Camber Settings for Track

attila wrote

Is that lift up the front?

They are about 3mm I think. Not a big deal.

attila wrote

Is it worth getting the Dinan springs?? I mean, for the track.

I like them. A small handling improvement overall.

Thanks,

I'll get the springs with the camber plates. I don't care about lowering the car but I don't want to lift it either, especially not the front.
(I should not have ordered the EDC to begin with.)
By the way I was OK without the DSC last Friday. I was much more cautios but interestingly lap times were almost the same, eventhough I was more agressive with the MDM and felt faster that way.

Lucid- camber, thanks.

m3larson wrote

How bad is the wear on your street tires?

Not enough miles on them after the camber plates to tell yet...

Lucid you are getting -1.4 camber up front with the stock set-up (pins removed). Did you adjust the toe at all?
Do you camber plates clunk over bumps?

Bubbles wrote

Lucid you are getting -1.4 camber up front with the stock set-up (pins removed). Did you adjust the toe at all?
Do you camber plates clunk over bumps?

I got -1.95 with the plates. Toe is pretty much at stock spec. No, there is no noise with these plates.

jml reported that he got -1.4 without plates and pins here:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192175

lucid wrote

You can get ~-1.4 out of the stock fronts with the pins pulled.

1.7 front and 2.0 in the rear according the guys at evo sport. He even sent me the computer screen shot. However, I don't recommend doing it if it is your daily driver as it will tear through the rubber quick.

manonfire wrote

1.7 front and 2.0 in the rear according the guys at evo sport. He even sent me the computer screen shot. However, I don't recommend doing it if it is your daily driver as it will tear through the rubber quick.

Those sound pretty high. I wonder how they did it. Was the car lowered?

lucid wrote

Those sound pretty high. I wonder how they did it. Was the car lowered?

I believe it does have eibach springs. I sent them an email asking for more info.

Excess toe will kill a tire much faster than excess camber....FYI

I am curious what toe settings you guys are running. Has anybody tried a bit of toe-out (yeah, I know its a tire killer, but the turn-in should be fantastic -- at least it was on the GT3)?

attila wrote

(I should not have ordered the EDC to begin with.)
By the way I was OK without the DSC last Friday. I was much more cautios but interestingly lap times were almost the same, eventhough I was more agressive with the MDM and felt faster that way.

The problem is, you can't get MDM and NOT get EDC. Damn you BMW.

lucid wrote

I got -1.95 with the plates. Toe is pretty much at stock spec. No, there is no noise with these plates.

jml reported that he got -1.4 without plates and pins here:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192175

Ok, thanks.

With stock springs (...stock everything) my shop pulled the front pins and got to -1.3 IN FRONT and -2.0 IN the REAR.

So far, with 3 track days tire wear is fairly even on my RA-1's (275/35/18 square).

Understeer is reduced dramatically and rotation is nice.

8INTO3=M wrote

With stock springs (...stock everything) my shop pulled the front pins and got to -1.3 IN FRONT and -2.0 IN the REAR.

So far, with 3 track days tire wear is fairly even on my RA-1's (275/35/18 square).

Understeer is reduced dramatically and rotation is nice.

That's nice, I am planning to do the same. By the way how "pulling out the pins" actually accomplished?? Do you have to just grab them and pull, or you need to unscrew them??

Can anyone post a picture of the "so called pin" in the strout tower. I found a shop who is willing to do the alignment of my specs (if possible) if I willing to pull the pin myself. I took of the EDC cover and I saw a metal disc top of the shock but not the pin.
Thanks

attila wrote

Can anyone post a picture of the "so called pin" in the strout tower. I found a shop who is willing to do the alignment of my specs (if possible) if I willing to pull the pin myself. I took of the EDC cover and I saw a metal disc top of the shock but not the pin.
Thanks

The pin is really a small screw on the strut tower. It is under the bracket that is connected to the strut bars. I don't have pics for the E92 M3, but here are some for the E46 M3:

http://m3.madrussian.net/diy_camber.shtml

If the guy at the shop is asking you to remove the pins and doesn't know how to do that himself, take it somewhere else who knows what he is doing as he might screw up your alignment altogether. The dealer should be able to do this for you. It's not a crime to have the alignment the way you want although they might recommend against more negative camber than stock up front due to tire wear on the street, etc.

Thanks a lot, Lucid!!
My dealer is not willing to remove the pins, since "that's not recommended by BMW". Unfortunately, I could not find anyone in Omaha, who is familiar with the e92 M3. I would not even call the dealership an expert service on the M3.
Thanks again!!!

attila wrote

My dealer is not willing to remove the pins, since "that's not recommended by BMW". Unfortunately, I could not find anyone in Omaha, who is familiar with the e92 M3. I would not even call the dealership an expert service on the M3.

That's interesting as I think others have gotten their dealers to do it.

I guess there aren't a whole lot of BMW shops in your area. Too bad, and good luck. As you can see in the DIY I referenced, it shouldn't be too hard.

I think a nice median would be -2 up front and -1.5 out back for street and track.

lucid wrote

Yes, this is my DD. And, yes, I have a 265/295 setup. -1.9 camber up front reduced understeer nicely, and the car does rotate more easily. I'm pretty happy with it.

-1.75 rear was too much. I was heating up the inside edges of both tires, and lost some grip, but that might have been a pressure issue. I had that dialed back to -1.4.

First and foremost, this is an awesome thread, and thank you Lucid as I have been tracking your reviews/comments on good track setups on multiple threads.

Do you find the extra negative camber really increases wear on your street tires?

Now to a bit of OT: your 265/295 setup, that is on your track setup not your stock 19s street setup correct? If its the stock 19s, aren't those tires too big for stock wheel thus creating bubbling/bulging at the edges and leading to lest responsiveness on turn in/lane change/etc?

Thanks to everyone contributing to this thread, very informative for those of us with little experience with adjusting our toe/camber for tracks time.

Cheers,
e46e92

e46e92love wrote

Do you find the extra negative camber really increases wear on your street tires?

In theory it should, but I haven't had the plates on long enough to see meaningful wear yet. I'll report back at the end of the summer.

e46e92love wrote

Now to a bit of OT: your 265/295 setup, that is on your track setup not your stock 19s street setup correct? If its the stock 19s, aren't those tires too big for stock wheel thus creating bubbling/bulging at the edges and leading to lest responsiveness on turn in/lane change/etc?

That's my track setup, but they are on my 18x9.5/18x10.5 track wheels that are 1" wider at the front and the back than the stock wheels, so no issues there.

When they removed the pins and aligned, one side was -1.7 and the other -1.4, so I had them match both sides at -1.4, and the rear at -2 (could go more). This is on an EDC equipped car.

I talked to james clay about it and he said he thinks the revised geometry on the front strut, especially under turning, has really helped traction and tire wear. That's why he doesn't think the car needs camber plates (or sways for that matter). I'm on my 4th set of NT01s (275 square on 9.5" rims) and while I have to flip them once to get the max life, as long as I run the pressure about 40psi back in the garage after a cool down lap, they wear pretty well. The track I run is not very tight - I'm sure that helps.