Suggested camber angles for fast street use

pbondar

Sergeant
May 30, 2020
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245
0
I will be fitting camber plates and adjustable rear camber arms to my E89 35is.

Ride height wise I‘ll be sticking at MSport type levels as we have bumpy roads with large crowns here in Scotland.

I have the Ohlins R+T with 8.5J and 9.5J rims in 245/35 19 and 275/30 19 Conti Sports 7s

When I was discussing some Ohlins related issues with a UK support centre they suggested I should ‘start’ with 2.5 degrees of negative camber.

I wonder if folks here had played with camber and had come up with opinions for both front and rear settings?
 

rac

Sergeant
Nov 14, 2016
341
204
0
Australia
Ride
135i ST
maybe try @barry@3DM

i'm not an advocate of high camber for street use, looks cool but the reasons you need it on track aren't there on street imo.
 

pbondar

Sergeant
May 30, 2020
430
245
0
maybe try @barry@3DM

i'm not an advocate of high camber for street use, looks cool but the reasons you need it on track aren't there on street imo.
Hi there, I don’t think I’m suggesting a lot of camber, by default E89s have about 0.5 of a degree on the front and about 1.5 degrees on the rear.

Given where I live and drive there are almost no straight roads the Ohlins UK got me thinking?
 

rac

Sergeant
Nov 14, 2016
341
204
0
Australia
Ride
135i ST
Hi there, I don’t think I’m suggesting a lot of camber, by default E89s have about 0.5 of a degree on the front and about 1.5 degrees on the rear.

Given where I live and drive there are almost no straight roads the Ohlins UK got me thinking?

there are so many variables (suspension, tyres, driving style etc) there is no right answer but i would think a good place to start would be the upper end or something around there of the oem brackets. i say that b/c its very difficult to legally or safely laterally load up a car on public roads to the point that the tyres are overheating on the outsides and your are losing grip from that, which is what camber is trying to account for / mitigate against.

hopefully someone with specific experience to your platform will guide you. i'm just throwing in my 2c cause i'm procrastinating at work....
 
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wheela

Lieutenant
Jun 4, 2021
1,127
631
0
Twin Cities, MN
Ride
2015 e84 X1 35i Msport
there are so many variables (suspension, tyres, driving style etc) there is no right answer but i would think a good place to start would be the upper end or something around there of the oem brackets. i say that b/c its very difficult to legally or safely laterally load up a car on public roads to the point that the tyres are overheating on the outsides and your are losing grip from that, which is what camber is trying to account for / mitigate against.

hopefully someone with specific experience to your platform will guide you. i'm just throwing in my 2c cause i'm procrastinating at work....
 

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pbondar

Sergeant
May 30, 2020
430
245
0
there are so many variables (suspension, tyres, driving style etc) there is no right answer but i would think a good place to start would be the upper end or something around there of the oem brackets. i say that b/c its very difficult to legally or safely laterally load up a car on public roads to the point that the tyres are overheating on the outsides and your are losing grip from that, which is what camber is trying to account for / mitigate against.

hopefully someone with specific experience to your platform will guide you. i'm just throwing in my 2c cause i'm procrastinating at work....

i agree that this is not a track car or even driven that hard on public roads…I was more interested to see if the additional camber conferred any handling benefits eg turn in …
 

JohnDaviz

Lieutenant
Jan 6, 2019
866
583
0
Ride
335i E92 DCT
Go 2 - 2.5 on the front and 1.5-2 on the rear.
2.5 on the front coming from 1.7 transformed my car to a completely different monster.

I have the Ohlins Road and Track fitted.
 

pbondar

Sergeant
May 30, 2020
430
245
0
Go 2 - 2.5 on the front and 1.5-2 on the rear.
2.5 on the front coming from 1.7 transformed my car to a completely different monster.

I have the Ohlins Road and Track fitted.
I like the succinct illiteration of your statement….could you expand slightly on the ‘monster’ aspects pls?

Would you keep the front / rear camber balance in the ratios range you stated?

Have you kept your ride height as per Ohlins recommendations?
 

JohnDaviz

Lieutenant
Jan 6, 2019
866
583
0
Ride
335i E92 DCT
I had my car setup by Manthey Racing at the Nordschleife. Ride Height was adjusted actually by me and they just confirmed it is good to go.

At first we had 1.7 degrees of camber in the front and 1.5 in the rear. Car was driving really well around the corners and was driving really really neutral in corners and feels well balanced.
But if you would start to push (Nordschleife Laps for example) the car would start to understeer and steering correction mid corner was not possible anymore.
With the increase of camber to 2.5 the understeer was gone and i was able to heavily steer and brake into corners without understeer.

Of course this is only a subjective experience on my Amateur level of driving skills.
 

pbondar

Sergeant
May 30, 2020
430
245
0
All noted thank you..when you increased front camber to 2.5 degrees what was your rear camber setting?
 

JohnDaviz

Lieutenant
Jan 6, 2019
866
583
0
Ride
335i E92 DCT
my rear camber is still 1.5 as the front was adjusted by me drilling the front long holes a bit.
On the Nordschleife i felt that the rear is on the limit and started to feel really light so i will try to get it to around 2 degrees.
 

pbondar

Sergeant
May 30, 2020
430
245
0
my rear camber is still 1.5 as the front was adjusted by me drilling the front long holes a bit.
On the Nordschleife i felt that the rear is on the limit and started to feel really light so i will try to get it to around 2 degrees.
So 2 degrees front and rear may be a good place to start for a road biased car albeit with lots of bends?