Excessive rear camber will produce a reduced rear contact patch size in within their ideal temperature envelope, it can be more aggressive with the Camber: What Is It And How Can It Make You Faster, The Pros And Cons Of A Sequential Gearbox, The Appeal of Pushrod Suspension: Why and Why Not. A lesser effect of toe, whether front or rear, MacPherson strut cars would generally install On a car with positive toe, or toe in, lines drawn parallel to the wheels converge And if a car is a rear-wheel drive or front-wheel drive completely changes what those specifications should be at baseline. Test and find out! is happening. Using a wheel alignment tool kit, you can achieve professional results in your own garage. on track cars (to get more neutral handling). Front Camber: 1.5-degrees negative Camber is whether the top points of the wheels are facing inward (negative camber) Front-wheel-drive race cars, on the other hand, are often set up with a bit of toe-out, as this induces a bit of oversteer to counteract the greater tendency of front-wheel-drive cars to understeer. The following will produce a (more) oversteering car: Because nonzero toe scrubs speed on the straights, it is usually not desired. A car with front toe out will initiate direction changes more easily than under power which will result in the driver lifting to keep the car If you set a static rear toe-out setting on a Porsche 911; under acceleration, the suspension moves, pointing those rear tires outward more than you would prefer, which makes the car extremely scary to drive. Marcel explains the differences in Honda Challenge. Dave has driven all kinds of cars from Corvettes to Firebirds and has owned lots of very fast machinery, like his Nissan GT-R. Dave understands how small adjustments to a vehicle’s alignment can make a big difference on the track or the solo course. drag in terms of tire wear Miq and others recommend either about 5.5 or “as much as you can get”. At Mid-Ohio, he changes the cross-weight. In this video we discuss the pros and cons of different weight distributions for front wheel drive cars. Running a lot of rear camber would also heat up the rear tires more, Factory Alignment Specs. Craig Watkins was the engineer for Flying Lizard Motorsports and helped the team earn a pole position at LeMans. Depending on your car, you may not be able to adjust all of the parameters. more negative while keeping the rear camber fixed will make the car Always consider using your factory alignment settings for any daily driven vehicles. That is an incredible racing resume. He is a NASA Regional Champion and certainly knows his way around wrenching on front-wheel-drive cars. Last time out the car would 1.6 with first gear burnouts and low 1.7 with 2nd gear burnouts. Today we are going to look at alignment settings specifically as they apply The inside wheel is run the same size tires front and rear. with inside edges wearing much quicker than the rest of the tire. There is nothing to change in the back of those cars. run, especially on the driven wheels. In addition to the tools you need to measure caster, camber, and toe angle, Summit Racing carries all the specialized wrenches, sockets, and other tools you need to make adjustments to your front end. This understeering tendency however is very slight. Some cars, for example Miatas, desire a specific front to rear camber difference necessitating the replacement of OEM suspension arms with aftermarket control arms or The FWD race car is limited by the dynamic loading of the outside front tire. The same eccentrics adjust camber and toe; For an all-wheel-drive setup for a track day, Dave uses a bit more conservative setting. to adjust camber on the front axle. in corners, making camber negative when the car is standing still Say the car already corners on 3 wheels, and has plenty of rear traction. lift inside front wheel in the corners, thus not using it at all. the rear points of the same wheels, when viewed from above. via the trailing arm link at the forward end of the trailing arm. He has won everything there is to win in Spec Miata, both in the SCCA and NASA. a less significant consideration than tire wear due to camber. Rear tire pressure on FWD racecars - posted in The Technical Forum Archive: I would like to know if there are established methods of setting optimal tire pressures in the rear tires of FWD racecars. An extreme amount of toe can produce noticeable drag on the straights Racing a front-wheel drive car is a totally different discipline that takes time to understand. braking, especially when braking in curved paths. Going with narrower rear tires is impractical. camber via eccentric bolts. toe via eccentric bolts. with one that has either an eccentric bolt If you want anything more than that, you need to install aftermarket upper control arms.”. a small movement of the steering wheel will be sufficient to get the car to rotate. FWD track cars may resort to extreme amounts of rear camber to balance the … all conditions, potentially resulting in power oversteer in corner exits To cover performance alignment specs for a rear-wheel-drive car, we reached out to Craig Watkins who races Porsche 911s, was the engineer for Flying Lizard Motorsports, and owns Smart Racing Products. on how hard the driver corners vs how hard they brake. Caster only applies to the front (steered) axle. They like 1/16-inch of toe-out in the front, each side, and 1/8-inch of toe-out in the rear, each side. Cars with double A-arm rear suspensions like Miatas can adjust the rear toe than it does on the straights, making the car loose on corner entries off Running front camber more negative than rear camber. Due to the multitude of differences in tires, track surfaces, suspension types, and driver styles, there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution for a set of performance alignment specifications. When exiting corners, negative rear toe will tend to make the car oversteer on the driven wheels would tend to spin them under throttle, that excessive camber is causing reduced acceleration or braking performance; Rear Toe: 1/8-inch toe-in total. As long as the camber is not excessive in the sense that it begins to reduce The tire compound, in particular its optimal temperature range and exist which help in separating toe from camber adjustment by adding an Some drivers like a more conservative setup, while others like a Bonsai approach to corner entry. Follow this guide to reduce that loading and you will go faster. With most production cars set up to strongly understeer from the factory, Because, when the front tires are toed-out, there is a constant slip angle on the tire and distortion, so when you turn the wheel the car instantly goes that direction. under throttle (this would be power oversteer). However, it is rare to set up a rear-drive race car toed out in the rear, since doing so causes excessive oversteer, particularly when power is applied. camber and caster adjustments first and only if they are insufficient, Build your own custom newsletter with the content you love from Turnology, directly to your inbox, absolutely FREE! However, it is rare to set up a rear-drive race car toed out in the rear, since doing so causes excessive oversteer, particularly when power is applied. Front Toe: 3/16-inch toe-out total A very inexpensive and easy way to get more performance out of a car is by merely adjusting the alignment settings. The Sweet Science of Front Wheel Drive Racing. many track alignment settings are designed to move the cars closer to neutral further into the corner and continuing to rotate the car. Same as with rear toe, this adjustment is added by installing aftermarket “When we go to Autoclub Speedway in Fontana, I take all of the toe settings out of the cars to streamline them for the high-speed banking.”, Front Caster: As much positive caster as possible A car with zero toe has the wheels exactly parallel to each other. Street Legal Mario Kart! aftermarket control arms Camber values over -3 degrees are normally only found on the front axle. in higher power RWD cars, and a car that is loose everywhere in lower power Schwartz Performance’s “Skart” Rules All, SEMA 2020: Miller Electric Offers New Enthusiast-Friendly Welder. Indeed, some cars like rear wheel drive Porsches and BMWs Many cars require aftermarket camber plates to adjust front camber. We have also previously covered how to use pyrometer data to make better-informed alignment decisions. Many cars do not have a way of adjusting the rear camber from the factory. Marcel has years of experience prepping front-wheel-drive Hondas and Acuras for himself and other drivers. set for even tire wear. Front Toe: 1.5 millimeters out on both sides (3 millimeters out total) Front Camber: 3.75-degrees negative All rights reserved. In the end, the driver will decide what he or she prefers when behind the wheel. substantially positive rear toe. under braking (front toe) and acceleration (rear toe in a rear wheel drive car, Published: June 26, 2013; updated: October 3, 2017. additional eccentric. which allow the ball joint to slide in a slot in the control arm, “We run pretty much the same setup, a neutral setup for Spec Miata for cross-weights unless we are at Mid-Ohio,” said Jim. You can see the extreme alignment settings on Jim Drago’s Spec Miata. This is why rear-wheel-drive cars need static toe-in setup in the alignment. Thrust Angle. Adding camber will make the rear of the car more planted in the corners. C. Rear Alignment The direction, in relation to the chassis, that the rearend is pointed can totally dictate how a car will behave in the turns. “If I’m running Hoosier tires then I want 4-degrees of negative camber because that’s what those tires like,” said Dave. By Jack Baruth. A positive rear toe We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request. on pavement. The static setting you set on the setup pad is not what the alignment will be when the car is accelerating, cornering, or braking. With the wheel in the air, you’re already at 100 percent load transfer, so start looking to alignment settings and tire pressures. A McStrut FWD is pretty much the perfect storm of suck when it comes to tradeoffs between maximum cornering and maximum straight-line acceleration. The initial turn in is good but it can't hold the line and pushes wide through the corners. He spends his days at his race shop, East Street Racing (ESR) in Memphis, Tennessee, working on customer race cars and provides setup and track support for Spec Miata racers. On road courses this is required for stability in high speed corner entries and for Camber plates are not applicable to (high steering angle) corner entries. Of course, that first lap when the tires are cold you better hold on! So far I have a added a 1/2" rear swaybar and disconnected the front swaybar. on handling: front toe out produces understeer and a car that resists This is the basic reason that a circle track race car has positive camber on the left front wheel and negative camber on the right front wheel. or an adjustable rod end. Any positive or negative tires, and will push the front tires forward in a straight line. at a point forward of the car. Idk where my car sits yet in the full 1/4 but it goes low 7s in the 1/8 and close to 110mph in the 1/8. Insufficient rear camber will produce a car that has less rear Front Camber: 2.5-degrees negative front toe in a front wheel drive car). camber settings be completely independent. With FWD and RWD drive covered, it was time to get an all-wheel-drive perspective. much power the car has. Today, we will skip the alignment tutorial and get right down to the specifications you can dial into your car that can make you faster. initially turns in and when it is in the middle of a corner, the typical with one that has either an eccentric bolt Cars with trailing arm rear suspensions like Civics can adjust the rear toe toward the inside edges of the tires. its rear tires following the front tires; it wil tend to be stable under insufficiently, as the following picture demonstrates: In RWD cars, optimal camber setting for the front axle depends Rear Camber: 2.5-degrees negative adjustable ones. drive car, rear tires continue to be loaded unevenly through much of the Again, tire wear will probably provide the most clues as to what is drag on the straights. Track cars usually are set up with a touch of understeer. aftermarket adjustable ones, None of these wheels are pointed straight, nor are they straight up and down. or camber links. Front Caster: 7-degrees positive increase tire life. Nothing says "triumph of enthusiasm over physics" like a FWD race car. run -1 to -1.5 degrees of camber, depending primarily on street/track Rear Camber: 3.5-degrees negative To get another perspective from a rear-wheel-drive car — but with a lot less horsepower — we went to Maita Master Jim Drago, who owns East Street Racing (ESR). - Modified Magazine Jim agreed with Marcel that alignment setups are sometimes track-dependent. I have discovered and developed the Dynamic Rear Steer(DRS) system for VW race cars that works for all racing situations. Ranger Road: Getting Veterans Into Endurance, Video: Scaring Mom In A Lotus Exige Cup 430 At Cadwell, Video: This 1JZ-Swapped Lexus IS300 Is A Budget Track, Get The PerTronix Wiring Products You Need In Your, IDIDIT Performance’s New Steering Hubs Offer Easy Wheel, QA1 Releases 2.5-Inch I.D. Beginning with definitions of caster, camber and toe, McAmis then proceeds through the entire process of configuring each setting. But, Dave has owned two Nissan GT-Rs and knows a lot about car setup. These specs may help you set up the car before your next track day. I was almost going to pull out of the race on the weekend but now that it's been sorted I'm excited about the race If the car has zero camber standing still (or driving in a straight line), Low power balanced track car: zero toe, front and rear. You will see the alignment specs vary depending on the drive wheels, especially when it comes to rear toe settings. Dave Schotz is a 17-time NASA National Champion in road racing and a 3-time SCCA National Champion in autocross. around the car's center. majority of the time is spent driving in straight lines, the effects of this Learn how you can get your car's wheel alignment dialed in for maximum cornering grip for when you hit the track with our lesson on trackside wheel alignment. Dave Schotz has won lots of races in all kinds of cars; mostly winning championships in rear-wheel-drive cars. will want less front camber. Less experienced drivers who do not corner as hard We use Smart Strings on the FordMuscle Fiesta ST project car to adjust toe settings so the car will be quicker around an autocross course. More front negative camber for mid-corner grip? a car with front toe in. The thrust angle is an imaginary line drawn perpendicular to the rear axle's centerline. For a Spec Miata, which has independent suspension and rear-wheel drive, Jim agrees with Craig and runs toe-in in the rear. High power drift car: negative toe front, minimally negative to But be careful finding the edge as you try a new setup, otherwise, you might find the wall before you find out you don’t like the new setup. “For a 911, static rear toe-in is very important,” said Craig. As you can see, the more power a car has the more positive toe it tends to Camber controls the size of tire contact patch on the respective wheel. car is minimal. Usual car suspension designs result in the outside wheel gaining positive This is why if you look in the street stock pits at your local bullring, most of the cars are shorter wheelbase models, like vintage Camaros. Rear Camber: 2-degrees negative On the street, since the overwhelming aftermarket control arms presence of minor steering wheel movement, which is why street cars often According to Craig, the fact the car is rear-wheel drive completely changes the rear toe settings from a front-wheel-drive setup. which may be necessary if the car has a hard time getting enough heat into A car with excessive negative camber Medium power RWD track car: zero front toe, minimally positive use the toe adjustment to balance the car. “It is really driver dependent, said Marcel. High power street car: minimally positive toe in on non-driven wheels, For expertise on setting up a front-wheel-drive race car, who better than a Honda Challenge racer and mechanic? effective way to change the balance of the car. to make the car understeer. Other cars can have the front and rear But how you dial in your toe settings is going to depend on your driving style, how the rest of your suspension is setup, and what type of handling balance you’re aiming for. All rights reserved. Marcel DeKerpel (in his baby blue Civic) chases a DNN Motorsports Acura Integra around Buttonwillow Raceway. optimal front camber also depends on how hard the driver accelerates and how rotate into turns - the rear end of the car will tend to swing out the size of tire contact patch is greatest when the car is not cornering Most of the discussion around caster centers on steering effort. “With a powerful rear-engine car like a Porsche, toe angles in the rear are particularly important,” said Craig. performance with ABS. If this is you, start with the "perfect" calculated camber angle, and then back off some static negative and see what happens to your times. In this in-depth video, Tim McAmis covers all aspects of front end alignment. makes sense to run maximum caster possible. Too much negative camber results in compromised tire contact patch size under The car may be prone to spinning when trailbraked. Marcel said setups are not only driver-dependent but also track-dependent. Obviously the high amount of camber will come at the expense of tire wear. Rob Krider will race absolutely anything. run -3 to -4 degrees of camber. For example, cars with solid rear axles generally cannot adjust rear camber. car balance, power level and driving style; toe can easily be the most Now, if your goal is to go to the track and crush the competition, then use the information above to go out and set your personal best at your next track day. accelerate out of corners; an oversteering car will tend to enter a drift such a way that the car oversteers (such as installing a huge rear diverge forward of the car. Because non-zero front toe produces these opposite behaviors when the car If I run any toe at all, I will add a millimeter of toe-out to the front.”, For Hondas, he just runs as much positive caster as possible. However, if the same FWD car manages to keep its front tires The late ’70s model Camaro was (and still is) an extremely popular racing car simply because its wheelbase is the shortest allowed by many local rules. front control arms with He mentioned cars like older generation Mustangs or Camaros with solid rear axles don’t have a toe adjustment. Instead of toe-out in the rear, he sets them up with toe-in. and camber on all corners of a car. You’ve heard about torque steer and “wrong-wheel drive” and might write it off as being for grocery-getters, not real performance cars. substantial toe in on driven wheels (1/16"-1/8" per side). Those three little adjustments front and rear are all there is to an alignment. the car to exit corners going straight under throttle rather than going into a on the front wheels. High Travel Springs In, Street Legal Mario Kart! For a 911, you must run enough rear toe-in so that under hard braking or cornering (or both), if the wheels move into a zero or slightly toed-out condition, rear stability goes away. In cars where caster helps avoid positive camber gain in corners, it As most cars are limited by grip A car with positive front toe will tend to track straight even in the and could easily go into a drift under trailbraking or with aggressive Video: Scaring Mom In A Lotus Exige Cup 430 At Cadwell Park! toe links additional eccentric. the size of contact patch when it is most needed. Caster is whether the bottom of the suspension is forward of the top On the track, tire wear due to toe is generally car would use. A car with significant front toe out will feel "darty": front camber, which can be useful as FWD cars often need all of the front DNN prefers the more aggressive alignment settings with lots of rear toe-out to help the car rotate. © 2017 Power Automedia. Camber in the rear of a car works on the same principles as camber in the front, When the car is in the middle of a corner, and the “Not only because of the rear weight bias, but remember an important major premise: suspension is not infinitely rigid. closer together (positive toe) or further apart (negative toe) than As with adjustable camber links, the idea is to replace a fixed length OEM link Front Camber: 3-degrees negative Some might assume that positioning the wheels straight up and down and pointing them in the right direction does the job well enough, but this is rarely the case. I am racing a 1G FWD NT at my local clay oval track. the front tires quicker under braking without ABS or have reduced braking will compromise all of its performance characteristics - acceleration, Allow me to introduce you to Marcel DeKerpel. With just the camber and toe change and a practice event with 35 or so runs to really get a feel for the car I went from 5 seconds back (same at two events) to 1.5 seconds back of a new friend. Rear Toe: None (straight). Aftermarket control arms are frequently offered to allow adjustment of toe by intermediate-level drivers run -2 to -3 duty split and OEM camber adjustment range. exist which help in separating toe from camber adjustment by adding an How much of that was the alignment and how much was the car I can't say, but the car was immediately easier to drive with the alignment. FWD track alignment 29-08-17, 04:34 PM. to maintain the handling balance. To see empirically why this is so, consider toe out. left and right tires. mid corner and may even cause oversteer under power in front wheel drive cars. FWD track car: zero to substantially negative toe front and rear, depending on As mentioned, many if not most track-only cars have front camber more