I talked to my brother about this some time ago, he was a master front end and brake mechanic. Between conversations with him and reading some of his textbooks and looking into a variety of sources, I totally understand that it's physically impossible for negative camber to NOT affect tire wear due to what's happening to at the interaction between the tire and the surface as the tire rolls.
So, fair enough, it's a fact that camber wears tires to at least some extent (no argument from me), but how do those of you who insist it's a primary wear factor explain the fact that, for instance, I personally have two cars driven 10-15k per year with moderate to excessive negative camber and yet both exhibit virtually even tire wear?
The explanation is, and what I said was, the effect of negative camber absolutely pales in comparison to what happens when the toe is wrong, and if the toe is wrong AND the camber is excessive, look out, bye-bye tires.
Toe is in fact the primary wear determinant, and if it's off, then the camber is a wear accelerant. Not the cause in and of itself. Take care of the toe, take care of any major instability of the toe under dynamic conditions, and the wear will largely take care of itself. Minimize negative camber and you can mask the wear issues caused by toe, but they'll still outpace the wear you'd get with even large amounts of camber if it's tied to proper toe setting and proper toe control.
You can, and I do, run fairly dramatic amounts of camber with no significant wear effects, and toe control is the reason why that is.
