A strange question, yes, "What does to much castor do to self centering"
as ive had a problem over the last couple of years, and seems to of only been so, since I polybushed the front suspension
on the 7, that the car with hands off the steering wheel, wants to veer (not violently !) to the right

I was in the garage doing nothing today, well I can, as the cars been on the road 18 years and is perfect !
and noticed that the castor on the offside seems to be a couple of degrees more than the left,
just from an eyeball from the top looking down, but I will confirm with hard evidence tomorrow

steve

Are you sure you mean castor and not camber?

Sounds like one of the top wishbones is on upside down.

I defo mean castor, and know the difference between camber and castor and both top whishbones are on correctly, however the alignment on the lower maxi joints, seen to differ in their alignment with each other, the offside one seems further forward, than the near side, hence the difference in both sides

it could be that I had moved the maxi joint to far forward, on the offside, when I did the last refresh of the suspension, with poly bushes

steve

I have one of these - it is easy to check both camber and castor with it and may be worth a try

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/040817066/?da=1&TC=GS-040817066&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-7b8vNL01gIVghbTCh2eDwXUEAQYBCABEgKBhfD_BwE

or if you are travelling in Norfolk you can borrow mine

[Edited on 16/10/17 by ianhurley20]

Thanks, I ordered one last night

question still stands, does too much castor on one side only cause any steering defects or veering to one side

Steve Yes it will depending on how high it is to start with and what the discrepancy is. If for example you had 5 deg on one side and 6 1/2 on the other then you would be hard pushed to feel it but the high the base gets the worse it would be . I:E if you had 10 and 11 1/2 then yes you would. I would say if you can see it then its to much.

[Edited on 16/10/17 by Dick]

quote:

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Originally posted by steve m
question still stands, does too much castor on one side only cause any steering defects or veering to one side

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The general principal of castor was to improve not only self centering, but also stability at speed.
As you increase castor, the stability will also improve in line, but you will reach a point where it will then again become detrimental to stability and handling. I'm not sure where this lies exactly, but in short, yes you can have too much castor!

I think usually 3 to 5 degrees is standard.

Hi.

It will all depend on which uprights you are using Cortina Sierra triumph etc, But as a general rule with a car engine 6.5Deg is as far as you want to go and will make steering heavy. With a Bec the castor becomes more sensitive to adjustments but 7Deg Max also making steering a bit heavier that high. Obviously the issue of camber control in relation to castor settings can become a problem at the higher numbers.

However if the basic castor is not within 1 Deg from side to side you will notice / feel something not right. But also check what your thrust angle is doing at front axle line if more than 4mm off center that will be noticeable, basic wheelbase either side and of course tracking. light cars are incredibly sensitive to tracking, for road use generally run 0.5mm - 1mm toe in.
And also does this only occur on certain roads IE cambered roads.

Cheers Matt

Interesting you say the car tends to wander right with no hands on the wheel. Tin top VAG cars I've driven over the past few years have alwats tended to wander left (towards the hedge) with no hands on the wheel. Accentuated on heavily cambered roads. Can be annoying, but preferable I suppose to wandering into oncoming traffic. To qualify that the cars have done it from brand new and not changed after having a wheel alignment check. That said each of those cars has been FWD with McPherson type front suspension so different design and construction to your 7 type car.

One thought - is it possible one of the lower front wishbones could be fitted upside down?

i.e. would swapping one of them bring the Maxi ball joint centres in line across the car?