[sirhawes]

About as uneducated as they come when talking about camber. All i know is the more negative camber the better cornering ability. I also dont know if your able to make any negative camber with the stock arms (or something?) and if not, is it worth it to buy a camber kit for only a couple degrees? I have read that you sacrifice comfort and need all you smart peoples opinions

[jadnashuanh]

Well, not exactly!

Most of the time, a vehicle is traveling straight ahead. If there is a constant, significant amount of chamber, you'll wear out the edge of the tire just going straight, and since the wheel and tire aren't square, the contact patch you wont have as much stopping or traction capability for stopping or going.

Ideally, the wheel would be constantly perpendicular to the load so your contact patch was as big as it could be. As you go around a corner, the loads will change the position of the axle in the suspension, and good suspension geometry would have it change the chamber some as it goes around a corner to provide consistent contact patch and performance. Modern suspensions already do that to a degree.

So, unless you are doing something like competing on a circle track where you want to optimize the load of the suspension and the contact patch as close to perfect, IMHO, you should leave well enough alone. One reason you buy a BMW is that they already did their homework. Unless your uses are going to be very specialized, it's all a compromise, and unless you don't care about short tire life, less stopping capacity, or straight ahead traction, proceed carefully!

[infinitigor]

increased neg camber will wear your tire out faster, and you might barely feel an improved handling dynamic. lowering a car in itself will produce a few negative degrees of camber

and everything else the guy above me said lol

[Dippydo]

Depends on how much. My shop says you can add up to 4-5 degrees without any extra wear on the tires. I am running -3 with about 9,000 miles on my tires and they are wearing evenly across from in to out.

[DVC]

If you're looking for more front end grip, adding negative camber is an effective way to get it. And a little goes a long way... stock F30s have about -0.5° up front, which is a bit lacking if you're pushing the car much while cornering. Lowering the car by just 20mm adds about -0.2°, and this is enough to notice. For street driving, 1.5° of negative camber in the front is plenty - on the track, 2°+ is not uncommon, even for cars that are primarily daily drivers (this is why adjustable camber plates are popular with track guys).
In order to increase negative camber, there are a few options at the moment... OEM "swivel bearings" (which replace the stock wheel carrier) add -0.5° without any aftermarket part drama. Beyond that, you're looking at camber plates... and there aren't too many good options available for F30s yet. If you search in this forum, you'll find more info on specific camber plate options.

In terms of tire wear, depending on your driving style, adding more negative camber can actually help with evening out wear. It's easy to tell by looking at your front tires now: if the outside portion of the tread is shallower than the inside, then more negative camber will improve your wear characteristics. If it's even, it may cause the inside to wear a bit faster (unless you start driving faster in the corners to take advantage of the increase in grip!)

[MickAv8r]

Just remember its a fine line you walk between improved handling and full retard. IMO its one of the fastest ways to ruin the look of a car.

[ibn_adam]

Awesome!