Re: P6 V8 project: Alloy wheels fitted, bodywork finished!!
Hi Truckdoctor
The camber on Damien's front wheels is solely due to the ride height. If you jack up the front of the P6 you will appreciate that the front wheels go through a huge camber change as the front goes up. The same happens as the front goes down. If the ride height is noticeably below standard then you do indeed get negative camber like this.
This large camber change as the suspension moves is why I always recommend that people ignore the tracking settings quoted in the workshop manuals and go for ZERO, ie completely parallel. Otherwise you will find that the car is very sensitive to small road irregularities and is hard work to drive straight and true at speed.
This camber change is helpfull in cornering though. Whereas modern cars try to set an initial negative camber and then maintain that same camber in all conditions, either by eliminating roll or by clever suspension geometry, Rover took a different approach. They assumned that the car would roll in corners - and at roughly proportionate to the energy of cornering - so arranged the suspension to keep the wheel upright in straight running (minimum tyre wear), but to gain increasing amounts of negative camber as the car rolled. The point of negative camber is counteract the effect of the tyre rolling on the rim, so that the tread of the tyre stays flat on the road surface for maximum grip.
For Damien's car to work well in corners, he needs either to raise the front back to standard ride height, or to limit roll by fitting a heavier anti roll bar. I know which I'd do!
Chris
