Hello all, I have noticed many cars these days ( including one I bought 95Rx7) have the wheels pitched in on top at a dramatic angle. From the rear, it looks like a pyramid, or a triangle.
Now, I understand moving it to fit an oversize tire in, but on some cars, the tire will fit, without catching the wheel well lip, even accounting for up and down movement, yet I still see this "angle".

Is there a purpose I don't know of? Is it all for a look? To me, it appears the tire is riding mostly on the inner edge, or at least mostly loading it there. Is it to get the tires spinning easier ( with less contact) for drifting?

Please educate me, so I don't embarrass myself in person!

Thank you

Rich

 

From one "old man" to another.....
What your describing is "negative camber"....with the top of the tire leaning in-board. Some negative camber is common on performance sportscars like the FD. In fact, IIRC the FACTORY negative camber settings for the FD is about -1.5 deg.
If you're going straight down the road it does look counter-intuitive but think about what the outside (weighted) tire does during cornering at the contact patch. As you turn the car, the tire sidewall will flex slightly....as it suppose to...and contact with the pavement will actually be enhanced over what it would have been if there were no negative camber. Without it, the inside of the contact patch would tend to 'lift' and traction would decrease.
With negative camber, the tire 'tread' will tend to wear a little quicker on the inside. That comes with the territory but can be mitigated a little with rotation.

 

camber is leaning your tires inward toward your fenders to lower your car more.
it ruins your tires and looks like you running with your knees taped together

 

It's not just to lower the car. And proper camber settings don't ruin tires.

 

If you can see it with the naked eye though, especially an untrained naked eye, then the camber is a lot more negative than is common. Rich do you know what the actual numbers are for your camber? The camber is adjustable on our cars so you could have it brought less negative with an alignment if it is too far negative provided other factors such as bad parts or lowered ride height aren't moving it out of the adjustment range. There is another related alignment angle called caster. Caster is the tilt of the strut tower and ball-joints rearward, the further rearward they are tilted the more positive the caster. Caster causes the wheels to change camber angles on turning. The outside tire will be chambered in(negative) and the inside tire will be chambered out(positive) if I remember correctly. The more positive the caster the greater this affect.

 

I disagree. Just because it's visible doesn't make it uncommon.
The wider the tire the more apparent camber will be. The stock FD tire size is/was 225 and it wasn't that noticible. I ran 245s on the stock FD rims with stock camber settings (-1.5 deg. front...iirc -1 deg. rear) and it was easier to see. I still run that camber settings but now have 255's (aftermarket wheels) and it's even more apparent.

A certain segment of car owners like to 'slam' cars and put max negative camber (and even add camber plates to allow for more) on both for the 'look', which is VERY apparent, and to help clearance tires. But again, some negative camber on a street-driven sportscar is common and perferred.

 

The main purpose of negative camber is to set the tread of the tires square to the pavement under hard cornering. To set the proper negative camber, one has to take into account: 1, the purpose for what the car will be driven. 2, the type and compound of the tire being mounted. 3, the suspension stiffness. 4, and the driving style of the primary driver.
If the car is only track driven with high cornering speeds with real sticky tires, then -3 degrees may not be sufficient. If the car is driven down the boulevard showing it off to your friends and foes, then stock settings is more than sufficient. I found that the faster you drive through the corners (which takes years of training and experience), the more negative camber will need to be set in to get the tires to grip better and wear EVENLY.

 

Wheel Alignment Explained - What is camber, caster and toe? - Yospeed

Hellaflush...that "pyramid look" you mentioned, is a fad like spinner wheels and lowered pickup trucks. Bad for handling, bad for your suspension linkage, bad over speed bumps, you be the judge how it looks.