-1.0 degree front camber and tire wear?????

[X-TNSIV]

I currently am running -.5 degree camber in the front and my car pushes pretty severely.

I'm planning on increasing camber to -.8 and or even -1.0 degree.

my question is for those who know what their front camber is....what type of tire wear can I expect from going -1.0 degree? I do quite a bit of city and straight line driving, so I figure the -.8 degree should be best, but if you guys are still getting decent tire wear off of -1.0 degree, then I may go that route instead.

thanks, and please give me a rough estimate as to how long your tires are lasting.

Allen

 

[sjs]

If most of your miles are gentle street driving then I should think that you can pretty much assume wear *increase* will be in direct relation to the amount of negative camber. Meaning that compared to zero camber as a baseline, -2 degrees will increase wear on the inside of the tires twice as much as -1. So. Measure the difference in tread depth on the inside vs. outside and figure from there. Personally, I would not hesitate to run -1. That's still pretty mild.

But there are other ways to balance the handling, such as adjustable anti-sway bars. You can get the least aggressive Dali set and still achieve more neutral handling. What tires & sizes are you running? If you've gone real wide in the back that could be part of the problem.

 

[X-TNSIV]

I have the comptech adjustible swaybars and tein RE's.

my tires are 225/35/18 and 285/35/18 Nitto 555's.

I had relowered the car and it had about -1.0 camber (-2.5 degree in the rear) and the car handled GREAT...very neutral and predictable. Now that I had it re-aligned closer to stock spec (-.5 front and -2.0 degree rear), the car pushes again. I figure that I will run at least -.8 degrees, but I know that there shouldn't be much difference in tire wear between the -.8 and -1.0, but I just wanted to see what other people are getting out of tires using -1.0 degree

Allen

 

[1BADNSX]

Toe-out in the front has as big, if not bigger effect on tire wear compared to camber. I run -3.5 degrees camber on my M3 with very little toe-out and the tire wear isn't significant.

The problem is the NSX needs a good dose of toe-out up front for good turn-in. Combine this with additional negative camber and the tire wear increases.

Bob

 

[prova4re]

X-TNSIV
Why did you relower your car ?
Did those settings wear out your tires?
Just asking because I am running .5 camber in front and it pushes bad. Would new sway bars help? Rear settings are 2.3 camber Tires are so3s 215/40/17 265/35/18s
Are my rear specs way off ? Should I raise the rear to get it back to spec?

 

[ScienceofSpeed]

What spring rates on the suspension and settings do you use on the sway bars? In my experience, the setup you have with supplied springs and sway bars set at factory proportions results in more over than understeer.

Cheers,
-- Chris

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Revolutionize your NSX with ScienceofSpeed
www.ScienceofSpeed.com | [email protected] | 877-863-4520

 

[X-TNSIV]

Chris,

my comptech swaybars are on the middle setting on both the fronts and full stiff in the rear. As for the Tein's, they have the original springs.

if I recall correctly, my front toe is set at 0, or slightly negative.

as to the question why I re-lowered my car...the fender well gap was too much for me, so I wanted to remove some more of it.

Allen

 

[sjs]

Originally posted by 1BADNSX:
Toe-out in the front has as big, if not bigger effect on tire wear compared to camber... Bob

This always require a bit more info. Toe does impact total wear significantly, but negative camber is what makes them wear unevenly with the inside taking all the abuse. Overall, I'd say that "useful" miles drop faster due to camber than toe.

As for this particular problem, the first thing I'd do is ditch the Nitos. Sorry, and no offense, but all bets are off with those. But give want you've said I still would not expect bad under steer unless tire pressures are way off.

 

[X-TNSIV]

Originally posted by sjs:
As for this particular problem, the first thing I'd do is ditch the Nitos. Sorry, and no offense, but all bets are off with those. But give want you've said I still would not expect bad under steer unless tire pressures are way off.

I actually really like the nittos...

I've had them on my SL500 and drove with a set on a '02 M3. They are very preditable tires and give excellent grip for a 300 tread wear rating.

I think I'm going to go -1.0 degree and play with the sway bar and dampening settings.

thanks,
Allen

 

[nsxtasy]

Originally posted by X-TNSIV:
give excellent grip for a 300 tread wear rating.

That's like saying that a Hyundai Accent is an excellent new car for the $9300 price range.

 

[X-TNSIV]

Originally posted by nsxtasy:
That's like saying that a Hyundai Accent is an excellent new car for the $9300 price range.

that may be true....but all I'm stating is that they are relatively soft compound, and still last. I've had SO-2's, SO-3's, even Pilot Sports....but I still like the Nitto 555's. Given they don't hold in the wet like SO-2's...but they will last twice as long. As I stated above, I do quite a bit of straight line driving and the Nittos are the best for my needs.

 

[MiamieNeSeX]

Chris, I have H&R springs with the Dali sway bars both front and back set on middle hole.Do they make anything aftermarket to adjust the rear camber, as you know wehn the car is lowered the factory adjustment is not enough.
thanks for your help
Armando

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White 1992

 

[X-TNSIV]

ok...so I set the front at -1.0 degree negative and changed the toe from slightly out (negative) to very slightly positive.

my question here is, does - or + toe help you from understeering?

thanks!
Allen

 

[sjs]

Minor changes in front toe shouldn't have a major impact on over-steer / under-steer. Toe-out will give you a quicker turn-in which may feel like a tendency towards over-steer, so going to toe-in up front may not be your best move. The factory setup can use toe-out because the OEM tires have built in scrub inwards (and lots on caster), giving back the tight on-center feel and stability. Your changes go a long way to un-do a lot of engineering work that made the car what it is. I've driven on non-OEM tires and prefer to retain to toe-out. The car is still sufficiently stable in a straight line and I keep the nice turn-in.