Does anybody know if there is anything that can be adjusted to make "negative camber" more "positive" on rear tires?? A couple of mechanics said that there's nothing that can really be done because it has independent suspension and the traditional camber adjustment will not do anything except raise the car. I'm learning as I go, so, any help is appreciated. THANKS !!!
Assuming (as Speedy Jim suggested) there's nothing bent in your suspension, camber and rear suspension height are pretty much two ways to measure the same phenomenon: camber decreases (goes more negative) as the rear tire rises with respect to the body.
You could raise your Super Beetle's rear and and get positive camber, but why would you want to?
I have experience with a VW Bus and some old Porsches. One warning I can give you is that if you have a Porsche 356 (swing axle rear suspension) you will not be allowed to run it in a lot of driving events UNLESS your rear end has negative camber.
Granted, the Super Beetle's semi-trailing arm rear suspension is not a swing axle, and positive camber won't be as hazardous, but you're probably better off with negative camber. The early Porsche 911 runs negative camber.
The Bus has positive rear camber, but it's pretty much a given that Buses WILL flip over if you try to corner too hard.
J&M Easter wrote:
Not on a 1978 with IRS, methinks not! On the swing axle rear ends, yes, severely.
I'm not sure you *can* adjust the camber on the rear with IRS. I believe it's fixed and non-adjustable, without radically modifying the geometery of the whole rear suspension. I'd have to look in my Bently manual to be sure, but I'm pretty sure just sitting here non-referenced.
Thanks for the responses. Does this mean that visibly negative camber is okay on 1978 Super Beetle? Won't there be excessive tire wear? The mechanics who saw it said it's more negative than you would find in standard beetles and commented that it's just a "Super Beetle thing". Haven't measured camber with the bubble protractor yet (don't have one) but, it appears to be more negative than what I've seen in other super beetles. We are going to replace the bushings to see if that makes any difference. Again, thanks for the info.
On Sat, 05 Jul 2003 17:15:37 GMT, "J&M Easter" ran around screaming and yelling:
hehehe...actually it seems to be a "german" thing...bmw and mercedes also have rear wheel negative camber...usually .5-2 degrees negative...depending on load(ride height)...if *both* rear tires are cambered the same, then i would say, it is normal(what exactly is "normal" anyway?), but if one is worse than the other you may have some residual damage from a previous colision...the tire wear isn't
*really* excessive, unless you rotate your tires...the rears wear at an "angle" to match the road..if you rotate the fronts to rear,and rear to fronts, then you get a period of "wearing in" on both the front and rear...the fronts(that came from the rear_) will have to "wear" flat again, and the rears(that came from the front) will have to "wear" to the road to match the camber angle...whew, confused yet? JoeyMotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.