SmokinS13SR20

I'm assuming treekiller will chime in, as well as hoping he will.

I'm curious to know if there is a 'general amount' of camber change per (for example) 1 inch of suspension travel.

I'm assuming it is different per vehicle, per aftermarket parts, but I would like to know for sure.

treekiller

that is 100% vehicle specific. each car and suspension design differs. it's not hard to find, jack the car up remove the spring and measure diffrent camber at points along the curve, plot your results and you'll wind up with a graph that looks something like this



when you find your 'falling off point" you can also determine how low you want to set the car, and how much static camber you desire VS. your body roll. you can also measure body roll in a corner or compression by using a small amount of crayon, marker, or other trace that will not harm the seals on the shock, on the shock rod. you'll see the MAXIMUM point of compression of that corner. then plot your cornering attitude.

This can also be calculated, but dynamic chassis load calculations are best left to the engineers. simple measurements, is my preferred method, since factoring in spring rate, shock bump, compression speed, sprung vs. unsprung mass. can become a nightmare of unknown factors. and even if you have all the data, there is bushing friction, shock wear, etc. that can't be calculated, only measured, or assumed.

but the goal is to have the camber just enough to offset body roll and keep those contact patches as flat as possible another good tool is video. or high speed photography, seeing what the wheels and tires are doing can also help you get a close setup.

If you want help it only takes about an hour or so to plot YOUR cars camber curve. and with the hydraulic chassis lift it's a easy job, if your serious we can get you empirical data to work with.

what type of car? while a Macpherson setup on a stock car might gain 2-3 degrees over it's entire stroke, a Double a-arm is basically limited only to how aggressive the original chassis was designed. remember also that Caster also determines camber in a corner since when you turn the wheel you'll get a bit of camber gain from the caster. Look at an older mercedes or BMW strut suspension they can run less agressive static camber since their caster is way out there.

SmokinS13SR20

The car is a Crx. I've always wondered this question though. I would like to ultimately set the suspension up for a mix between straight line acceleration and cornerning ability. (who doesn't?) Getting the power to the ground wont be of immediate concern however, since it won't have much to begin with, so handling can be the main focus. I am un-aware if it has full coilovers or 'sleeve-overs' (reason for not knowing, is that the car is not in my possesion yet) but, it does have something adjustable underneath.

I have a few friends that have horrible suspension set-ups that make me cringe when I see them, which in turn makes me want to have mine dialed in perfectly.

treekiller

well the Plots for a CRX should be availble online. if you do a little google work. It's a pretty popular car, and the suspension is borrowed civic stuff so even moreso.

I wouldn't worry too much about camber curve, since your not likley to change it, however setting up static camber can be a focus, and is easy to set with a pyrometer. honda cars are super forgiving of ride heigth, since their camber gain is consistent throughout the suspension travel. I've been told by some that the honda's get better as they get lower. now that may be poorly set up cars. but it's nice to know that your not likley to reach a falling off point like is so easy with a strut based car.

FYI on a strut based car the quickest way to see is look at the control arm's inclination, if it's canted down toward the pavement it will increase negative camber with compression, if it's canted upward the the arm gets shorter under compression (not longer) therefore loosing camber under compression. this can be corrected with roll center adjustment.. but most hacked together suspensions don't take this into account. and to compensate they have to run assinine amounts of static camber.

senor honda

Everything is a compromise.........
My experience with setting up suspensions is that if you want it to be perfect for more than one thing, you will have to be willing to make adjustments each time you change to the "other" thing. Once I get a car set up right for a certain track, I put those settings in my log book so they become repeatable for when I go to that track again.

Cornering ability depends generally on the radius of the turns and the surface..................and that will vary from track to track.
----------------------------------
For the street, I set things up for the conditions of radius and surface
that I am most likely to encounter in the places I drive, combined with my driving style, which varies between people.

I've seen too many times where someone paid too much and ended up with a car that was not fun to drive........their car is getting beat up from expensive springs that are too short, they think it's cool to ride on hard springs that cause them to lose grip in the turns, and who probably won't know what good handling is, since they never saw it.

For those of you who have ridden with me, you have seen what I can do with inexpensive stock components and my knowledge of how suspensions work, combined with careful measuring.-Bob

longfellow2

Toe IN/Out under compression and rebound is just as important.