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RE: Educate me on alignment

To: "'james creasy'" <Black94PGT@pacbell.net>,
Subject: RE: Educate me on alignment
From: "Michael R. Clements" <mrclem@telocity.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 14:29:32 -0700
Well I'm glad I opened my big mouth! I guess I'll keep my +7 degrees
caster. And if the tire wear is even at -1.5 camber, what can I do to
desensitize the steering?

The underdrive pulleys helped a bit, probably by slowing down the power
steering pump. But I would like to make the car just a bit less twitchy.
Any advice?

Thanks,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: james creasy [mailto:Black94PGT@pacbell.net] 
> Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 14:19
> To: John J. Stimson-III; Michael R. Clements
> Cc: 'J C'; ba-autox@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: Educate me on alignment
> 
> 
> more positive caster increases the self-centering force, 
> stabilizing the car.
> 
> more importantly, (in my double a-arm suspension anyway), 
> more positive caster increases the rate of negative camber 
> gain under compression- a good thing!
> 
> -james c
> OSP - Often Suspension Primping
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John J. Stimson-III" <john@harlie.idsfa.net>
> To: "Michael R. Clements" <mrclem@telocity.com>
> Cc: "'J C'" <veloimpreza@yahoo.com>; <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 2:07 PM
> Subject: Re: Educate me on alignment
> 
> 
> > On Wed, Apr 10, 2002 at 12:44:13PM -0700, Michael R. Clements wrote:
> > > For example, my car turns in too fast and the steering 
> gets darty at 
> > > freeway speeds. Also it has too much power oversteer. So 
> when I get 
> > > my alignment done next, I'm going to reduce the positive 
> caster up 
> > > front from its current +7 degrees, down to maybe +5 or 
> so. Hopefully 
> > > that will slow down the steering and make it a bit less twitchy.
> >
> > I thought that caster stabilized the steering by creating a 
> > self-centering force.  I would think that less caster would 
> make the 
> > car more twitchy.  Some Miata drivers who traded off their 
> caster to 
> > get more camber wound up having the steering wheel pull to 
> the inside 
> > of the turn when the course got tight.  That's got to take you by 
> > surprise...
> >
> > Have you considered a little less toe out (or more toe in) up front?
> >
> > --
> >
> > john@idsfa.net                                              
> John Stimson
> > http://www.idsfa.net/~john/                              
> HMC Physics '94

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