I have a 2011 mustang gt with eibach pro kit springs, koni sports, and max motorsports camber plates. Since feb 2014 I have been running -1.8 degrees camber, but with me in the car, the drivers side get to -2.0 degrees. The factory specs are up to -1.5 degrees, and the alignments shop, who specializes in performance alignments, said this was a good amount for performance, but not so much as to wear my tires out. I put around 16k miles per yr on the car, and since feb when the alignment was set and the car lowered I have noticed some uneven wear on the very inside edge of the drivers tire. not very much on the pass side. The shop said this was more due to low quality, non performance tires, rather than the alignment. Im running continental contiprocontact tires, and they are more of an all season tire and perform pretty poorly in autocross, so that's possible. My question is before I upgrade tires and ruin the inside of those too, is this too much negative camber or just bad tires?

thanks
Rob

 

Negative camber will cause wear on the inside of the tire in street driving. 2 deg. will definitely wear the inside on the street. However, 2 deg. neg. camber would be good for autocross.

Since you have camber plates, you can probably mark the positions for street/autocross. So, you could set the camber for street and drive it until an ax event, change it, do the event, and change back. That's one of the big advantages of camber plates.

 

I run -1.5 and it wears on the insides a good bit. I swap back to front as much as possible to prevent this but eventually the insides are the point that go first.

 

I originally thought I could do this when I bought the camber plates, and I know some that do at the track, but the shop that aligned it and the place I bought them from, both of whom seem to be very knowledgeable , said that when you do that you increase toe in, and is not recommended . So whatever I set it up with I'm stuck with for both street and track

 

Unless you are gonna be hitting every corner hard on your daily commute, I'd recommend a -.75 camber for even tire wear.

 

Your mechanics are correct about the relationship. However, you can use the interrelation to your advantage.

On a strut with camber plates, an increase in the negative camber will cause a decrease in the "toe in" angle. Conversely, a decrease in the negative camber will cause an increase in the "toe in" angle.

So, right now, if you were to decrease your camber to a more "stock" setting, your toe angle will increase - which would not be good. However, if you decreased your camber setting to stock, and had the toe angle set while in the "stock" position, a wonderful thing happens. When you move your camber to the negative, your "toe in" will decrease. Less "toe in" or even a mild "toe out" condition helps with turn in on corners. So, the smaller toe angle actually helps the alignment in the competition setting.

If you mechanic is game, he could set up the stock settings, mark the plate, then figure out how much negative camber would optimize the toe angle for your competition driving. You might not get a full 2 degrees, but combination of the optimized toe angle with additional negative camber would be your most competitive setting. You would have to find someone who knows how to set up a competition alignment, but if you do, you can get the best of both worlds.

Hope this helps.

 

Great advice. Exactly what I had my alignment shop do also. Steeda HD camber plates setting is marked for -1.2 with stock toe and a second camber plates mark for track that takes me to a maximum, on my car, of -2 with more toe out.

 

Also, have the alignment set with your weight in the driver's seat.

 

Check your toe as well. That can have a negative effect on tire wear

 

i had my camber set to -1.5 with me in the car. the toe was set properly and i have no excessive inside wear.

toe is what kills tires, not so much camber.

i also have a z3 that has a ton of negative camber in the rear wheels from the factory and the tires are fine.