If you're looking to win drifting exhibition points, then throttle oversteer!

If you're looking for faster corners, then trail brake into a corner to rotate the car

[MaxL]

I'm running -2.4 front with zero toe and -1.3 rear with a little toe in (1/16 or less - don't remember). Very nice for staggered set up that's both for road and track. For just tracking, I'd add a bit more neg camber to both front and rear.

By the way, here is a noob question - how do you adjust camber from track to road on GC camber plates? I remember on some other cars you just pop the hood and you see three bolts on each side you need to loosen and that's it. On E90 with EDC, I could not find those bolts :-)

[arter]

Originally Posted by MaxL

I'm running -2.4 front with zero toe and -1.3 rear with a little toe in (1/16 or less - don't remember). Very nice for staggered set up that's both for road and track. For just tracking, I'd add a bit more neg camber to both front and rear.

By the way, here is a noob question - how do you adjust camber from track to road on GC camber plates? I remember on some other cars you just pop the hood and you see three bolts on each side you need to loosen and that's it. On E90 with EDC, I could not find those bolts :-)

Just pull up on the EDC boot ( don't worry, its a plug in connection) and the bolts will be revealed to you. Just plug the electrical connection back in and re seat the boot after adjustment.