bgx12

What is the proper set up for Camber and Castor for a Z06 that is running NT-01's?

I was thinking -2.5% frt, -1.5% rear camber and 5.5% castor front...

beerkat

Going by what I have beem told

You camber setting for a C5z are as you stated. If your front or rear cradle is off center you might have to settle for a little less camber.

YOu do not set the caster, wherever it falls there it is.

I ran NT01 with the -2.5 f/1.0 r. my rear cradle was off and did not want to move very easily.

1/8" of toe out on front 1/8" of tow in on the rear.

davidfarmer

That is a lot of camber for a street car, so I'm assuming this is track only. Same with toe, 1/8" out is too much for a street car in the front.

I'm in Concord if you need someone to take care of your alignment/corner balancing needs.


and obvious is º (degrees) NOT %

Last C5

David,
I don't do my own alignments and I'd like to know how degrees translate to inches. The print out I get off the alignment machine gives me degrees. How many inches is 1 degree?
Doug J.
Last C5

davidfarmer

0.1deg is about 1/32" take the inverse Sin of (1/32)/18 and you get 0.1deg. 18 is the wheel diameter, which is where I make my measurements.

Last C5

Thanks, I'm just about right on the rear toe then.

bse53

Here's a spreadsheet I made for myself.

Brian

*C7*

Thanks for posting............

Last C5

Yea thanks from me too.

kmagvette

I set my caster to what i like. When I put in Camber Plates they removed a whole bunch of caster. My car felt like a shopping cart. To get the caster back I shimmed the upper control arms with progressively smaller stacks of stainless steel washers front to back. I did the shimming behind whatever factory shims were already in place. I believe I have 5 washers up front and 2 in back on top of what was needed to get the camber I wanted. Net result is 6 degrees of caster and a nice stable wheel for high speed tracks like the Glen.

I don't know if you are an Autocross or track guy, but 1.5 deg in the rear seems a bit high for a high speed track...unless you are still running factory bushings.

2.5 degrees up front is a bit steep for a street driven car as well. You can achieve the same (or better) effective camber by addressing body roll with stiffer springs or coil-overs. When the body rolls to the outside of a turn the upper control arm is pushed to the outside of the turn thereby gaining camber (loss of negative camber). If you have factory bushings, then the lower control arm is squished (technical term) towards the center of the car also resulting in camber gain.

Switching to poly bushing really helped. Without touching my alignment settings there was a noticeable decrease in shoulder wear.

davidfarmer

that's a great spreadsheet, but for TOE you need to run it on down to 0.1deg. It's perfect for Camber as-is, however

btw, if you haven't used my DIY alignment guide, for measure castor at home, turn the wheel half-turn left (measure camber), then half-turn right (measure camber), then multiply the camber CHANGE for the complete turn by 2.5.

http://www.davidfarmerstuff.com/

bse53

That's interesting about measuring toe. I thought if I ran a string line parallel to the CL of the car at the CL of the wheel I would get the toe without having to account for the camber.

Brian

bgx12

I ran -2.5 deg front and -1.0deg rear this weekend at VIR South. I did have fairly even wear across the tire. I saw David at the event and I also talked to Chris Ingle and I may back it off to -1.8 deg rear as I do street drive some.

How accurate are the DIY kits?

davidfarmer

I get very accurate, repeatable figures, but I've been doing mine for 15 years. Most folks don't trust themselves until they've been doing it for a while, but you can be as precise as you want to be. Measuring camber is easy, as you literally use a level and a tape. I even have a digital angle meter that I found on sale at Sears for under $30, but it's easy to get "hung up" on the exact numbers when I use it.

and bse53, I didn't mean toe and camber are related....I meant those figures can be used for toe OR camber. ie 5/8" is about 1 degree, whether you are measure camber or toe

Strings are great if you have a jig, but I find setting them up takes too long. I can measure the toe and thrust angle much quicker with a tape, straight edge, and either a laser level/long 2x4 much quicker than I can even get strings set up.

gkmccready

You have a long 2x4 you trust not to be warped? :-)

waddisme

So do you take these numbers to the alignment place and tell them this is what you need it set at?

davidfarmer

RE 2x4: you simply flip it so that the same side is against the rim on each side. It's not rocket science. However, I prefer to use my laser level...I can get well within OEM tolerances with that (roughly 1/4" over the full wheelbase).

waddisme

After reading this thread, I went down and check my fronts - the tire wear indicator on both fronts are are 1/2 as deep on the inside as on the outside. Tires have about 16k mi and 8 track days at VIR and RA. Do I need a more aggressive camber? I plan on tracking car at least 8 -10 times this year, but I still dd it when it doesn't rain. Tires are 265/35/18s. How do you tell who can adj to these settings?

**EDIT** Found the DIY on Davids webpage. I will take some measurements tonite to see where I am.

davidfarmer

if you have more wear on the inside of the tires, then you have too much neg camber, OR too much toe out.

If I'm misreading your post, and you have excessive wear on the outside, then yes you may need more camber. For a street/track car, finding the perfect balance can take some experimenting.

waddisme

I have more wear on the inside of both fronts. I will take some measurements tonite. I can't remember if I have ever had an alignment done. I will post me measurements tonite.