Help - Camber and tyre!

[skyline69_uk]

Could someone have a look at the pic below and tell me if the camber angle seems too much. My rear tyres are wearing on the inside quite badly and a mate who races cars says the camber angle looks far too much for road driving - should I get the car 4 wheel laser aligned or does this seem normal for a GT-R R32 folks?


http://www.skyline6969.btinternet.co.uk/DSCF0138.JPG

[nigel f]

Looks like you neeed some camber adjusters for the rear.
Is the car lowered ? if so how much

Nigel

[skyline69_uk]

Can you not adjust the camber normally at the rear (I thought you only needed kits for castor)?

Why would it be so far out?

Both sides of the car are the same so maybe the last owner set it up this way - but why so much camber?

[lightspeed]

No cannot adjust rear camber unless you fit some sort of aftermarket adjustable arms - Cusco, JIC, Ikeya Formula etc.

If your 32 is running very low then you will likely have too much camber.
Sure looks like it from the pic. Just the way the standard geometry works.
You could always raise the ride height back up.

[Alex j B]

The rear camber is adjustable, but not much, when mine was on Tein springs and fully adjusted there was still negative camber, we can supply a set of adjustable rear arms which should sort your camber problem.

Alex B

[skyline69_uk]

Thanks Alex, I'm bringing the car to get 4 wheel aligned by a mate of mine and if the camber cannot be adjusted into an acceptable range I'll get a kit for it and get it sorted although it is not lowered that much due to very large speed bumps around here. I have however had the suspension removed a number of times over the last 5 months so maybe this has put things outta range.

Would this sort of camber make the car tail happy in the wet?

[The Admiral]

Hi m8!

Difficult to tell from the pic, but looks like you're running -2deg or so of camber... For track use, especially with slicks, you might want to run -2deg at the front (or even more if not used for the road at all), but would still only want -1 or -1.5 on the rear (static) maximum IMO...

For road use only, I'd suggest maximum -1.5 deg front, possibly even -1deg if tyre wear is an issue. At the rear, I'd suggest -1deg max.

Running -2deg at the rear, but less at the front will tend to induce understeer.

Also check the toe-in - not sure of std R32 settings, but 0mm toe in F&R will improve turn in and tyre wear, wheras 1 to 3mm toe in will stabilise the front or rear as required...

Spending £80 on getting the suspension geometry right is probably THE most important modification you can do (and will save you that money back on tyres quite quickly)...

Remember if you change the geometry quite markedly, it will take quite a few miles for the tyres to wear in to the new settings, so the car will feel quite unstable until this happens...

Cheers

Rog

p.s. Nice tyres

[skyline69_uk]

Thanks Rog.

It understeered a bit on large roundabouts with sharp turn in so I lowered the tyre pressure to 31psi to reduce that (which worked ). What highlighted it somewhat is on the bad roads I have noticed a bit of oversteer on small roundabouts where I would have expected a bit understeer as a warning. I checked the rear tyres and noticed the inner wear but just reckon the camber was like that on GT-R's (like BMW's which have a quite large camber). Do I have to get a kit to alter the camber to any useful degree or can the std setup be made to work - I don't have the car that low I think . I'm going to have a tyre garage 4 wheel align and see if they can alter the camber to the Nissan setting - if not then a kit will be required me thinks . It doesn't see any track work so I would prefer the ideal A/B road set up.

[The Admiral]

Hi m8!

Quite often there is a bit of free play, but with the suspension design of the Skyline (and most cars), camber increases with rear wheel movement, so you will probably need a camber kit to get it back to sensible levels (e.g. -1 deg) unless you put the std springs back on...

Too much toe out will wear the inside of the tyres, as will spinning the rear wheels under power upon cornering - the inner wheel spins more, scrubbing the inside edge of the tyre...

You will be very impressed with how well you car drives with the correct geometry settings m8

Rog

[skyline69_uk]

How much for a camber kit and which is best?

[tim b]

Originally Posted by The Admiral

Spending £80 on getting the suspension geometry right is probably THE most important modification you can do (and will save you that money back on tyres quite quickly)...

Deffo agree with this. I changed a load of suspension bits on mine, and thought I'd save a few quid and set the alignment in my garage with some string and lengths of aluminium box section myself.

Got the wheels pointing in what I thought was the right directions, but the car still felt a little nervous, which I attributed to the hard suspension and low profile tyres.

After a few weeks I opted to go for a proper four wheel alignment, and blimey what a difference!! Got a before and after diagram thing, with all the angles, and although bits were only a degree or so out, after adjustment it was like driving a different car. Felt much more controllable, and less skittish.

I'd definitely recommend getting it sorted, although I'm afraid I can't recommend a particular adjustment kit. Mine has excentric bushes for the rear suspension, that you rotate to move the position of mounting of the suspension arm. I think you can get suspension arms with threaded sections in them for adjustment, but I'd have thought that once fitted and adjusted, all types are very similar for road use, (i.e. adjusted once or twice a year).

Good luck with whatever you get, but definitely get the alignment/tracking set up by a place that knows what they're doing.

P.S. Don't forget to clean the underneath of the car next time.

[The Admiral]

Hi m8!

Your two options seem to be adjustable bolts/bushes by e.g. Whiteline, or better option is adjustable arms - most of the tuners will sell you Cusco ones or similar

Out of interest, I found the std settings for the car:

FRONT
CASTOR L MIN 3.1 MAX 4.40
CASTOR R MIN 3.1 MAX 4.40

CAMBER L MIN -1.35 MAX -0.05
CAMBER R MIN -1.35 MAX -0.05

TOE L MIN 0.0 MAX 0.5
TOE R MIN 0.0 MAX 0.5
TOE T MIN 0.0 MAX 1.1

REAR
CAMBER L MIN -1.50 MAX -0.20
CAMBER R MIN -1.50 MAX -0.20
TOE L MIN 0.0 MAX 1.4
TOE R MIN 0.0 MAX 1.4
TOE T MIN 0.0 MAX 2.8

Have a look at some of the threads here for some ideas of prices etc...

Cheers

Rog

[skyline69_uk]

Thanks folks. I used to get my Lude done at least once a year if not more often on the 4w laser system (£30 to me ) but just figured the last owner due to the fancy suspension would have it sorted already (stupid mistake I know). I get the idea that the car may have been a bit of a car park drifter as a suspension guy told me that's what the SOKI R&T was good at - a little bit of everything - Road, Track and Drift.

I'm going to get it checked first and if it cannot be sorted by the normal means then a Cusco or Whiteline camber kit is next. I hope only the rear is out as that kit is the cheapest .

PS link didn't work Rog?

[The Admiral]

Sounds like a good plan

It was meant to be a search of the suspension subforum for the word camber, but don't think you can link to search results

Rog

[skyline69_uk]

4 new 255/40ZR17 94Y Goodyear F1's on and 4 W laser aligned today!

Everything OK apart from rear camber (as expected) - can't get in under 2 degrees 20 mins . Gonna get kit for rear and bring it back then to be re-done. Is a castor kit for for the front of use also as I may get both at the same time?

4 new boots + laser aligning etc cost - £505 alot cheaper than I thought .