Camber Angle

Ok guys I know there has been heaps done to death on camber . My question is this. I have found an engineer who possibly will allow me to finally install my PRG UCA.
I use my 4x2 basically on road only. What will be the best camber angle for best handling on road
My idea is this. I am thinking have the best possible camber for normal on road driving. I am installing Radflo's with 500lb springs so the truck will dive under heavy breaking putting my camber well into the neg and make the truck turn in.

My understanding is 0 camber is best. When your driving/turning I believe the front end is dipping which is actually giving you some negative camber.

I'd give Ultimate suspension a call, they would know the best setup for this style of front end.

Zero is what I was thinking but I wasnt sure
The softer front springs means it should dive a bit more than usual but also should soak up bumps a lot more too
Ill give Ultimate a call in the morning and see what they say

I would be thinking more like half a degree of negative or so. Zero in even a sedately driven car is likely to equal worn outside edges. And maybe just a sniff more negative on the left to help keep it from driving down the camber of the road.

When you tip it into a corner the bodyroll will almost certainly mean you loose camber not gain it.

Aussie Frontier said:

Zero is what I was thinking but I wasnt sure
The softer front springs means it should dive a bit more than usual but also should soak up bumps a lot more too
Ill give Ultimate a call in the morning and see what they say

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So you have gone for raised softer springs?

Adjustable Radflo Coilovers wit Eiback springs sp I can set up the front end tolevel the truck . Beinga 4x2 most of the aftermarket stuff is aimed at the heavier 4x4 so would possibly make for a stiffer ride.
I bought all my gear ( well paid for it) when out dollar was 96 cent in the US dollar so it worked out cheaper to buy the better rebuild able gear from the US

i would personally go for about -0.5 - -1. as the bluester said as soon as u get a bit of body roll you will be wearing out the outer edges of ur tyres quite quickly and have less front end grip aswell.

My point is while static the camber is 0. When moving the front end dips giving you say -1, So cornering should give still give you 0 camber which is ideal.

Not really the case in real terms though. I have never seen a car of any sort that did not wear the outside edges with zero.

If you could manage it I would also try for a bit of extra caster.

the_bluester said:

Not really the case in real terms though. I have never seen a car of any sort that did not wear the outside edges with zero.

If you could manage it I would also try for a bit of extra caster.

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Perhaps, But I remember reading something about the steering/suspension geometry on these trucks, and it commented on 0 camber being the best setup. It was quoted from a Nissan engineer if that means anything.

It would be interesting to see the result after 20K with -1 though, I can't get it with mine without new UCA's or offset bushes, mine is set to factory specs, and seems to wear the right inside tyre more. It's hard to tell because every time I go offroad the steering wheel ends up pointing in different direction!

We had our R51 set up with about half a degree negative, it drove well and tyre wear wise we average about 70,000km out of a set of the stock 17" tyres, we could push them further but both times we have done tyres as they were getting down on tread going into the wetter months so given it was the wifes car I did not let them get right down before replacing them.

the_bluester said:

I would be thinking more like half a degree of negative or so. Zero in even a sedately driven car is likely to equal worn outside edges. And maybe just a sniff more negative on the left to help keep it from driving down the camber of the road.

When you tip it into a corner the bodyroll will almost certainly mean you loose camber not gain it.

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correct me if i am wrong but more neg on left side would reduce your contact area even more due to the camber of the road.

ive had some time setting up road rego hill climb cars afew years ago and with my car (daily driver as well as hill climb) i had bridgestone potenzas on when they were a soft tyre (tread wear 140) running neg 4 deg and with tyre rotations never had them wear un evenly. i think your toe in /out is a main concern when tyres are wearing un evenly so if you keep your wheel alignments up to date you should not have a problem with uneven tyre wear. with 4 deg neg i found that it was a verry good compromise between under steer / over steer / breaking. i have only played with strut suspension mainly and found that under breaking your neg increases but that is in a car without body roll (low and set up stiff) i can see logically how you would decrese neg wiyh body roll. if you want to get more involved with any of this check out The Car Maintenance Bibles a really good site to learn from. i just bought my d22 and the front tyres have 4mm of tread on the outside and the inside are neally down to canvas so im getting a wheel alignment today i will post later what my camber and my toe figures are might give a good indication of going the wrong way

Half a degree or so will not lift the outside of the tyres off the deck. The tyres work a lot harder in a corner than going in a straight line so it does not take long to knock the outsides around, particularly in something like the Nav (D22 or D40) even with a few hundred KM of highway use in between town use where you spend more time cornering.

I run about 4.5 degrees on my track car and that is just starting to lift the outside edges when static. Even with that it wears the outsides, but you can not compare what I am doing with road use! I am not running any more as otherwise braking will start to suffer is it really will start to lift a significant amount of rubber off the deck.

The outside still gets a workout!





This is after a few hundred KM at Phillip Island recently. Nearly 500km actually!



A lot really depends on the use of the car, but I ALWAYS head for the more negative end of the spec for camber and the more positive for caster.

as i said before my fronts wore the inside real bad just had a wheel allingment and had too much toe out. the camber was -0.11 on left and -0.12 on right which i am guessing is standard.

the_bluester said:

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(ps r31 2 dore i like. a mate just sold his it was a red svd awsome car spent a lot on it though)

fonzy said:

as i said before my fronts wore the inside real bad just had a wheel allingment and had too much toe out. the camber was -0.11 on left and -0.12 on right which i am guessing is standard.

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I can not recall the spec but I think it is zero plus or minus half a degree, it was on the D21 Pathfinder I had years ago. Toe out would certainly knock around the inside edges though, particularly the right tyre.