- If there is one thing that really just seems
to get the internet common sections going,
and makes the keyboard warriors just stand at attention,
it's when we talk about either stretched tires
or negative camber.
Whenever it's brought up,
you have accusations being thrown left and right
by people who have just actually, you know,
ran a good amount of cambers
swearing that it's not that bad,
the one guy who's just there to stir up,
and the original poster, just sitting there going,
"What the have I actually done?"
Well, we are going to take another shot at it
because why not, I guess?
Why not?
And talk about one of the main arguments
when it comes down to running an amount of native camber
on your vehicle, and that is whether or not running
any kind of camber on your car will kill the tires.
And that's what we're going to be talking about
on today's episode of "Myth or Fact".
(electronic crackling)
(engine revving)
But real quick, we are in the midst of the holiday season,
and that means we have deals going on,
like all over at Fitment Industries.com right now.
So if you have been looking around for some new wheels,
tires, or suspension,
now is the time to probably go like check it out
while it lasts.
Other than that, we started our own wheel brand.
It's called the Artisan Wheels.
It's like, you know, pretty neat.
Pre-order's available right now, really appreciate it,
no big deal or anything.
But anyway, you already know we have
to go over a little bit of a backstory of
where this whole thing all came from.
So what exactly is camber, where did it come from,
all that sort of good stuff.
Like most things, it stems from the world of motor sports.
Negative camber is a direct effect of lowering a vehicle.
The way the vehicle suspension geometry is laid out
causes this effect when the car is lowered.
It's called natural camber.
And since most performance cars have a lowered ride height
to keep the center of gravity low, it just makes sense.
In the world of motor sports, suspension plays a huge factor
when it comes down to setting up a vehicle properly
to what the driver needs.
In most cases, in drift or circuit racing,
more negative camber is added to help with tire contact
when the car is under a g-force load going around a corner.
But here's the thing, all right?
No one really seems to care about that.
You know why?
Because those cars aren't the ones that are stirring up
all the arguments.
No, it's the ones with like
the 15 to 20 degrees of negative camber,
bouncing down the road on a 100K springs causing
all the shit, all right?
Those are the ones that are starting arguments.
So let's talk about those.
When looking at cars with a good amount of camber,
it's pretty obvious just by looking at the pictures
that there's a good portion of the tire
that isn't even making contact at all with the road,
making people come to the conclusion
that those tires are going to wear out
in a matter of like a couple of days.
And that necessarily isn't really the case at all.
But they're literally out of alignment. You can see it.
And yes, that is true.
However, when you're looking at alignment of a vehicle,
camber is not going to be the biggest thing
that you're gonna be worried about.
Actually, it's pretty far at the bottom of the list
because when lowering a vehicle,
camber isn't the only thing that gets affected.
Depending on the suspension geometry of your car,
you might have to deal
with quite a bit of tow adjustment when dropping your car.
And that is specifically what is going to kill your tires
faster than anything else.
Camber, as we know, brings in the top of your wheels
and tires like this.
But tow, on the other hand,
tow brings in the side of your wheels and tires like this.
So when lowering your car quite a bit,
and depending on what type of car you have,
this is something that you might have
to take into consideration
and buy some sort of adjustable control arm
or something to counteract that.
The best way to describe it as a pair of skis.
If your skis are pointing straight down the mountain,
you're going to have the least amount of friction
and drag going down the mountain.
Everything's going to be fine.
But as soon as you bring the tips of your skis together,
you start to create more friction and drag,
and you start to slow down.
The same thing happens with your tires when you have tow.
And that is what's going to wear them faster
since we are creating more drag and friction
against the tire.
Does that make sense?
So does that mean that camber has no negative effects
at all when it comes to your tires?
Well, not exactly.
In most cases,
if you are running a natural amount of camber,
and have just a few degrees here and there to help dial
in your fitment, you're going to be just fine.
But as we know, right, that isn't always the case.
And people like to take things to the extreme.
When fitting some really wide wheels
and it require an excessive amount of camber,
this is where you start to see those issues come into play.
The first thing that you'll probably encounter
is traction issues, of course, and debeading issues,
and other things like that.
But that's a whole nother video.
You really wont start run into any wear issues
until you get to the point where your literally only contact
to the road is outside or near the end of the tread pattern
of your tire.
And you know exactly what I'm talking about,
cars with the extreme negative camber,
where it looks like they're literally running
on the sidewalls.
And you're like, how the hell does the actual barrel
of the wheel not hit the ground?
Those parts of the tire are never meant
to come in contact with anything!
Especially the road!
And yes, they will wear extremely fast.
But you know what? They are well aware of that fact.
They know that what they're doing isn't
by any sense practical, but they do it because they love it.
Right?
So, with all that being said,
if you're looking at lowering your car
or adding a little bit of camber to get that fender
to lip fitment that you're wanting,
don't be worried about the wear of your tires.
If you're running camber for a performance set up
like drifting,
you aren't even going to be worried about it
in the first place, you're just going to burn them off
in a few laps anyway.
The biggest thing is just to keep your tow in alignment
and don't run, you know, negative 20 degrees camber
and you'll be good to go.
We'd love to know your thoughts down
in the comments section below.
And of course, if you liked this video,
please hit that thumbs up.
And of course, don't forget to subscribe.
Don't forget to check out all the wheels, tires,
and suspension, all available over at FitmentIndustries.com.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
Let us know what you'd like us to cover
in the next episode of "Myth or Fact" down
in the comments below.
I'm Gels from Fitment Industries. We'll see you later.
Peace.
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