Guys,Wanted to share my mistakes and ask for some advice from you fellow M3 drivers (and others for that matter). Here's the wrong way of doing things:

As some of you know I had a bit of a tire disaster at the Dec NASA event in Homestead. Not bringing my street wheels, I barely got home from that event and had to drive home on one treded tire and one leaking rear tire that I had to stop and inflate every hour/100 miles or so. Combine that with a 5 hour pitch black night drive, crossing alligator alley with a near dead cell phone battery sums up to a bit more excitement than I need after a track weekend.

To make a long story short: I knew the tires were wearing uneavenly because of the stock camber setup, I couldn't get the replacement tires I wanted in time so I gambled that the tires would last one more event. Not very smart... Luckily David and David of TLM came to the rescue and set me up with wheels and great service for the weekend, at a price of course, but nobody said being stupid was supposed to be cheap in the first place.

Now trying to do it the right way:

I got a new set of wheels in the mail. I was initially was going for Toyo RA1s but eventually settled with a square setup of 18" 265 BF Goodrich R1s. Long story, but from now on I bring two set of wheels to the track like everybody else. (This also means my 18" OEM rims are for sale cheap, should anyone be looking for that.)
Now I need to fix the camber for better tire life, traction and less understeer. 100% stock suspension. Now my M3 is also my daily driver and I don't really plan to mod this car into a track car but a set of camber plates won't kill me.

Looking for advice on how to make this work for the track and street? Max out the stock suspension camber? Camber plates? If so what brands? I know some of you have coil overs etc but I am not planning for that right now. Do I need to adjust camber before after each event or can I find a compromise setting "in between"?
Let me know what you got. Any advice appreciated! //JJ

Hi JJ,
Wow, I didn't realize that your drive home was that exciting! I think you're doing the right thing by bringing a second set of wheels to the track. As far as camber adjustments go, I think there was another good thread on here about that, but I'll give you my two cents:

Like you, my M3 is also my daily driver, so I didn't want to go too aggressive on the negative camber. After speaking to many people, including TLM, and also looking at the tire wear on my streets and track tires, it was obvious that I could go a little more negative that I was at. The point, before going further, is that I needed a camber alignment that would be a happy median for tire life; street and track, because I did not want to have to align the car after every track event.

First, you need a good set of camber plates. I went with M3 Turner camber plates: http://www.turnermoto...
at $450 they are pricey, but will end up paying for themselves in tire life saved.

As far as camber goes, I started around -2.25 in the front, but later moved to -2.75 - advice from TLM. The car handled the turns much nicer and the tire wear is more even. I believe I went -1.8 in the rear (no aftermarket plates).

You don't have to get coil-overs to do this, but you could always buy new shorter sport springs which will help bring down the center gravity of your car as well as a little tighter rebound/compression.

Hope this helps!
Carlos

Thanks Carlos, that helps a lot. I somehow overlooked the BMW forum section but I now found the thread you mentioned. [edit] And thanks for moving the post here..

Hey JJ, Carlos. I am going to be at NASA this weekend and will be glad to help.
JJ we can help you with your suspension setup, we use the TC kline camber plates in our race cars and they put up with lots of abuse so they will be great for the street and track. Obviously we can get them and install them for you.

David Tuaty
www.TuatyLeiraMotorsports.com
305-216-5390

Hey David, I couldn't make it to Homestead this weekend so I will have to get it done in Tampa. Still trying to make up my mind what camber plates to get.

Hi JJ. We can set you up with camber plates at a resonable cost and are designed to be used with the OEM suspension. Also, I suggest adjustable rear trail arms to get more camber at the rear tires. We have the SPC units that are made from mild steel and only cost $190 for the pair. Many Club racers use these as they look very similar to the stock ones. Track Weekend.com members get a discount too! Below are the links to the items I have suggested.
Thanks
Allan
AAK Motorsports, BMW Sponsor

Rear Camber arms

Camber Plates

Hello JJ

I have had great results with my TC Kline adjustable plates Two major improvements Much less understeer and corrected the tire wear situation. My car is a track car only but the adjustment is very easy and can be done in about 15 minutes per side to go from street to track by a novice like myself

These were not purchased from David as I got them before he came onto the scene but TLM are an authorized TC Kline tuner

PS in the rain with lots of standing water the set up still got me down the straight at PBIR at a very good rate of speed this weekend

Sean E-36 M3

I had KW coil overs with Turner camber plates and turner rear arms. The rea arms are great. Turner front camber plates had some stud stripping issues. We thought they were not very robust. I have seince changed to TC Kline coil overs and front Plates.

If you lower your car you will need a set of rear camber arms.

I personally didnt feel the improvements I expected by running more gressive front camber. But when we adjsuted the toe in front to run slightly toe OUT, my turn in was improved vastly. Unfortunatley running toe out in the strteet scrubs your tires worse than camber. I got tired of re setting the toe everrytime so I do what Carlos suggests...find a happy medium that can live on the track and the street as well.
I went back to a -1.75 and find that still afords me incredible grip and is a bit easier on wear.
My settings and performace data is atypical since I am a much heavier convertible. So note that.

Spend a bit of time and money experimenting untill you reach a point that works for your car's set up, ride heitht, weight etc. and is still something you can live with when tire wear is factored in.
Bold owners will use marks on their camber plates and change their own camber just for track days and then back to a strteet setting...all this with out going on a laser rack and no cost either.. If you are really good, you can do this. Can be very tricky.

My TMS camber plates are for sale.