Lowered Audi A3 with tilted rear wheels

[Eug]

So, on the way home today I saw an otherwise well-cared for looking Audi A3, but noticed that the car had been lowered significantly. However, the rear wheels were not vertical, but instead the bottom of the wheel was splayed outwards slightly. It immediately reminded me of this:

The wheels weren't anywhere near that tilted, but they did have a negative camber nonetheless.

Do people actually do this on purpose on regular cars? Sorry if this seems like a n00b question, but I had never seen this before just driving around on a residential street.

 

[RKS]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2241319

 

[satyajitmenon]

stance works?

 

[Insomniator]

I don't know what it is for exactly but it looks terrible. Reminds me of the mexicans' civics around the poor parts of town.

 

[Eug]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2241319

Hmmm... I see.

From that thread:

 

[bbs lm-r]

Yes. I've seen cars on the road that are practically riding on the inner sidewalls.

Some people like it, some people don't. I don't.

 

[justfrank]

Not great for even tire wear or longevity.

 

[manimal]

Herra frush

 

[Atty]

I see it a lot, don't like it. Only useful if you are racing and even then in small doses.

 

[Eug]

It was hard to see the tread clearly because the car was moving (slowly), but it looked like the tread was mostly gone from the inside 2/3rds of the tire.

I could definitely see a continuous tread groove on the outer third the tire, but it was missing on the middle and inner thirds of the tire.

 

[halik]

16 year old high school kids and similar retards in 20 year old vw rabbits.

 

[Arkaign]

Idiotic for the streets, and well, the A3 could only be purchased by absolute fucking idiots (there are better VW models for cheaper in every way but badge for example), so .. idiot squared, if that's possible.

 

[PricklyPete]

A slight negative camber will help you while tracking the car in corners. As an example, the BMW M3 (and I believe several other BMW's) come witha negative camber from the factory. It is very slight though and not readily visible like what you are referring to. The people who do it to extremes are just doing it for the "stance" look.

 

[exdeath]

The lowest end Audi botched up by a dumbass, you don't say...

 

[Arkaign]

The lowest end Audi botched up by a dumbass, you don't say...

lol truth

 

[JulesMaximus]

16 year old high school kids and similar retards in 20 year old vw rabbits.

Is that ugly skinny girl trying to show off her vagina in that pic?

 

[natto fire]

Can't see the picture, but I'm assuming it is the typical cut spring drop with no camber correction.

I have test driven one of these abomination vehicles and coupled with grippier tires it can be an exciting ride, in a bad way.

You'd think a "tuner" would realize an engineer knows more about suspension geometry than them, but it's usually the opposite.

 

[exdeath]

You'd think a "tuner" would realize an engineer knows more about suspension geometry than them, but it's usually the opposite.

To be fair, an engineer for a car company almost always has to compromise design for jack of all trades lowest common denominator lowest cost mass market appeal. There are many things you can improve on almost any factory production car provided you do it correctly and accept the trade-offs.

 

[punjabiplaya]

herrafrush vip jdm yo dawg whats up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-BGIcRBPHM [nsfw language]

 

[brainhulk]

 

[natto fire]

To be fair, an engineer for a car company almost always has to compromise design for jack of all trades lowest common denominator lowest cost mass market appeal. There are many things you can improve on almost any factory production car provided you do it correctly and accept the trade-offs.

That's true, and they have to factor in "avoid oversteer at all costs". Still though, I think for general street use with stock sized tire diameter, the camber angle from the factory should work pretty well.

The usual MO in these scenarios is to ghetto reduce the travel to the bottom 1/4 of the range, which negative cambers badly on stock suspension setup.

I guess that's one disadvantage of slamming an independently sprung vehicle, but nobody tell Throckmorton, we wouldn't want anything to tarnish his beloved IRS.

 

[Demo24]

A slight negative camber will help you while tracking the car in corners. As an example, the BMW M3 (and I believe several other BMW's) come witha negative camber from the factory. It is very slight though and not readily visible like what you are referring to. The people who do it to extremes are just doing it for the "stance" look.

I've always been surprised at how much negative camber the x5 runs.

 

[DominionSeraph]

 

[vshah]

i hate it.

 

[jtvang125]

All cars come with a little negative camber in the rear to improve handling. When you lower the car it will naturally cause more negative camber and will likely throw off the toe as well. Negative camber isn't that bad on tire wear but excessive toe in or toe out will chew through new tires in just a few months.

The people in those pictures are taking it to the extreme though but it's needed when you want to use the widest wheel possible on very aggressive wheel offsets and still fit within the wheel well.