Negative rear camber in snow!

[jimmy-s3]

Has anyone else on here got negative rear camber? My car is leathal at the moment and the only thing i can put it down to is the negative rear camber.
Whats everyone else's mk5 like at the moment??

[gti265]

mine is:

left: -1' 49

right -1'26

tom

[jimmy-s3]

Yeah but hows it drive on these slushy icey roads?? Mines all over the road even at 20 mph!

[Janner_Sy]

what makes you think its the negative camber????? 

what tyres are you using

[jimmy-s3]

Tyres are 215/40/18 Falken 912's with 75% tread left! It feels like the rear of the car is unsteady which makes me think camber!!?

[Janner_Sy]

are you aware that summer tyres significantly loose their grip once the temperature drops below 7^oC.  this is even more noticeable on high performance tyres which rely on having a little more temperature in them to allow the rubber compound to work as expected.

id bet that its your tyres causing an issue.  its either that or there is something mechanically not right or set up correctly.  It really shouldnt be that bad.

what were the weather conditions this was happening in

[gti265]

i dont no as we havent had snow here, it also happens if you let go of the accelerater half way round a corner, this can make the back end go a bit lose

are your tyres at the correct pressure??

[Janner_Sy]

i dont no as we havent had snow here, it also happens if you let go of the accelerater half way round a corner, this can make the back end go a bit lose

thats a little bit of oversteer caused by the lack of grip at the moment. 

you have a very good point about the tyre pressures.  definitely worth a check, pressures drop in the cold, so you  need to increase them to compensate for the temp drops

[jimmy-s3]

Yep, tyres are correct pressure!
Even when the temp has dropped in the past, these tyres in my opintion are great so im not sure its an issue with them.
It feels like really bad understeer but thats even when driving in a straight line and the car has been twitching from side to side when driving over slushy ice/snow even at 20-30mph on an A road!

[gti265]

have u got underneith the car and checked theres nothing loose or taken the rear wheels of and checked everything is how it should be??

[ub7rm]

Have you had the Falkens in the snow before?  I have the FK452's and even the badly worn dunlop shytemax they replaced were a lot better in the snow.  Obviously no summer tyre is going to be at its best in the cold and snow but these seem particularly bad.

Next tyres will be european, most likely michelins, should be designed with a bit of cold weather in mind!

[jimmy-s3]

They have been fine in the past! I had a set of 452's on my last car and they also were fine!

[xxx_mojo_xxx]

Yep, tyres are correct pressure!
Even when the temp has dropped in the past, these tyres in my opintion are great so im not sure its an issue with them.
It feels like really bad understeer but thats even when driving in a straight line and the car has been twitching from side to side when driving over slushy ice/snow even at 20-30mph on an A road!

The twitchiness in a straight line (especially during hard braking) is a give away of too much 'toe out' on the rear wheels.  That's where the wheels are pointing outwards, i.e. \ /.

I hope that makes sense...basically you really want your rear wheels to be dead straight, i.e. | | or with a little toe in, / \. 

I think this is not the same as camber though.

[jimmy-s3]

Guess what!
Checked my rear tyres and the n/s/r tyre has worn right down on 2/3 of the inside leaving just 1/3 of the outer edge with tread!
So when ive been checking my rear tyres iv just looked and felt the outer edge!
Anyway, ive had the offending tyre replaced today and the car feels much better already. Once the snows gone im gunna have a 4 wheel alignment done!

[daz5182]

must have been the camber and the tread mate, i have got a standard GT and it is fantastic in the snow, i have got bridgestone re070s too which aren't the best for snow....