"Free" caster?

[chmercer]

just saw this, yes it is supposed to be like this. ive recently become aware of the fact that by mounting your camber plates the "wrong" way, you can increase the caster without altering the actual location of the wheel, by effectivley moving the mounting point of the shock rearwards. this would allow for higher caster numbers without the problem of hitting wheels on the front bumper and fenders.

does anyone know what kind of effect this would have on the rest of the suspension? I know it would make adjusting caster a little strange, but it seems doable.

anyone have anything to add to this?

[BomexS13]

arent you able to adjust caster w an adjustable tension rods?

[sultan]

but the wheel hits the bumper when you run a lot of caster. before when you looked at chmercers car from the side it looked f-ed up because the wheels aren't centered in the wheel well, because of the caster.

i say do it and see what happens.

[Nismo_Freak]

You are lessening the shock and spring's efficiency by allowing it to be less perpindicular, you would need to raise the spring rate in accordance to the degree.

[ArticDragon192]

Doesn't that mess up suspension geometry?

[chmercer]

^^^ thats what im trying to figure out, haha

hmm alan, perpindicular to what?

and the increasing of the spring rate, does that refer to increased caster as a whole, or is that a special case brought on by altering the shock mount position?

[sultan]

do a search for camber caster plates. ground control makes some but not for your car, i found pages of camber caster plates used on BMWs, mustangs (maximum motorsports and steeda), and subarus (noltec). on one page i read more caster will screw up the toe

the gc ones work different than the noltecs but i think you could modify the car or camber plates to make your own. you could slot the holes in the strut tower and move it, or knock the studs out of the camber plates and slot the holes in the camber plates - add bolts, washers and nuts to secure the plate.

but i don't really know anything, i recently pulled my rear fenders for no reason and now all the wheels i have are sunk bad

[Exar-Kun]

CHM:

It refers to the angle of the spring and shock assembly to the control arm. The more tilted it becomes, the less efficient it is. Thus lowering the effective spring rate (and thus wheel rate). Ideally, you'd have the sock and spring perpendiculat to the forces they are resisting (a good double wishbone is like this usually), but since the mcpherson strut design has flaws, they must tilt it back a bit and inwards to be able to dampen rear and sideways jounces...

Much like too wide a wheel with negative offset, lowering your effective wheel rate means you must incarese your spring rate to compensate, which results in other issues.

Use the T/C rods, not mis-aligned camber plates to adjust caster if you need it. The front suspension was designed with that part there to keep the caster where intended, you'll get your best resulst manipulating it for adjustment.

Also, seeking higher caster numbers just for their sake alone is folly. Much like persuing more static camber without taking into consideration the effect it has on the rest of the car (or in bounce, for that matter).

lastly, I like cheeze.

-Chet

[Red coupe]

He said increase the spring rate...as in the spring of the strut. When the strut is perpendicular to the ground each inch of vertical wheel movement will be equal to an inch of spring compression. As the strut is tilted each inch of vertical wheel movement will be equal to less then 1 inch of compression because the knuckle is not traveling directly towards the mount,. For an extreme example imagine mounting the strut to provide 85 degrees of positive caster, the strut, being nearly parallel with the ground would barely need to compress at all to move upwards...

However, if you have already set camber by tilting the shock I don't understand how it could make anything worse if it was pointing forward and out, as long as you didn't make the angle of the shock above what it was already at for the camber settings. That would however force you to give up camber for caster, or visa versa at some point

EDIT:man, I got beat to it..but at least I was spome what on base...

[chmercer]

thanks for the info guys. now i understand what you were saying about the spring effectivness and such. Ill probably try it out a little bit, see if i can get around 8.5 caster, not going to bottom it out purley for the sake of a big number on my alignment sheet. Id just like the wheel to be a little bit more snappy for drifting, without cutting my tires on the fenders and such.