Severe Inner Tire Wear

[Bernie Benz]

Jeff, 

We disagree in principle on the reasons for negative camber.  Negative
camber is used to correct for the strut tower deflection caused by lateral
turning forces.  In the correct amount, the - camber just offsets the +
camber effect of the strut tower deflection resulting in net zero camber,
i.e. maximum tire contact patch on the outside tire.

Thus, the better idea would be to minimize the strut tower deflection such
that less - camber is needed to correct for the maximum turn strut tower
deflection.  This condition that will be more nearly correct for lesser
turns and straight ahead driving.  My strut brace accomplishes this to a
maximum, short of chassis redesign.

Further, I strongly disagree with your first sentence.  BTDT with DIY
alignment where I know with certainty exactly what the alignment settings
and what the suspension stability is.

Bernie

> From: Jeff.Bernstein at pneumaticscale.com
> Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 13:42:22 -0400
> To: 200q20v at audifans.com
> Subject: Severe Inner Tire Wear
> 
> Too much negative camber will add very little extra wear to the inside of
> tires.  I run between 1 to 1.75 on all my Audi's and nearly 2 degrees of
> negative camber on my Porsche without any problems with excessive inside
> tire wear.  I set my cars up this way so that they handle better in the
> corners.  Setting the car to 0 degrees camber will make your car corner
> poorly.  Audi's have enough under-steer by design, you don't want to add any
> more by setting the camber to 0 degrees.
> 
> If your toe-in is incorrect you will definitely have increased tire wear
> which could be made worse by the extra negative camber.  Incorrect toe-in is
> the major reason for increased wear on the inside of the front tires.  I
> would be willing to bet that your toe-in is way out of specification.  If
> you fix the toe-in you can ignore the excessive negative camber and just
> enjoy the increased cornering ability that comes with the extra negative
> camber.
> 
> Jeff 
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