Tyre & Tech Ltd (No.5222390) Lounge Lizard Design © 2011  Camber angle is the angle made by the wheel of a vehicle. Specifically, Camber angle is the angle between the vertical axis of wheel and the vertical axis of the car/vehicle when viewed from the front or rear. The design of suspension and steering depends on this angle. Camber angle is distinguished in two different ways, Positive camber - The camber angle is termed positive camber, if the top of the wheel is further out than the bottom. Negative camber. It is called negative camber when the bottom of the wheel is further out than the top. If the tyre is to be perfectly positioned on the ground, and the wear on the tread is to be symmetrical, the wheel should have a zero camber (perfectly perpendicular to the ground) for all the conditions that are created during the ride, as the conditions are extremely variable, however, the existence of a correctly set positive or negative angle must be acknowledged, in certain specific cases, Camber angle alters the handling qualities of a particular suspension design – in particular negative camber improves grip when cornering. This is because it presents the tire, which is taking the greatest proportion of the cornering forces, at a more optimal angle to the road, increasing its contact area and transmitting the forces through the vertical plane of the tire, rather than through a shear force across it. But, for maximum straight line acceleration, the greatest traction will be attained when the camber angle is zero and the tread is flat on the road. In suspension design, proper management of camber angle is a major factor, and must incorporate not only idealized geometric models, but also real-life behaviour of the components; flex distortion, elasticity, etc.. Anyone who has, or is going to lower the cars ride height there are some very important factors you must consider, the camber angles will reduce as a result toward the negative, this normally is forewarned in the instructions, but since no cars geometry is supported at right angles, then lowering will influence other angles with varying consequence. If the car is lowered by using shortened springs, the caster angle changes and will increase the chance of wear and tear of tire and even to impair handling. Due to this, drivers who are serious about modifying their car for better handling will modify the mounting point of the top of the struts to the body to allow some lateral movement for caster adjustment, along with lowering the body.  It's important to draw the distinction between camber relative to the road, and camber relative to the chassis. To maintain the ideal camber relative to the road, the suspension must be designed so that wheel camber relative to the chassis becomes increasingly negative as the suspension deflects upward. While maintaining the ideal camber angle throughout the suspension travel assures that the tire is operating at peak efficiency, designers often configure the front suspensions of passenger cars so that the wheels gain positive camber as they are deflected upward. The purpose of such a design is to reduce the cornering power of the front end relative to the rear end, so that the car will understeer in steadily greater amounts up to the limit of adhesion. Understeer is inherently a much safer and more stable condition than oversteer, and thus is preferable for cars intended for the public. Since most independent suspensions are designed so that the camber varies as the wheel moves up and down relative to the chassis, the camber angle that we set when we align the car is not typically what is seen when the car is in a corner. Nevertheless, it's really the only reference we have to make camber adjustments. For competition, it's necessary to set the camber under the static condition, test the car, then alter the static setting in the direction that is indicated by the test results. This angle is the most common to be misdiagnosed as tracking wear. The principle of the angle is to distribute the cars weight evenly across the width of the tyre thus maximising grip, but this angle demands the most complicated amount of maths of all the angles. Camber is the most violent angle of them all as far as tyre wear is concerned, and has the ability to wear down to the wire in as little as 1000 miles, although not realising the poor handling will need to be blatantly ignored The way to recognize camber wear is by the damage, it is smooth and confined to a very small area normally about 10% of the total tyre width, often the remaining tread has little or no wear, the vast majority of camber problems lean toward the negative and violently wears the tyre in an unseen area deep inside the heel arch. See picture Camber wear is violent and confined to a small area of the tyre. Non standard wheels can be a reason for camber wear problems. If camber is knocked out it will disturb the wheel alignment but the wear pattern and method of correction are miles apart camber can  cause a pull even from the rear of the car, wheel alignment apart from it’s wear will not       Camber Negative Camber on tyres Summary