i've never done this but i need to before the weekend.

does this take a "special" shim?

muchas gracias'.

Well yes the official way of decreasing negative camber is to add a Porsche special shim. I just did this yesterday. I used one special Porsche shim to cut several shims out of different thicknesses of sheet metal I had laying around.
As low as my car is I ended up needing nearly 1/2 inch of shims stacked up to bring me to -1 degree camber.

I think Mr Engman makes shims too.

Actually ended up getting longer bolts because I felt 5 turns wasn't enough The bolt is 10mm x 1.50 thread 60mm long hardened to 10.9

You will also need to record a distance measurement from like the edge of the door jamb to the edge of the tire or rim. any prominent two points will do. Because when you loosen up the 3 bolts the trailing arm will most likely move. You need to move it back when tightening down the bolts. This is probably close enough for most. But if you are conserned about alignments go get a good one from a reputable shop

thanks joe,

the only reason i was asking for a picture is because i have no idea where to look for these shims... LOL

in some areas i'm a bleeding idiot...

located on the outer end of the pivot point of the trailing arm. Kind of a kidney shaped bracket. three bolts that go into the welded console bracket on the longitudinal.

QUOTE (Dr. Roger @ Mar 27 2006, 06:11 PM)

in some areas i'm a bleeding idiot...

where the trailing arm is mounted to the tub. there's anywhere from 1 shim to a stack of 8 or so, depending on much your trailing arms are bend ...


- caution: the more shims you add, the *less* negative camber you have.
zero or positive camber is not very desirable!
Andy

Roger, what kinda camber are you measuring now?
Here is what I have learned over two years of racing the piss out of my car.
Street tires won't tolerate much negative camber, -1 degree is probably all you need with sticky street tries.
A3S04 Hoosiers like -2 degrees when new. after 20 runs or so the tire lose grip and will not deflect enough to get the whole tire on the ground. so back off on the camber
V700 Kumhos followed that same trend but lasted quite a bit longer. 100 runs before they got bad and 187 runs they were useless.


Oh back to the topic Why do you feel the need to fuss with suspension settings.

Number 9 is the rear camber shims....

SHIMS

If the bolts haven't been taken out in a long time be sure to soak them with penetrating oil. There are little plastic caps over the ends inside the fenderwell that can be taken out and you can hose some pb blaster inside. Even if you're carefull you can twist off the bolts if you use too much torque. Just ask me how I know

QUOTE (Dave-O @ Mar 27 2006, 08:50 PM)

If the bolts haven't been taken out in a long time be sure to soak them with penetrating oil. There are little plastic caps over the ends inside the fenderwell that can be taken out and you can hose some pb blaster inside. Even if you're carefull you can twist off the bolts if you use too much torque. Just ask me how I know

pull the plastic caps and soak for a few days.....

In light of my rear end trouble, (see rear suspension problem thread)I just went out and put some washers inbetween the shim and frame( my car only had one little shim). It seemed to make a big differance alot less tire angle. Easy give it a try!

Hi Joe,

here's a pic of the wheel in question.

it has plenty of room to camber out.

these tires are 295/18's Michelin Pilot's.

so you are suggesting about 1-2 degrees of neg camber to be the best?

oh and "thank you" Geoff for the exploded view. now i get it.

bout 1.5 on the rear, 2.0 on the front for an agressive street setting that will see time at the track, if your going to put stickies on it... Thats what im going for.

I suggest .5 to 1 on your rear of negative. I dont think you'll be seeing too many hard corners were you'll be able to tell the difference (unless your going to autox the car) but you will tell a difference in tire wear.

btw, Just take a pile of shims and after your done with the suspension, take it to an alignment shop and give them the settings you want.

They'll get it right... Some cars can only get so much and so little..

QUOTE

Here is what I have learned over two years of racing the piss out of my car. Street tires won't tolerate much negative camber, -1 degree is probably all you need with sticky street tries

Looks like you got a huge amount of camber. Those big fatty tires will only be contacting the road on the inside 1/3 maybe 1/2 of the tread.
Sticky tires have a tread wear of 60 or less. That appears to be a big fat street tire. tread wear might be no less than 140.
Unless you are running really soft springs and stock swaybar you won't be able to plant the whole tire face on the ground.

-1 degree at the very most.

joe,

so if i find out tonight that there are just one little spacer in there, then that means i'm screwed and should start shopping for a new swing arm?

No just add more till the camber is closer to -1. What it looks like to me, You have WAY more than -1 right now. In My personal experience that is too much for street tires. EVEN if it looks cool.

Be sure the car is LEVEL at all 4 corners.

See page 9

http://www.smartracing.net/pdfdocs/011073_...mber_manual.pdf

Ken

Hey cool Ken, I just stole that for future use.

QUOTE (KenH @ Mar 28 2006, 10:32 AM)

Be sure the car is LEVEL at all 4 corners. See page 9 http://www.smartracing.net/pdfdocs/011073_...mber_manual.pdf Ken

Roger.....i've got one of those smartcamber tools if you want to borrow it....

Not to Hi-jack

Mike - looks like the MS project is a while off, so if somebody can use the extra PCB let'm have it.

Ken

QUOTE (Mueller @ Mar 28 2006, 10:53 AM)

QUOTE (KenH @ Mar 28 2006, 10:32 AM) Be sure the car is LEVEL at all 4 corners.   See page 9 http://www.smartracing.net/pdfdocs/011073_...mber_manual.pdf Ken Roger.....i've got one of those smartcamber tools if you want to borrow it....

thanks mike, much appreciated.

i have a 2' level i was going to use...

my plan is to have all four wheels at neg about 1 degree and call it good.

then use the ol' string trick to get toe in and out close. (done it before on other cars and trucks successfully)


so if i understand correctly....

i just add a shim, tighten the plate back, and measure camber.
add another shim tighten plate, and measure camber etc...

Yup.