-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Sirota <msirota@isc.upenn.edu>
To: Scott & Glenda Meyers <autox@earthlink.net>
Cc: Eric Linnhoff <eric10mm@qni.com>; autocross <AUTOX@autox.team.net>
Date: Tuesday, March 23, 1999 4:49 PM
Subject: Re: toe alignment and centered steering wheel.
>Scott & Glenda Meyers wrote:
>> There is never such a thing as one side with one toe setting and the
>> other side with another once the car is moving - the steering wheel
>> will seek true center regarless of where the spokes are.
>
>Yes, but you'll be able to turn sharper in one direction than in the
>other. You want the steering rack centered for this reason, and you
>want the steering wheel centered for human factors reasons (and personal
>sanity).
Mark, if you routinely go all the way to lock on both sides in an autocross,
you have other problems...
Seriously, the reason you want the rack centered when you are going in a
straight line is so that the bump-steer and roll-steer characteristics of
both sides of the suspension are the same. A car that responds differently
to bump-steer and roll-steer in right and left corners is fairly inevitable
in stock cars, but you really don't want to make it worse by having an
uncentered rack.
I have done my best to make sure that the tie rods on both sides of the
Lotus are the same length, and I still have some bump-steer issues. Well
the Europa is more sensitive to this sort of thing than many cars, but not
as sensitive as an Elan.
Phil Ethier Saint Paul Minnesota USA
Lotus Europa, VW Quantum Syncro, Chev Suburban
LOON, TCVWC, MAC
pethier@isd.net http://www.visi.com/mac/
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