"Mark J. Andy" wrote:
> In my mind the major thing toe (in or out) does in a car with decent
> Ackerman geometry stuff is to preload the suspension bushings.
> ...
> I think that's why people seem to like toe out and its why I run some
> (3/16" in my case). Everyone says it makes the car turn in better and
> I think this is why.
> ...
> So in short I think that running toe out doesn't do anything more than
> preload the bushings so that steering response is more immediate, but
> I haven't ever run measurements to verify that's the only affect.
I think there's an additional effect that's worth discussing.
Assuming a car with reasonable ackerman (something close to 100%), then
adding static toe-out causes the inside front tire to turn too far.
This creates some drag around the inside front tire, which causes the
car to want to rotate around the inside front tire -- hence, quicker
turn in.
I have no idea if this is a real effect, or if it's more or less
significant than the bushing preload that Mark mentions, but it makes
sense to me.
Note that real race cars don't have rubber bushings and therefore should
get very little preload, but toe adjustments do affect turn-in.
Mark
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