Camber, in simple words, can be defined as the inward or outward angle of the tire when viewed from the anterior end of the vehicle. Almost every street racer is obsessed with camber, thanks to its indispensable significance. Also, this owes to its ability to improve your car’s handling by adding lateral grip in moderation.
As loyal car enthusiasts, we know camber is and should be taken seriously. As long as it’s done within limits, your tires will thank you for it. However, the camber story doesn’t end here.
Camber has become the new aesthetic toy for many. While some might tilt the tires inward as a needed strategy, others like to ride the extra mile for the sake of style and preference. And hence, the tires get tilted inwards more than they are required to be in the first place.
Fear not, car enthusiasts, in any case, we got your back. If you intend to tilt your tires aggressively, we have recommended some tires that will not melt away because of the configuration.
The Top 5 Absolute Best Tires for Negative Camber
Here, we have listed five of the best tires that work miraculously well against negative camber. Here’s an overview:
- Nitto Neo Gen All Season Radial Tire
- Mickey Thompson ET Street S/S Racing Radial Tire
- Continental Extreme Contact DWS06 All-Season Radial Tire
- Hankook Ventus V12 evo 2 Summer Radial Tire
- Nitto NT555 G2 all_ Season Radial Tire
1. Nitto Neo Gen All Season Radial Tire
It has the uncanny ability to resist wear due to camber…
Pros:
- Enhanced wet traction
- Lasts 20% longer than most similar tires
- Improves handling and even treadwear
- Designed for lowered cars
Cons:
- Not very stable
Nitto, being the first on our list provides you with excellent traction against straight alignment as well as negative and positive camber. Specifically well-engineered, it improves stability and reduces treadwear associated with negative camber degrees.
Nitto Neo Gen has a UTQG rating of 280, which is not other-worldly but still good enough. Nitto Neo gen inner shoulder is created from an isolated continuous block. It features the Next-generation silica enriched compound within its tread which allows it to provide impressive wet traction.
The 3D multi-wave siping with slanted blade texture enables Nitto Neo Gen to last 20% longer than an average all-season tire on vehicles with aggressive negative camber.
The tire’s internal structure includes a pair of twin Steel Belts. Reinforced with a nylon cap, they improve stability and resistance to wear even at high speeds.
With Nitto’s tread replacement bars, it allows you to determine when it is time to change tires so you could prevent further damage to your suspension due to camber. This is especially important for lowered vehicles which are more prone to suspension damage.
This tire was also considered by us as one of the best cheap tires for drifting and one of the best tires for lowered cars.
2. Mickey Thompson ET Street S/S Racing Radial Tire
A true racing tire for the streets…
Pros:
- Excellent stability on wet terrains
- Straight line drive is smooth
- Incredible stability and handling
- Reputable brand
Cons:
- Poor gas mileage
Mickey Thompson is known to design ultra-performance tires for streets, strips, tracks, and off-road. In the car temple, Mickey Thompson is well-worshipped due to its high-performance tires and wheels for use on the track and in off-road racing.
Mickey Thompson has incorporated the equivalent tread void same as ET Street Radial II in this ET street S/S Radial tire. This allows the tire to give you excellent wet traction with negative camber. Additionally, they provide a higher road to tire contact patch for better dry traction in straight alignment as well as camber.
ET Street SS features Mickey Thompson’s Proven R2 compound, which is also used in the quickest “drag radials” on the planet. This spec aids dry traction. The stiff sidewall construction aids in a quicker reaction time due to less tire distortion.
Enthusiasts out there know that this tire will provide a considerable bang for the buck. Served with the muscular build typically associated with Mickey Thompson, they are designed to handle the heat in racing. That means, relatively less wear and blowout issues than many other tires.
Due to a larger contact patch and a really sticky compound, do expect to see a slight drop in your fuel economy with the use of this tire.
3. Continental Extreme Contact DWS06 All-Season Radial Tire
The most comfortable and quiet tire you can get for your cambered setup…
Pros:
- Long tread life
- Enhanced cornering and stability
- Strong sidewalls
- Quiet
Cons:
- Wet traction and handling are not impressive
Extreme Contact DWS 06 features Continental’s SPORTPLUS+ technology that allows the tire to have good traction, stability, and control over dry, wet, and even snowy terrain with negative camber.
For better treadwear resistance associated with negative camber, Extreme contact DWS 06 has an internal structure of twin steel belts. The advanced silica compound with saline additives enhances the tread life associated with camber.
The traction grooves along the tire’s chamfered edges are specially added to provide 3-dimensional traction by maximizing the road to the tire contact patch. Extreme Contact DWS 06 features outboard shoulder macroblocks that enhance the cornering, handling, and steering responsiveness.
Overall, the handling is impressive, but even more that that, is the quietness. Continental produces the quietest tires on the planet and this one is no exception.
In addition to this, the independent central blocks along with X sipes, separated by high angle, crisscross grooves promote all directional traction. Reinforced with spiral jointless nylon cap plies, the long-term stability and handling at high speeds is massively improved.
4. Hankook Ventus V12 evo 2 Summer Radial Tire
A proper performance-oriented summer tire…
Pros:
- Puncture resistance and enhanced stability
- Impressive stability with negative camber
- Long tread life
- Low chances of blowout
Cons:
- Bad all-season performance
With its impressive handling, steering responsive, and resistance to tread wear, Hankook Ventus V12 Evo 2 Summer has made it on the list. And we aren’t the least bit surprised.
It features the high grip silica compound within its tread combined with the styrene polymer. This allows the tire to have enhanced resistance to wear against the negative camber. It further aids to lower the rolling resistance of the vehicle.
Ventus V12 Evo 2 summer has a special directional tread design that features notched shoulders and 3D intermediate ribs. Along with the continuous center rib, it allows the tire to have impressive handling and stability in negative camber as well as a neutral alignment.
Hard rubber is sandwiched between the sidewall’s polyester cord casing piles and steel belts by high-strength bead fillers. It increases handling response by preventing distortion and compliance at high speeds and during cornering.
5. Nitto NT555 G2 All-Season Radial Tire
The best rain performance among the bunch…
Pros:
- Provides good dry as well as wet stability
- Resists wear
- Stable at high speeds
Cons:
- Comes in limited sizes
Nitto NT555 G2 is made for those who love driving for the thrill of it. NT555 G2 provides excellent, handling, cornering, and stability along with comfort. It features large tapered tread blocks which aid in better handling and stability with negative camber during straight driving.
The high stiffness and silica tread compound allow longer life by increasing the resistance to wear. Twin center ribs maintain the contact between the road and the tire during the straight drive to maintain traction on dry as well as wet pavements.
Reinforced Shoulder Blocks promote better dry and wet handling during cornering. I am not very impressed with the cornering performance but the straight line stability is immense.
Putting it above other tires, is the treadwear and the stability. The steering is highly responsive due to the twin central ribs present in the tire. However, this is not a touring tire and is not the most comfortable one for longer rides.
How to choose the best tire for a negative camber setup? Buyer’s guide
Making a technical purchase can be a daunting experience. How do you do know which tire will do the best? Most people rely upon professionals to choose their tires for them at the expense of a few bucks, which is not bad.
However, you can choose yourself. To know which tire is perfect for the job, here are a few aspects you need to consider when buying a tire against negative camber:
1. Aspect Ratio
Most people out there opt for extreme camber setups for the sake of aesthetics. And when it comes to aesthetics, nothing beats the sporty and sleek look of low-profile tires.
Low profile tires have a smaller aspect ratio (the ratio of the sidewall height to the tire width, expressed as a percentage) which means the sidewall is small and you can go with larger diameter wheels without disturbing the transmission.
For the purpose of aesthetics, the lower the aspect ratio, the better, up to a certain point. Extremely small sidewalls are always structurally compromised and have a lower load and speed rating.
2. Cost
When it comes to a tire that is effective against camber, you should expect to a tad above your desired budget; these tires don’t come cheap. Wear-resistant tires usually have a higher content of silica on steel belts to reduce the tread wear .
This can cost you a few extra bucks. But that doesn’t mean you need to rip a hole in your pocket. The above-mentioned are mostly budget tires except for the Mickey Thompson that work well overall.
3. Structure
There are a bunch of options in the market so choosing just one tire can be quite confusing. One of the most important aspects that you should check in your desired tire is its internal structure .
Some tires feature a nylon belt, higher silica content while others may feature twin steel belts, some may feature all of these to accommodate the different extent of negative camber respectively. Find out here if camber does actually wear tires?
