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Re: Whats better: camber or caster

To: "Autox" <autox@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: Whats better: camber or caster
From: "Brian Berryhill" <brianberryhill@flashmail.com>
Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 07:22:13 -0600
Well, after taking my strut/spring combo out and noticing that I can't just
grind out the 4 strut mounting bolts because the main strut mounting bolt
has a round thing around it that limits how much it can move.

So, instead, I grinded the upper of the two lower strut mounting bolt holes
on the strut where it attaches to the hub assembly/a-arm.  Since the
compressed length of the strut/spring is ~16" and the holes are ~2" apart, a
1/16" grind of the hole is about the same as slotting the bolt holes 0.5" up
top.  Using a quick tangent calculation, that's about 1.750 of camber
change.  So basically, the inside edges of my tires will get what they need
during turning as well.  Kinda like proportionally increasing caster as
steering turns in and decreasing caster as steering turns out; not the best
way probably, but hopefully effective.

All of this is roughly measured since I don't have a camber gauge.

I mainly wanted to do it since I have increased outer tire wear (with zero
toe) with my spirited driving and autox.

I'm autox'ing on Sunday, so we'll see how it goes!

Thanks for all the input from everyone,
Brian


> Camber-Okay on the street up to about 2 degrees, after that you'll get
inside
> edge wear on the tires.  Too much negative camber will also reduce
footprint
> for straight line braking, but IMSA Radial Sedans used to run 6 degrees
> negative!  More static negative camber is needed on strut cars than on
cars
> with upper and lower control arms, due to poor camber change.
>
> Caster-As previously stated, caster increases camber as steering angle
> increases.  As long as you have power steering, the increased steering
effort
> is not a problem, and I personally like the "self-centering" action of the
> steering with lots of caster.  The most I've seen is 6-7 degrees positive,
> but I'm not sure why you wouldn't go for more if you could get it.
>
> Make sure you do something (springs or swaybars) about body roll, as it's
the
> biggest "camber robber" out there.
>
> Charlie Davis

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