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      10-30-2018, 02:41 PM   #1
Candide13
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GC camber plates: Goldilocks setting or not?

I just received my Ground Control Street camber plates to go on top of the stock suspension on my E90. They are a piece of art to look at, for sure! Almost too nice to stick into the engine bay...

My question to those who have experience with this set up is whether to run a single, Goldilocks setting (like -2.8 camber with zero toe) and leave it at that for both track and street, or whether to get two settings marked and switch back and forth.

The street use of the car is mostly to go to the track, plus a few family trips (and delivering teenager daughter to parties in NYC, ouch), including driving in snow.

It would be nice to get the best of both worlds from the plates, but I wonder what switching the settings back and forth ten times a year will do to them.

Any pointers welcome!
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      10-30-2018, 04:05 PM   #2
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It won't do anything to the camber plates. Are you going to get a custom alignment after putting them on? I had planned to do the same as you (car has been inop for a long time).
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      10-30-2018, 04:42 PM   #3
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Switching settings won't harm the camber plates at all, but it will save your tires from total annihilation on the track. I did that for the first 15 or so days of tracking and it worked great. Just mark them and you are good to go.
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      10-31-2018, 11:37 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fearce View Post
It won't do anything to the camber plates. Are you going to get a custom alignment after putting them on? I had planned to do the same as you (car has been inop for a long time).
Not planning to do anything to the plates. Yes, the shop will align them to my specs after installation. Just a question of whether to toggle between two settings or not. The incentive for toggling is to minimize tire wear both on track and on street.
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      10-31-2018, 02:28 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Candide13 View Post
Not planning to do anything to the plates. Yes, the shop will align them to my specs after installation. Just a question of whether to toggle between two settings or not. The incentive for toggling is to minimize tire wear both on track and on street.
toggling. I do it 30x/year and they're just fine
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      10-31-2018, 04:48 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Candide13 View Post
Not planning to do anything to the plates. Yes, the shop will align them to my specs after installation. Just a question of whether to toggle between two settings or not. The incentive for toggling is to minimize tire wear both on track and on street.
You're going to change settings on them, right? That's kind of 'doing something to them'.

I thought I was answering your original question of 'will it do anything to the plates'.
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      10-31-2018, 05:26 PM   #7
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I'm running -2 up front and -1.5 in back on semi-sticky tires. If you get really sticky tires, you'll need more negative camber up front.
The alignment shop was pretty against changing the camber because of changes to toe when you do that. Not sure how true that is up front, but that's all they do is alignments and they're booked for weeks sometimes.
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Let me get this straight... You are swapping out parts designed by some of the top engineers in the world because some guys sponsored by a company told you it's "better??" But when you ask the same guy about tracking, "oh no, I have a kid now" or "I just detailed my car." or "i just got new tires."
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      11-04-2018, 09:53 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow View Post
toggling. I do it 30x/year and they're just fine


Sounds good! Would you mind sharing your front and rear alignment settings? I am running a square 275-18-35 NT01 set-up. The Goldilocks setting would probably be -2.8 camber up front, with stock toe.

Thanks!
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      11-04-2018, 09:54 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fearce View Post
You're going to change settings on them, right? That's kind of 'doing something to them'.

I thought I was answering your original question of 'will it do anything to the plates'.
OK I misunderstood, thanks.
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      11-04-2018, 11:43 AM   #10
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I had GC street plates for about 70,000 miles and ran one setting from most of that time. For a street car that sees track use, the best happy medium I found was -2.5 negative with zero toe.
The compromise is my street tires would last about 25,000 to 28,000 miles which isn't bad, but it was the inner tread that would wear out first.
I have non-R-comp tires for the track but with really good summer performance tires you'll generate enough grip that -2.5 is not enough camber so your outside edges will wear prematurely. It's not terrible, but not optimal.

What I do now is my street set up is -1.5 and track is -3.0 which is just about ideal for my tires and what my car likes at tracks around here. This means you have to adjust your toe each time, but it's super easy, you just need to be with an alignment guy on the alignment rack to see where the toe needs to be. I've got my positions marked with some super sticky aluminum tape (same stuff I use to keep my wheel weights on) and i can adjust the toe for whatever condition and steering wheel stays nice and centered.
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      11-06-2018, 02:34 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Candide13 View Post


Sounds good! Would you mind sharing your front and rear alignment settings? I am running a square 275-18-35 NT01 set-up. The Goldilocks setting would probably be -2.8 camber up front, with stock toe.

Thanks!
This is the setting I use.

FRONT

Add camber until you get to -2.5 camber (or -2.8, whatever makes you happy). Mark the camber plate at that point for future reference

Toe: 1/8” out total

Then, remove camber until toe changes from 1/8” out total to 3/32” toe in. Mark the camber plates at that point for future reference.

Leave the car in this position for street use

REAR

Camber -1.8

Toe: 1/8” toe in total
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