Caster Settings

[tparker]

I was watching a vid the other day where the guy mentioned we should be increasing our caster. From my understanding caster essentially changes how the tire sits in relation to a central axis and effects tracking a straight line and maneuverability. Curious if anyone uses numbers different from factory and why? Or if anyone is opposed, and why?

Thanks
Tom

[MoparLeo]

Depends on what the majority of your driving is. More + caster is good at higher speeds for tracking stability,but if you have manual steering, it is harder to make turns when going very slow, like parking.

[tparker]

Hi @MoparLeo Thanks for the feedback. I got all that though. I was just seeing what others set theirs up to and their experience.

[HP2]

I don't use any of the factory alignment settings because they were designed for skinny, bias ply tires. Radials will tolerate a much wide range of angles without wearing improperly so why not take advantage of that with improved angles.

I usually have -.5 to -1* of negative camber with as much caster as I can get from the combo with stock arms and offset bushings. Something like the SPC arms with almost infinite adjustment would be a bit different and I might limit it depending on feel and response. I've seen others with this ability say no more than 7*. Toe is slightly in for street driving and zero to slightly out for competition.

As MoparLeo points out, high caster in a manual steering car with wide tires is an arm workout that some may not want. Similarly, if you are using bias ply tires, you don't want them to wear unevenly. My cars with manual steering  all had skinny tires so the added caster was not an issue.  My cars with wide tires all had power steering so it was not an issue that way either.

[dodj]

I have +4* caster and it drives much better than factory specs. For the most part that means not wandering on the highway. At low speed...ah...I can't tell.