Norm Peterson

There's a difference between having more than stock negative camber and understanding why . . . and looking at visibly negative camber as strictly a matter of appearance simply because some other group of look-alikes can't be bothered to correct it is putting appearance above function for no good reason.

Consider this. When you're cornering hard, you want the outside front tire to be no worse than at zero camber. Very slightly negative is better still for cornering, but zero is a good enough target up to pretty serious driving. It's also what you want for the occasional situation where you might need the extra cornering grip (poo does happen, sometimes).

Here's where -1.8° ends up when you're driving the car to the point where you need it. Note that the driver side front tire is actually standing up straighter than the rear tire (which has cambered over the "wrong" way due to tire deflection tilting the whole axle almost 1°). Up front, the static camber has been very nicely balanced out by the body roll, which would other wise have pushed the left front tire out into positive camber (which is truly ugly to look at, if you stop to think about it).



Edit (because I got interrupted and you snuck a reply in before I could submit the original part of this) - Yes, it's daily-driven at that setting and yes, I get very even wear across the tire treads. The driving you describe isn't nearly as hard as mine, but I wouldn't be at all afraid to run -1° if I were driving no harder than you. I'd set it at least that much negative even if it was my wife's car and I didn't drive it very often (hint: she's in her early 60's).


Good choice on the parts, but only -0.5° camber should be reserved for the very mildest of drivers who live in areas where the roads aren't any curvier than the nearest Interstate highway.

Seriously, camber set that low is less performance-oriented than the way even the 2005 - 2010 4.0L V6 cars came stock, and the extra spring rate of your Pro-kit is not going to be enough to completely cover you for having it set that low. The only exception I can think of is if you're strictly a straight-line guy with no interest whatsoever in cornering, where zero camber with the nose up under acceleration is about where you want it to be.


Anyway, once you've got the C-C plates on, there's a half decent chance you'll realize that alignment isn't nearly as scary of an adjustment as the $$$$$ shop racks and the $$.99 alignment expenses imply. All you have to do is move the strut tops in to make camber more negative, out for less. There are several ways to measure camber, and none of them have to cost you more than $50, once. Then check and possibly adjust toe, which isn't very difficult either.


Norm

Norm Peterson

If you'd posted them as text instead of a photobucket picture I'd be able to comment (Internet filters block photo hosting sites).

But anyway, caster should be around +7.1° (with up to ±0.75° tolerance either side from there as long as the difference side to side is no greater than 0.75°) and toe should be something like +0.10° (meaning 'in').

I edited the above post possibly after you read it.


Norm

jcieutat

Looks like the specs are:

Caster L 7.2 R 7.2
Camber L -1.4 R -1.4
Toe L 0.0 R 0.05

There are some other things on the sheet but I honestly don't know what they are even after doing a google search! Thanks for the help.

Whiskey11

The second value in your toe description is actually the steer ahead IIRC and at .05 degrees that is basically nothing. Your Toe has been set to zero at both sides which is fine.

I would honestly leave the camber as is but that is just me.

Norm Peterson

Those caster and toe numbers both look good for a daily driver. If anything, zero toe is just a little more aggressive than the 0.05° preferred, but it will probably shift slightly as the camber is corrected.


Norm

UPRSharad

Here's my -1.8° camber pic:



I'm certainly not an autocross expert, but I raced my car exactly how I daily drive it. Looking at the tires, it seemed like the front tires were more scuffed on the outsides than they were on the insides. I suspect that the car wanted a little more negative camber, but I'm on GT500 mounts so that's not an option without camber bolts. If UPR doesn't make a set of cc-plates this summer, I'll probably buy a set of Vorshlag plates so I can set my camber at -2°... and that's for daily driving.

Whiskey11

Tire pressure plays an important roll there too on sidewall scuffing. If you are way over the shoulder block line then I would bump the PSI up. If you are driving and just absolutely destroying the outer edges a little more camber would help.

I'm no expert by any means but a touch more negative camber and I think you would be there. My car is just slightly less and in the picture in my signature I'm just barely past zero camber mid corner. I'm at -1.7º and probably on stickier tires and on a much grippier surface so I tend to get more body roll than others do on other concrete. I'm thinking with this set up, -2.0º is probably perfect, but the Steeda HD plates wont go that far with this set up. If (when?) I switch to coilovers, I hope to not drop the car any further, but up the spring rates which should help as well.

Entaille

not going to rehash on the tech side since some very knowledgeable people have already spoken up .. but just to reiterate - wow, that is silly to be so against such a mild amount of camber. it is HARDLY visible and it improves handling, and isn't that hard on the tires at that amount.

jcieutat

I definitely appreciate all of the replies to my original thread. I am beginning to think that the alignment shop I went to did not have a clue on how to properly align my car. The negative camber is definitely noticeable. I also remember when I went back into the shop seeing the tool (3 tips) that attaches to the wheel not sitting evenly around the wheel. I am out of state for work for a few weeks. When I get back in town, I am going to throw the MM Caster Camber plates on and then just bite the bullet and bring it to a Mustang shop to have the alignment done.