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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