For those with plates, what camber are you running?

[BitchinManWheels]

This week I purchased Dinan springs and GC plates. I'm planning on lowering my car about an inch and adding neg camber for the track. Questions:
1). What's the best camber for the track?
2). Do you leave your car at that setting or go back to stock camber for driving on the streets?
It's a lot of dough out of pocket for re-alignment every time I track my car (about once per month). On the other hand, my street tires will wear out quicker with increase neg camber.
3). Is there a Goldilocks camber for street and track?
4). Can I get enough neg camber by just lowering the car or stick with getting plates too?
Thanks for the advice!

[MaynardZed]

"Best" settings for track and street are really very different, so shoot for a compromise that will be decent for both. It is a pain to have to go to an alignment shop all the time, but if they are charging you full price every time you need to find a different shop. My shop charges me once for the year and I can go back as much as I want for no charge. Nevertheless I'd still try for a "set it and forget it" setting.

I don't have camber plates yet on my F82 so off the top of my head I'd recommend these settings for your car (I had similar settings for my E60 M5 with Dinan plates and springs):

Front camber: -2.5
Front caster max about +7.5
Front toe: neutral or just a smidge (1/16 total) in if its your daily driver

Rear camber: -1.3
Rear toe: 5/16 to 3/8 total toe in (this will calm the rear down a little on track)

The rear settings is what I actually have on my M4 now.

Hope this helps

[CanAutM3]

I don't have camber plates yet on my car, so I cannot share actual experience on the F8X platform. Further the required alignment specs are highly dependent on the tires you are running, the suspension tuning and driving style. There is no single "magic" number, you'll have to experiment to find what alignment settings suit your car and driving style the best. Getting a tire pyrometer is a good idea if you want precise fine tuning.

That being said, my impression so far is that the the F8X does not need as much camber in the front as the E9X and E46 did. When I get my GC plates installed in the spring, I will start off with -2 degrees in front and see how the temperatures are and adjust from there. I used to run -1.8 in th rear on my E46 and E92, I will likely start there too with my M4.

As far as changing alignment for street and track, you don't need to go to an alignment shop every time. Just have the shop do both street and track alignments at once and have them put marks on the plates at the two locations. You can then change alignment on the fly. The drawback of this approach is that since toe usually changes when camber is changed, you will need to compromise toe for one of the settings.

On my previous cars, I figured toe is more detrimental to tire wear than camber, so I ran my track camber on the street. I got to enjoy the improved turn in and steering feel every day at the expense of slighly more inside shoulder wear.

[BitchinManWheels]

Originally Posted by CanAutM3

I don't have camber plates yet on my car, so I cannot share actual experience on the F8X platform. Further the required alignment specs are highly dependent on the tires you are running, the suspension tuning and driving style. There is no single "magic" number, you'll have to experiment to find what alignment settings suit your car and driving style the best. Getting a tire pyrometer is a good idea if you want precise fine tuning.

That being said, my impression so far is that the the F8X does not need as much camber in the front as the E9X and E46 did. When I get my GC plates installed in the spring, I will start off with -2 degrees in front and see how the temperatures are and adjust from there. I used to run -1.8 in th rear on my E46 and E92, I will likely start there too with my M4.

As far as changing alignment for street and track, you don't need to go to an alignment shop every time. Just have the shop do both street and track alignments at once and have them put marks on the plates at the two locations. You can then change alignment on the fly. The drawback of this approach is that since toe usually changes when camber is changed, you will need to compromise toe for one of the settings.

On my previous cars, I figured toe is more detrimental to tire wear than camber, so I ran my track camber on the street. I got to enjoy the improved turn in and steering feel every day at the expense of slighly more inside shoulder wear.

Thank you for your input!
I think I will get the GC plates installed, get a proper pyrometer and experiment a bit.

[heckyeahbro69]

My car is set to 3* front and 2* rear. When I had my m4, going from stock suspension and nt01s to 3* camber and nt01s made a huuuge difference. It was totally night and day. The way the car turned was amazing. I just have stock wheels/tires on my current car (f80) so I don't know if I need that much camber up front, but the tc kline plates don't let me make small adjustments, so 3 it is.