SlideWRX

If it's just a street car, then abnormal tire wear is a concern. Higher degrees of camber will wear the inside of the tire faster. 1 degree shouldn't produce a noticeable difference, 2 degees may shorten tire life a little bit, and 3 could cut tire life in half, easily. Track tires spend a lot more time in the corners, and wear more anyway; they may last 2000 miles or less.

As for camber adjustment for racing/auto-x, it's a matter of suspension geometry. Ideally, we want the outside front tire vertical in the turns; this is roughly the best grip condition.When the car goes into the turn, itrolls a bit, the front suspension compresses, and the tire/wheel tends to lose (gain?)camber. That is the actual camber while in the corner may be +1 or 2 degees; the top of the wheel is sticking out further than the bottom. To correct the +2 dynamic (in the turn) camber, we adjust the camber in a couple degrees.

This effect changes when running stiffer springs/struts,and is worse when running stickier tires (higher force generated). The flex in the actual strut contributes as well; that thing bends a little bit! In our mustangs, we have a fair amount of caster, which changes camber on turn-in, for the better. Different tires like slightly different camber as well.

For a street car, running all-seasons or summers, 1-2 degrees will be great. more than that and tires will wear faster. If you get camber plates, at the auto-cross you can adjust the camber to see where it's best for the tires. However, that assumes you are very consistent at autocross, which won't happen the first season or two.

JRT1

Thanks a lot SlideWRX.
I am proccessing that and will read it again and them i am sure i will have more questions.

cameronc08

If I go from eibach prokit to eibach sportline springs on my '06 Saleen, should bolts be good enough for me? I drive my car everyday and conservatively. Also don't track it. Mainly looking for a more aggressive look. Thanks guys.

Norm Peterson

Know that this thread was started before a few knuckle (aka "spindle") failures became more widely known.

At issue is the ability to develop sufficient clamping force between the strut brackets and the knuckle even with the OE bolts (which are to be torqued to ~148 ft-lbs). Camber bolts - known previously as "crash bolts" and used to attain alignment somewhere within spec when the frame machine wasn't enough - are limited to about half that torque value, meaning that the clamping force is only going to be about half of what Ford first thought it should be. Aftermarket crash bolts are tiny things, if you look at the part between the bolt head and the threads.

Later cars used different bolts with an even higher torque setting AND slightly thicker knuckles, both to better ensure that you were getting enough clamp load (No, I don't know when they changed these things,but it was well after you car was built.


It's kind of hard to "rate" somebody else's feel for what "driving conservatively" really amounts to. Especially when a claim is made to 550 HP. With that much power, you may be working the car somewhat harder than you think, and this is not a place to cut corners.


If you'd ever experienced a car's suspension suddenly trying to disassemble itself, you wouldn't even be asking about crash bolts. I have, and here's the picture to show that poo isn't particular about who it happens to . . .





That was an OE ball joint, street driven only, don't remember exactly after how many but not a whole lot of miles, on tires with less grip and narrower wheels than anything that's at least OE for the current Mustang. Wife & kids in the car when it happened, literally 100 yards from my house ON THE WAY HOME. Think about it.




Norm

6-Speed

Here's a comparison between the 14mm strut/spindle bolt and a camber bolt (12mm).