Board logo

castor angle left to right
ever88 - 1/8/10 at 07:31 PM

currently setting up castor angle for the front on a kit I'm building and would like some advice please.

I know that the nearside of car has more castor than offside to compensate for the natural curvature of the road but how much difference should there be?
1 degree 1/2 a degree?

your help on this matter would be much appreciated but no guesses please!

I will be welding top mounts in place and it's a lot of work tp correct if wrong?

many thanks

Paul

blakep82 - 1/8/10 at 07:33 PM

not guessing, but i've never heard of different castor to account the road camber?

Paul TigerB6 - 1/8/10 at 07:33 PM

LOL

Never heard of anyone designing in variation of castor before!! Keep it equal would be my advice

ever88 - 1/8/10 at 07:38 PM

I thought that the crown in the road would naturally make the car pull to the kerb.

I'm not making it up! but I can't recall where I got it from.

Paul TigerB6 - 1/8/10 at 07:39 PM

quote:
Originally posted by ever88
I thought that the crown in the road would naturally make the car pull to the kerb.

I'm not making it up! but I can't recall where I got it from.


NASCAR??

Actually...

Not all race cars have the same caster angles on each side of the car. This is known as caster split. All circle track cars carry a different caster angle on the left front to that of the right front. The reason for this is that the radius followed by the outer wheel is greater than that of the inner wheel; hence a different steering angle is required.

For long fast corners (such as those at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway) the caster angle will be toward the highest settings to give a slow response and to enhance the self centering effect this offers.

from here

[Edited on 1/8/10 by Paul TigerB6]

steve m - 1/8/10 at 07:42 PM

I was lead to believe that french cars were set up to drive to the left to allow for road camber, not sure were i got the info from, as its probably crap

steve

Russell - 1/8/10 at 07:45 PM

There isn't always a crown in the road. If you have superelevation then a crown isn't needed for surface water drainage.

blakep82 - 1/8/10 at 08:29 PM

you're right, circle track cars do, but only because they always turn the same way.
i thought it was the camber that was different though?

deltron63 - 1/8/10 at 09:19 PM

all the yank tanks we work on pull to the kerb.
drive on the wrong side and they are fine

procomp - 1/8/10 at 09:45 PM

Hi

Sounds like rubbish from a manufacturer as an explanation as to why they cant jig the front suspension with any accurasie at all.

Cheers Matt

wilkingj - 1/8/10 at 10:19 PM

I would keep it equal... Self centering is usually a bugger in itself without adding complications!

VOSAman might not agree with odd split angles as a reason why it pulls to one side on their flat test area.

Keep it simple and equal.

blakep82 - 1/8/10 at 10:28 PM

you could always use rose joints instead of bushs, and make it all fully adjustable so you can change the camber, caster, etc

Mark Allanson - 1/8/10 at 10:37 PM

I have always set the camber to the negative end of specs on the LH side to compensate for road caber, but castor is what it should be - dead equal both sides

RazMan - 1/8/10 at 11:03 PM

I don't think castor would make significant changes that would affect behaviour due to road camber. Camber might ..... but unequal camber would surely mess up handling on flat roads (ie motorways) not to mention tyre wear. Track days would be interesting too - you would do better choosing tracks with mainly right hand bends!

I would keep it simple ..... and symmetrical

[Edited on 1-8-10 by RazMan]

Daddylonglegs - 2/8/10 at 05:32 AM

Maybe that's why my Peugeot 308 always pulls to the left then???

Asked the local dealer to check it (it's a Motability car) and they said that it needs to be checked by Slow-fit of similar as they can't check . Would have thought a main dealer could at least check that??

britishtrident - 2/8/10 at 07:08 AM

Must be equal on both sides for road use

To clear up the French car mystery the Citreon CV2 and original Renault 4 had asymetrical suspension because of the way the transverse torsion bars were positioned.

ever88 - 2/8/10 at 07:16 AM

equal it is