[calves]

Originally Posted by Turninconcepts.com

Ahh....that explains it. Yeah, if you don't do too much highway cruising you can get aware with lots of camber.

Living in Los Angeles though, it's hard to avoid the freeways and excessive straight driving. If i could drive through corners all the way to work, i wouldn't mind a 3* camber at all. too bad it's 15 miles on the 10 freeway though. at least it's not the 405?

[DrPhyzx]

Originally Posted by caveguru

That's the clincher right there. I've been driving a ~450 mile roundtrip to PA, all hwy, about once a week since last fall. I try to even it out as much as possible around town and on an occasional fun drive, but I was losing the battle. I'll probably keep the front at ~-1.5* for now, but I am definitely looking forward to learning more about rear and getting that dialed in.

Frank

Ouch. Fortunately, with my drive to work I could probably run as much camber as one would ever want to without tire problems...

[mxpop]

WOW! Some of you guys are running lots of camber on street cars.

While true that camber alone wont kill tires on the street the way toe will, aggressive braking and acceleration will put lots of wear on the inside of high cambered tires. Similarly, lots of camber will hurt your acceleration and braking performance as the outside of the tires aren't "planted/flat" the way they would be with less camber.

If I drove a typical stg2 slightly lowered street car around, I would run about 1.5 front and about 1.0 rear camber with just the slightest hint of front toe. That would be a nice and sporty setup but not enough for much track use. Then again, lots of guys like the aggressive camber look which is fine but you will pay a price for that on a true street car.

.02

[RallySportDirect]

Originally Posted by mxpop

WOW! Some of you guys are running lots of camber on street cars.

While true that camber alone wont kill tires on the street the way toe will, aggressive braking and acceleration will put lots of wear on the inside of high cambered tires. Similarly, lots of camber will hurt your acceleration and braking performance as the outside of the tires aren't "planted/flat" the way they would be with less camber.

If I drove a typical stg2 slightly lowered street car around, I would run about 1.5 front and about 1.0 rear camber with just the slightest hint of front toe. That would be a nice and sporty setup but not enough for much track use. Then again, lots of guys like the aggressive camber look which is fine but you will pay a price for that on a true street car.

.02

Could not have put it any better myself.
On street tires, even sticky street tires. You will not see any benefit to running more then 2 degrees.
However with race tires, that a completley different story.
We run 4 degrees in the front, and 2 degrees in the back. And the race tires love it

So set up your car for what you drive it 360 days out of the year. Dont set it up for what you drive on 5 days out of the year.
This is a common problem, as allot of guys who only do 2-4 track days out of the year. Run their cars like that 360 days. Giving up allot of comfort and street ability.

[caveguru]

I made my camber settings on my '02 knowing it was being dedicated to racing events shortly as I was buying the '08. But yes, -2.5* is too much for the street. Sure does handle nice though, especially with the 4.6* of front caster (vs. ~3.5 for a stock wagon). I think I did gain a couple mph on my favorite entrance ramp, even on the crappy street tires. On track tires, yes, its totally different.

I was already thinking the '08 would get ~1.5* front, just not sure about the back with the new suspension. If it were the old car, then yes, around 1.0. Just need an equivalent approach for the new car.

Frank

[UberWagon]

Originally Posted by RallySportDirect

So set up your car for what you drive it 360 days out of the year. Dont set it up for what you drive on 5 days out of the year.
This is a common problem, as allot of guys who only do 2-4 track days out of the year. Run their cars like that 360 days. Giving up allot of comfort and street ability.

Well stated!

[mattjk]

Originally Posted by RallySportDirect

Could not have put it any better myself.
On street tires, even sticky street tires. You will not see any benefit to running more then 2 degrees.
However with race tires, that a completley different story.
We run 4 degrees in the front, and 2 degrees in the back. And the race tires love it

depends on the brand of race/r compound tires as well. I really don't run them any more, but I used to run r compounds on all my cars. the comp ta r1's actually had camber built into the contact patch. do manufacturers still do that?

[RallySportDirect]

Originally Posted by mattjk

depends on the brand of race/r compound tires as well. I really don't run them any more, but I used to run r compounds on all my cars. the comp ta r1's actually had camber built into the contact patch. do manufacturers still do that?

That is correct as well. Different tires like more camber then others.
On Hoosiers, 2.5 degrees was enough.
However on Michelin cup tires for instance, we run 4 Degrees. And we get even tire wear all across the tire.

[Turninconcepts.com]

Originally Posted by RallySportDirect

Could not have put it any better myself.
On street tires, even sticky street tires. You will not see any benefit to running more then 2 degrees.

Depends on the situation. I found the sweet spot on my old setup on my wrx with Falken RT615's to be -3.2* in the front. That would get me the perfect tire temps across the tire indicating optimal traction. Many have found, for example, that the optimal camber settings for Hankook RS2's on a STX prepped car to be over -4* in the front.

Right now I only have -1.5* on the front of the 08 running 265 35 18 RE01R's and it is not nearly enough. I have worn through the outsides of all four tires while the insides are almost at 3/4 tread depth. This is after several autox's, 3 track days and 10000 miles on the street.

[caveguru]

Originally Posted by Turninconcepts.com

Right now I only have -1.5* on the front of the 08 running 265 35 18 RE01R's and it is not nearly enough. I have worn through the outsides of all four tires while the insides are almost at 3/4 tread depth. This is after several autox's, 3 track days and 10000 miles on the street.

Don't know about other sticky tires, but my RE-01R's are closer to equal-temp at -2.6 in front then they were at -1.5. Can't remember if they were dead even or 5-10 degrees spread though inside to outside, but at -1.5, they were way off. I forget how the rears did at -1.6 vs. -1.0.

Frank

[Turninconcepts.com]

Originally Posted by caveguru

Don't know about other sticky tires, but my RE-01R's are closer to equal-temp at -2.6 in front then they were at -1.5. Can't remember if they were dead even or 5-10 degrees spread though inside to outside, but at -1.5, they were way off. I forget how the rears did at -1.6 vs. -1.0.

Frank

Yeah. I need more in the front, but am waiting for our tester set of coilovers before I do anything else to it.

[RallySportDirect]

Originally Posted by Turninconcepts.com

Depends on the situation. I found the sweet spot on my old setup on my wrx with Falken RT615's to be -3.2* in the front. That would get me the perfect tire temps across the tire indicating optimal traction. Many have found, for example, that the optimal camber settings for Hankook RS2's on a STX prepped car to be over -4* in the front.

Right now I only have -1.5* on the front of the 08 running 265 35 18 RE01R's and it is not nearly enough. I have worn through the outsides of all four tires while the insides are almost at 3/4 tread depth. This is after several autox's, 3 track days and 10000 miles on the street.

Yes that might be a good setting for hard driving and Auto-X. But most the thing as I stated earlier, set up the car for what you use it 360 days out of the year. Not the 5 days.

You do have to drive the car hard to see a benefit from running that much camber. On the street that much will just cause more tire wear, harsher ride, and cabin noise.

[Turninconcepts.com]

Originally Posted by RallySportDirect

Yes that might be a good setting for hard driving and Auto-X. But most the thing as I stated earlier, set up the car for what you use it 360 days out of the year. Not the 5 days.

You do have to drive the car hard to see a benefit from running that much camber. On the street that much will just cause more tire wear, harsher ride, and cabin noise.

Oh, yeah...I agree with you there. I thought you were talking about more hardcore driving situations when you said that. Nevermind me.

[Blip]

With a full tank of gas and 160 lbs in the drivers seat we got 1.19 on both sides. It is a nice kit, but for all the work you have to do to get to 1.19 I do not see a pay off. If you want 2.25 in the rear then get them.

[caveguru]

Alright, took the RUCA's over to Andrewtech and asked the guys to have a go at those pesky bushings. Andrew immediately went to the impact chisel, and results were rapidly produced. Using a ~1" wide blade with a shallow scallop the first bushing was out in minute or two. The rest followed quickly. Bushings were of course trashed, but arms were clean.

Pics to follow.

btw, rear camber w/ H&R sti springs was -1.8L/-1.9R before install

Frank