Porsche Parts: De-Cambered Ball Joints

With the Porsche Club of New South Wales competition year looming, you may be looking for ways to get more out of the on-track handling of your 911 (1972-1989).

To sharpen up turn-in, fit a pair of de-cambered ball joints.?? Here is where the terminology starts to implode:?? De-cambered ball joints increase the negative camber of the front wheels.?? If you can say that with a straight face while nodding sagely, congratulations ??? you are now a suspension expert.

What it means is that the tops of the wheels lean inwards when the car is at rest.?? Why does that matter??? Ever since the last drive in movie theatre closed, nothing interesting has ever happened in a car that is at rest.?? It matters because when the car is being driven hard through a corner, de-cambered ball joints allow more of the contact patch to live up to its name and remain in contact with the tarmac.?? The result is sharper turn-in and less understeer.

If you???re running your 911 on the track, this is a good second performance upgrade after fitting a turbo tie rod kit.?? This is also an inexpensive Porsche motorsport enhancement.?? And it???s not often that you get to see the words ??orsche?? ??otorsport??and ??nexpensive??in the same sentence!