Camber plates and toe adjustment

[gunsmoker]

I bought millway street camber plates and just scheduled the installation with a local shop. They asked me what camber I wanted to have them set to. I thought I could have them set to the factory default in the standard position and then I could just set them to more negative camber myself as needed. The mechanic said it does not work that way, because every time the camber is changed, the toe needs to be adjusted as well. Is that correct?

[Nyc911]

That’s correct.

But you can have them mark off 2 settings or mark your street setting than just max them out on the track

That’s my plan I just installed my millways as well

[JeffB-M3]

I think the Millways only have camber adjustment. (I have Vorshlag so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.). As such, you have to pick your target camber + toe. When you adjust the camber to the other setting you’re accepting a compromise on the toe. That said, the toe will only be off by a very little bit. I actually chose to go with a compromise setting all the time and don’t adjust the camber. I’m at -2.5 with zero toe and pretty happy with that setup. It’s enough camber so the front tire shoulders don’t get absolutely destroyed at the track but the road manners are still good.

[Fred E]

Your mechanic is correct. Because of how the front suspension geometry works, when you adjust for more negative camber, the wheels will automatically toe out (someone correct me if it toes in instead, but it looks like it would toe out). The toe arms connected to the knuckle will need to be adjusted to bring the toe back to how it was. Technically you could adjust camber yourself, but you would also need to adjust toe to compensate.

[gunsmoker]

Thanks, guys! I decided to add 1 degree of negative camber and keep the toe per the factory spec.

[SYT_Shadow]

Your mechanic is technically correct, but ultimately incorrect as he doesn't say how the toe and camber are related.

Luckily, you can align a M3 to a good track spec, for example -3 camber and 0.04 toe out, and then remove a whole degree of camber and that lands you right around 0.03 toe in, which is the oem street setting more or less.

I have an alignment sheet that explains how to mark both the street and track camber settings which would have correlated toe settings that are ideal for the different uses.

[MineralWhiteF80]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Your mechanic is technically correct, but ultimately incorrect as he doesn't say how the toe and camber are related.

Luckily, you can align a M3 to a good track spec, for example -3 camber and 0.04 toe out, and then remove a whole degree of camber and that lands you right around 0.03 toe in, which is the oem street setting more or less.

I have an alignment sheet that explains how to mark both the street and track camber settings which would have correlated toe settings that are ideal for the different uses.

This is what I am doing too based on SYT_Shadow recommendation. I've been running it like this for a year and has been a great feeling setup to me.

The only thing to clarify, I think it should be 0.4 degrees total toe out (not 0.04).

Also, only difference on my car, when I have the car aligned to -3.0 camber and 0.4 degrees total toe out on the front axle, when I move my Vorshlag plates back to -2.0 degrees camber (for street setting), the toe goes to zero degrees. I couldn't get any toe in, but that may be my ride height settings (?).

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by MineralWhiteF80

This is what I am doing too based on SYT_Shadow recommendation. I've been running it like this for a year and has been a great feeling setup to me.

The only thing to clarify, I think it should be 0.4 degrees total toe out (not 0.04).

Also, only difference on my car, when I have the car aligned to -3.0 camber and 0.4 degrees total toe out on the front axle, when I move my Vorshlag plates back to -2.0 degrees camber (for street setting), the toe goes to zero degrees. I couldn't get any toe in, but that may be my ride height settings (?).

I was quoting the sheet from memory, you are probably right.

We've been doing this with 5 of our track cars since like 2014, driving 10k street miles. It works perfectly, although your biggest challenge is getting the alignment guy's brain to not explode