This thread KEEPS coming back from the dead! I'll throw in my opinion on camber based on my lowered Forester. It does not always eat tread. It can if not done right, or it the car is not balanced in other aspects. I ran -2.0F and -1.6R on my Forester. Looking at pictures at autocross, I realized what probably happens to a lot of people running high camber that makes them blame camber. Coming out of a corner, the inside front tire would lift enough to spin, and only the inside shoulder was making contact. Therefore only the inside shoulder would wear in that situation. And I did that a lot, on the street too. I upgraded swaybars (29F, 31R) which reduced my body roll, kept my wheels better planted coming out of a turn, and guess what? ZERO camber wear, perfectly even tire wear across the whole tire.
GRANTED, the VW is a completely different car and engineered differently, so I can't say it would be the same. My point is, I don't think everyone who reads this thread should walk away thinking "I'll never mess with camber b/c it will kill my tires." It depends. It all depends.
I am interested in adding more negative camber to the GTI, but I'm disappointed there's not a lot you can do for the front from the factory. I mean, it is beautifully balanced from the factory, but I'd like a little more grip in the corners while still running stock class at autocross. I'm going to research some more on the 'wiggle' for the front.
