chamber calculator?
 

this might be a dumb question.
is there some formula that you can figure proper wheel chamber with based on the temps on either side of the tire?
ex: temp a(inside edge of the tire) divided by temp b(outside edge of the tire) times something= add or subtract x deg of chamber.

lets put some numbers in to clear it up a little.
***this is just an example!

150degF/140degF X (some number)= add .1 deg of chamber (e.i.- go from -1.5 deg to -1.4 deg of chamber)

am i way off??? is there any kind of chamber calculator that maybe uses numbers from some place else on the car? and wouldn't this formula be different for each car due to the difference in chamber profiles (is that the right term? i mean as the suspension compresses, the angle of the wheel relative to the car changes) of the suspension. if that is the case, it would differ from front to rear also.

also, does spring rate have some bearing on what your chamber settings should be?

thanks for your help.

C-A-M-B-E-R ;)

No, there's no formula. Measure the temps at the inner, middle and outer edge of the tire. You'd like to see all three fairly close but typically the inside edge and middle will be slightly higher. If the outer edges are higher than the middle and inner you need to add more negative camber. How much? Depends on every car and tire.

As for spring rate versus camber lets assume all things are the same and all you did was add stiffer springs. Stiffer springs will allow less roll, dive and squat so in theory you would need slightly less negative camber. Tire temps will inform you of this and are really all that matters.

haha! camber, sorry.
ok, so i was on the right track (no pun intended).
i thought you might need a little less negative camber if you had stiffer springs.
thanks a lot!

Camber 101
 

The tire mfgs that I have talked to all say the same thing. On DOT type tires, it is impossible to get too much negative camber with a modern car because of the design of the front end parts. 2 1/2 degs is a good starting point, but most cars will not allow this much with out a little grey area rework such as off set bushings, sloted holes, longer lower control arms, shorter upper control arms, etc, etc. Tire wear will tell the story in the long run.

0.1 degree of camber is so tiny of an increment that you could not notice the difference. With variations in your rubber suspension bushings, uneven shop floors, wheel runout, etc etc, I doubt that you could even measure camber within 0.1 degree, repeatably time after time.