I searched through a lot of alignment posts, but none addressed the factory chamber setting.

Why does Nissan want a POSITIVE chamber? (0.1 to 1.1 degrees I believe)

My truck is set at 0.6 right now and I hate the front end's cornering grip - the truck understeers a lot.

I'm getting an alignment done next week and I want both front wheels at negative 0.3 degrees; I feel this will help cornering a bit. Is there anything bad about going negative?

Understeer is not a bad thing on a heavy, high-center of gravity vehicle. The more load you have in it, on it, or behind it, the less sensitive you want it to be. Rollovers are not fun.

There's a reason for sports cars, and it's not just to pick up girls.

You might be dissapointed in the expected change in handling that a camber adjustment will provide...IE: The understeer may not completely go away.



The truck doesn't have 50/50 weight distribution for example...its front heavy...which tends to understeer.

The suspension is set up so that when you hit a bump, and the tire rises, the camber goes more negative...and when you droop, the camber goes more positive....

The impact of weighting and unweighting the suspension, and the tire's traction and ability to maintain a straight line, or to hold an arc when cornering, is affected by the camber changes as the suspension cycles.

Believe it or not, you will get more bang for your less understeer buck by simply using more air in the front tires than in the rear.

The factory recommends the same psi f/r so it WILL understeer...as that's more lawyer freindly.



All you have to do is put about 5 psi more up front, and see how you like it....it should sharpen it up a bit, for the cost of the air.

You could add a bit more as you go untill it does what you want, but typically, that would be the ball park to level the front/rear bias enough to still be safe/not plow.

I run the front AND the back at a higher than placard pressure, and I just chaulk test to see what I need.

Before spending money on an alignment, unless you were getting one anyway, try the pressure differential, and see how you like it...you could then augment the effect with alignment/soften the ride, or decide more oversteer's not all it was cracked up to be, and pick a new target, etc.

Hell, just getting rid of the stock tires made the X wake up and drive sharp.

Thanks for the tips guys.

OnlyOneDR,
I regularly attend autoX sessions with my car (not the X!), so I would say my sense of vehicle handling dynamics is fairly good. I fully understand the safety limit of my truck.

TJ,
I guess it's not only a matter of understeer, I just get this bad feeling whenever I picture + chamber front tire negoiating a turn; seems like it's gonna roll onto its sidewalls.

I am not looking for the ricer -5 degrees kind of camber, just an upright and slightly outward stance. I've heard that factory design cambers to work with the bevel on the bearings. Don't know if that's true or not. I don't want a negative camber to grind up my bearings.

I don't have stock tires, but I think they are crappier than stock. If I do get an upgrade on a truck, I don't think it'll be for handling (probably M/Ts).

You'll be hard-pressed to do that unless you are trying to cause an accident.

A point I have never thought of before, thanks for inciting a light-bulb type moment: The preload on the front wheel bearings is stupid-silly low, on the order of inch-lbs. Pushing them inward on the spindles with a little + camber is definitely a good thing.