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Camber And Caster Questions

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Old 12-28-2005, 06:54 PM
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Camber And Caster Questions

I've seen Ullose and Team RX-8 say that they were getting 1.2 to 1.6 degrees neg camber out of the front. No matter what I do, I can't get more than .6 and .9 out of the front with stock rims and V-710's, Koni's, and stock bar.
I had a racing company mechanic loosen everything to try to increase the neg camber to no avail.
Do different offset rims increase the negative camber?
Do you sacrifice some of the caster to gain more static neg camber?
I run 1 degree neg camber at the rear and it seems to be well balanced with the low amount I have up front. If I could get more neg out of the front then I could increase the rear and get better overall stick.

Any Help?
Old 12-28-2005, 07:56 PM
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Originally Posted by Hi Flying 8
I've seen Ullose and Team RX-8 say that they were getting 1.2 to 1.6 degrees neg camber out of the front. No matter what I do, I can't get more than .6 and .9 out of the front with stock rims and V-710's, Koni's, and stock bar.
I had a racing company mechanic loosen everything to try to increase the neg camber to no avail.
Do different offset rims increase the negative camber?
Do you sacrifice some of the caster to gain more static neg camber?
I run 1 degree neg camber at the rear and it seems to be well balanced with the low amount I have up front. If I could get more neg out of the front then I could increase the rear and get better overall stick.

Any Help?
I would have to say the thin air in CO is the reason you have such poor front camber.
No that sucks... Our car had very low camber when we first got it, after a few thousand miles we got more. Could be your car has a tall set of springs, the shop manual has specs for ride height and it is like +/- 1". Order another set of springs and see if that helps.
Old 12-28-2005, 09:04 PM
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You will get more camber the lower you drop it.....I had 2 deg of rear camber at minimum in the rear....could get to 3+ maxed out.
Didn't like it there though...it rubbed on everything more than 1" high..

Was able to get 2.5 deg in the front as well...

When i get the new tires/wheels I'll find a happy medium and do the setup from there....drop, corner weight and alignment
Old 12-28-2005, 09:17 PM
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Originally Posted by dannobre
You will get more camber the lower you drop it.....I had 2 deg of rear camber at minimum in the rear....could get to 3+ maxed out.
Didn't like it there though...it rubbed on everything more than 1" high..

Was able to get 2.5 deg in the front as well...

When i get the new tires/wheels I'll find a happy medium and do the setup from there....drop, corner weight and alignment
We are talking about B Stock cars with stock springs. There can be a difference in stock spring height from one to another. Some Miata guys have seen more than 1/2" difference in stock springs, no reason the RX8 would different.
Old 12-28-2005, 09:34 PM
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AHHHHH.....That changes things. I'm not worried about BS restrictions on a track car.....
Old 12-29-2005, 10:53 AM
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Originally Posted by ULLLOSE
We are talking about B Stock cars with stock springs. There can be a difference in stock spring height from one to another. Some Miata guys have seen more than 1/2" difference in stock springs, no reason the RX8 would different.
Yea, I am talking BS cars. It did seem that your car was lower that mine at Natl's, but it is hard to tell for sure. I'm sure my car is settled as it has almost 30K on it. Were your readings any different when you had the Stock wheels on it than when you had the SSR's on?
Old 12-29-2005, 01:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Hi Flying 8
Yea, I am talking BS cars. It did seem that your car was lower that mine at Natl's, but it is hard to tell for sure. I'm sure my car is settled as it has almost 30K on it. Were your readings any different when you had the Stock wheels on it than when you had the SSR's on?
All of my alingments have been on stock wheels.
Old 12-29-2005, 02:41 PM
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Originally Posted by ULLLOSE
All of my alingments have been on stock wheels.
Thanks,

I'm going to look into the springs. Do you know what your caster is set at?
Old 12-29-2005, 05:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Hi Flying 8
Thanks,

I'm going to look into the springs. Do you know what your caster is set at?
No... I dont worry about that, just go for max camber... You might make up a bit of camber if you give up some caster, it wont be much but anything helps.
Old 12-29-2005, 06:32 PM
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Thanks, Jason

It great to have someone with your success so willing to help out!

Last edited by Hi Flying 8; 12-29-2005 at 06:44 PM.
Old 12-29-2005, 07:55 PM
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^^^ I second.
Old 12-29-2005, 08:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Hi Flying 8
Thanks, Jason

It great to have someone with your success so willing to help out!
Dont try to make my head bigger.... Its cool when I started I was lucky enough to have a great guy, Tom Kotzian multi time natl champ and super instructor, help me with my car and driving. I Just like to try to pass along anything I know weather it is right or not.
Old 12-29-2005, 10:45 PM
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Originally Posted by ULLLOSE
No... I dont worry about that, just go for max camber... You might make up a bit of camber if you give up some caster, it wont be much but anything helps.

don't give up a little, give it all up

max camber occurs at minimum caster on the RX-8; turn the camber bolt all the way out and the caster bolt all the way in

don't say I didn't ever share anything with you, though I'm not inclined to share it all ...
Old 12-29-2005, 11:22 PM
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Rather than pulling your car apart go measure you ride height. The shop manual has 5 different ride height specs, so I would guess they have 5 ranges of springs. This is sort of normal for springs. I can tell you on the C4 corvette we raced each spring came in 3 different ranges that were all the "same part #". Nice thing GM did was color coat them so you could get the "stock low spring" just by asking for the right color.
Anyhow if you check the height of your car from the center of your wheel to the inside edge of the wheel arch this will give you an idea if yours are high or not.

Mazda range for 6spd:
14.2-14.5" Low car more -camber
14.6-14.9"
15-15.3"
15.4-15.7"
15.8-16.1" High car less -camber

Last edited by ULLLOSE; 12-30-2005 at 12:07 AM.
Old 12-30-2005, 08:36 AM
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Well that f'n sucks. Here is what I just found.

FR - 15"
FL - 14 3/4"
RR - 14 "
LR - 14 3/4"

I take it that this inconsistancy will be pretty common.

Last edited by whiterex; 12-30-2005 at 08:46 AM.
Old 12-30-2005, 09:51 AM
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Originally Posted by whiterex
Well that f'n sucks. Here is what I just found.

FR - 15"
FL - 14 3/4"
RR - 14 "
LR - 14 3/4"

I take it that this inconsistancy will be pretty common.
Make sure your tires pressure is set per your door sticker. Also they say full tank of fuel when checking ride height.
Old 01-03-2006, 10:10 AM
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Originally Posted by ULLLOSE
you check the height of your car from the center of your wheel to the inside edge of the wheel arch
Make sure your tires pressure is set per your door sticker. Also they say full tank of fuel when checking ride height.
Maybe this is a dumb, midpack question...but what does tire pressure have to do with measuring ride height?
Old 01-04-2006, 06:39 AM
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Originally Posted by clyde
Maybe this is a dumb, midpack question...but what does tire pressure have to do with measuring ride height?
Nothing. You could measure the ride height on bare rimzzz if you wanted.
Old 01-04-2006, 11:16 AM
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Originally Posted by clyde
Maybe this is a dumb, midpack question...but what does tire pressure have to do with measuring ride height?
If one tire, one side or one end was high or low it could put your numbers off. If you had a rear tire that was like 10 psi low because you did not bother to check your car could lean enough to transfer weight and change the numbers. Sure the change would be very small, but so is the difference in specs. Shop manual says to have full fuel tank, all fluids etcs.
Old 01-04-2006, 11:17 AM
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Originally Posted by John V
Nothing. You could measure the ride height on bare rimzzz if you wanted.
As long as all four were bare your numbers would be ok. Let me put it so you East coaster understand.... Make sure you dont got no rounds of wedge in there and take all them spring rubbers out.

Last edited by ULLLOSE; 01-04-2006 at 11:20 AM.
Old 01-04-2006, 11:47 AM
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Originally Posted by ULLLOSE
As long as all four were bare your numbers would be ok.
Not necessarily according to your previous post if the spec'd pressures were different for front and rear.

Let me put it so you East coaster understand.... Make sure you dont got no rounds of wedge in there and take all them spring rubbers out.
But I can keep my stagger, right? Don't take my stagger away, man!
Old 01-04-2006, 12:08 PM
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Originally Posted by clyde
Not necessarily according to your previous post if the spec'd pressures were different for front and rear.



But I can keep my stagger, right? Don't take my stagger away, man!
32psi front and rear for those of us that did not get the Nascar edition RX8.
Old 01-16-2006, 04:40 PM
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Checking w/ my local Dealer and with Mazda Motorsports shows only one part number for the springs. Mazda says that there will be essentially no difference in springs with this same number.
Old 01-16-2006, 04:53 PM
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Originally Posted by Hi Flying 8
Checking w/ my local Dealer and with Mazda Motorsports shows only one part number for the springs. Mazda says that there will be essentially no difference in springs with this same number.
Just for fun a few months ago I picked up a set of take-off springs from an 05' 6spd that had about the same miles than my car. When I checked them they were 1/4" taller than mine. You might have to order 10 sets to find one shorter but they are out there. A buddy of mine that road races bought 12 sets of springs for his car to find the shortest set he could.

Go walk around the lot and measure ride height of cars with the same options, they will all vary.
Old 01-16-2006, 06:15 PM
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heck I got 1.4 on the front and 1.8 on the back on a stock suspenion. guess I was lucky. Sure handle well.
Olddragger
oh I havent aligned yet since I placed the tein h springs and konis on.


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