adjustable camber for solo racing

[wedge]

Okay, I've got a question for the hardcore fwd racers out there. How much camber do you run on the front wheels for autocross? For Solo-I? For rallycross? For anything?
I'm about to pick up a pair of adjustable camber bolts for my Paseo. 1 pair will give me a maximum of approx. 2 degrees of negative camber. Some people have told me that more than that could actually hurt performance. OR I could buy two pairs, and get up to 4 degrees of adjustability. Is it worth the extra money if I'm never going to go beyond 2 degrees anyways?

[brink]

Well, how squirrelly is it gonna get if you make it super cambered-out? Also, I hadn't thought about it before, but I guess I can see how it would affect performance if you go too far, cause it's changing the contact patch on the tire.

Do you know anyone with a similar set up who would let you tet drive their car to get a feel for it?

[ice and solo racer]

Generally speaking no one can tell you exactly how much camber your car needs,you need to test tire temps with probe type pyrometer.It all depends on the amount of body roll your car has,dynamic camber should be about 1/2 a degree negative,so the static setting will vary depending on how much the car rolls,the suspension design and negative camber gain versus body roll.
Just check the outside,center and inside edges of the tire with the pyrometer when you get the chance,preferably on a 200 ft skid pad(large parking lot,empy of course will do).Ideally the inside edge should be about 5 degrees hotter than the outside with the center in between the two.
The reality is you'll likely never got the inside edge hotter than the out side so just set tire temps so the center is an average between the two.
Back to your question,anything more than -2 degrees camber will cause quick tire wear(who cares right)and hurt braking and strait line grip(from running on the inside edges of the tire).So I'd set it at -2 and than sort your spring rates(I would tune with springs instead of bars up front)untill the body roll is keppt in check and tire temps even out.Out back something -.5 to -1 will keep understeer to a min.Use a very big rear bar (stock or no front bar)in the 22mm range preferably with adjustable end links to adjust handling balance.Also helps limit inside wheel spin without a lsd at corner exit.
Toe out of around 1/16 to 1/8th of an inch up front and 0 toe rear(never use toe out in the rear for street driving)if the car won't rotate in autox's try some rear toe out at the event and then set it back for the drive home.
Hope this helps.

[wedge]

Thanks man that will help. But are you talking about fwd or rwd cars with those settings you mentioned?
I'm going to be using the car for rallycross as well. I've spoken to some rally car drivers of similar cars to mine. In rallying you experience much greater slip angles than you would on the road(obviously), so many of them get positive results from having as much camber as they can get. So I'm going to give myself that option, and make my own judgements from there what is the best setting for each situation.

Another question: where can I go to pick up a good pyrometer?

[ice and solo racer]

Yes the reply is based on a fwd platform,the methods of testing for tire temps and the amount of usefull camber applies to any vehicle however.I would think in rallycross that you would want less camber not more-the car won't generally have as much grip and therefor the body roll and subsequent camber change should be less.I say this based on the fact that you will have to use tire that work on both dirt and pavement so it won't be optimised for either.Spring rates(along with a higher ride height) will be softer for the bumps so maybe a little extra camber is needed?.
As far as pyrometers you can get them from racer supply places like summit racing,racers wholesale etc etc.Make sure you get a probe type and not an infared one,they aren't acurate enough and only read surface temps not the underlaying rubber temps.