Acceptable front camber difference

wstar · 12-20-2013, 10:06 AM

Well, the tradeoff is if you add a ton of negative camber to get perfect traction when the car is laid over in a hard corner, your straight-line grip in the front goes down. I suppose rolling evenly down the road or accelerating in a straight line this doesn't matter too much (aside from tire wear issues), but where it will matter is straight-line braking performance. In that scenario you're headed straight, but you're mostly using front tire grip to slow the car down, and you just won't have as much of it with the outer edges lifted out. Suspension compression under braking load may push the camber out flatter (I'm not sure), but it certainly won't totally correct the problem.

One of the ways you can ease (but not eliminate) the tradeoff is by trading some static negative camber for increased caster (caster being the way the forks lean backwards on an old-school chopper type motorcycle). Caster doesn't do anything to camber in a straight line, but makes the car tend to add more dynamic camber while in a corner. So maybe (random made-up numbers here) if you ideally wanted -4.0 camber in the corner, but that's too much for your straight line braking, maybe you can go -2.5 or -3 on the static camber and add a degree or two of caster so that it still pushes out to the same level as a static setting of 4 in the corner.

There's a tradeoff with caster, too, though. As you get the caster more aggressive, the car resists turning in more - the steering feels (and is) heavier and less responsive.

Red__Zed · 12-20-2013, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wstar

Well, the tradeoff is if you add a ton of negative camber to get perfect traction when the car is laid over in a hard corner, your straight-line grip in the front goes down. I suppose rolling evenly down the road or accelerating in a straight line this doesn't matter too much (aside from tire wear issues), but where it will matter is straight-line braking performance. In that scenario you're headed straight, but you're mostly using front tire grip to slow the car down, and you just won't have as much of it with the outer edges lifted out. Suspension compression under braking load may push the camber out flatter (I'm not sure), but it certainly won't totally correct the problem.

One of the ways you can ease (but not eliminate) the tradeoff is by trading some static negative camber for increased caster (caster being the way the forks lean backwards on an old-school chopper type motorcycle). Caster doesn't do anything to camber in a straight line, but makes the car tend to add more dynamic camber while in a corner. So maybe (random made-up numbers here) if you ideally wanted -4.0 camber in the corner, but that's too much for your straight line braking, maybe you can go -2.5 or -3 on the static camber and add a degree or two of caster so that it still pushes out to the same level as a static setting of 4 in the corner.

There's a tradeoff with caster, too, though. As you get the caster more aggressive, the car resists turning in more - the steering feels (and is) heavier and less responsive.

All true, but 1.7* of camber is no where near the point where you start to get worried about that behavior. Nor is caster adjustable in this scenario.

wstar · 12-20-2013, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red__Zed

All true, but 1.7* of camber is no where near the point where you start to get worried about that behavior. Nor is caster adjustable in this scenario.

Oh I agree, I was just running off in left field on the tangentially raised question:

Quote:

more negative camber than specs will improve performance (but eat up your tires more) but at what point does it start to hinder performance

Red__Zed · 12-20-2013, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wstar

Oh I agree, I was just running off in left field on the tangentially raised question:

I'm just clarifying for those that may not realize that. I know you know

12-20-2013, 10:06 AM	#1 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3595	Well, the tradeoff is if you add a ton of negative camber to get perfect traction when the car is laid over in a hard corner, your straight-line grip in the front goes down. I suppose rolling evenly down the road or accelerating in a straight line this doesn't matter too much (aside from tire wear issues), but where it will matter is straight-line braking performance. In that scenario you're headed straight, but you're mostly using front tire grip to slow the car down, and you just won't have as much of it with the outer edges lifted out. Suspension compression under braking load may push the camber out flatter (I'm not sure), but it certainly won't totally correct the problem. One of the ways you can ease (but not eliminate) the tradeoff is by trading some static negative camber for increased caster (caster being the way the forks lean backwards on an old-school chopper type motorcycle). Caster doesn't do anything to camber in a straight line, but makes the car tend to add more dynamic camber while in a corner. So maybe (random made-up numbers here) if you ideally wanted -4.0 camber in the corner, but that's too much for your straight line braking, maybe you can go -2.5 or -3 on the static camber and add a degree or two of caster so that it still pushes out to the same level as a static setting of 4 in the corner. There's a tradeoff with caster, too, though. As you get the caster more aggressive, the car resists turning in more - the steering feels (and is) heavier and less responsive. xxAGAVExx likes this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

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