Camber adjustment on front wheels

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FluoFerret

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Apr 2, 2018
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Reverse 2&3 ;)
A very valuable member of the forum that used to post here very savvy with suspension setups: his recommendation was 3-5 degrees caster and -1-1.5 camber. The caster helps with high speed stability and the camber in the turns, BUT you can wear the insides of the tires more quickly in a straight line.

Help me out here please , the camber i do understand how to adjust it on the upper control arms, but caster? :unsure: If I refer to this site here, and have a closer look, I don't see exactly where caster is to be adjusted. The toe is logical to methough, I can do this via the tie-rod sleeves...
 

ssn696

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I don't think the caster can be changed without modifying the control arm mounting points or geometry. Camber, yes; toe, yes.
 
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69hurstolds

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Reverse 2&3 ;)
A very valuable member of the forum that used to post here was very savvy with suspension setups: his recommendation was 3-5 degrees caster and -1-1.5 camber. The caster helps with high speed stability and the camber in the turns, BUT you can wear the insides of the tires more quickly in a straight line.
ALSO, no need to pull the entire a-arm- just undo the nuts, push it in, and flip the shaft over.
To add to this, you must ask yourself the question of where will you do MOST of your driving? If it's mainly road racing, drifting and cornering and such, go with that negative camber and positive caster setting as mentioned in fleming442 's post above. But if you're just going to go to the local car shows/swap meets and generally cruising around, go with some more street friendly camber/caster settings, such as factory recommendations. You don't want that upper ball joint leading your axle centerline though, (negative caster) otherwise you'll wander the road like a shopping cart. Look at the cart's front wheels. Loads of negative caster. Easy to steer, but hell to hold straight at any real speed.
 
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69hurstolds

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Help me out here please , the camber i do understand how to adjust it on the upper control arms, but caster? :unsure: If I refer to this site here, and have a closer look, I don't see exactly where caster is to be adjusted. The toe is logical to methough, I can do this via the tie-rod sleeves...
If you take out say, one shim on the front of the A-arm, and add that same shim to the rear, you SHOULD be able to add a little positive caster to that side without affecting camber. Your goal is to move that upper ball joint toward the rear without moving it in or out changing your camber. Obviously you need to re-check when you change anything.

Edit: Adding or subtracting equal thickness shims from BOTH A-arm bolts changes camber. Add- your going negative on caster. Removing- you're going toward positive. Pulling a shim from one bolt and adding it to the other bolt changes caster. Moving the front in (toward wheel) and the rear out (away from wheel) should be adding positive caster.
 
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69hurstolds

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Also, unless you're doing something outside of specs, you shouldn't have a grunch of shims unless something is wrong. Something may be bent, and I've heard of frame crossmember sag on older cars. But you should be able to get what you need with just a handful of shims total for both sides 99% of the time.

Your car, your money, but I will always recommend a shop alignment. Even if you do it yourself, you're just getting it close. Bring it to a shop when you think you have it and tell them the caster/camber you're looking for. They'll usually have the computer/digital alignment system to get you spot on. I'll bet it would still need more dialing in to get it just right.
 

Clarmo

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Jan 29, 2016
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You obviously have internet where you live. Search for a shop that will do an alignment on your car!
Tell them to set the Camber at -0.25* Caster at +2.5* to 3.5* (but the same on both sides) and the total toe at +0.10* to +0.20*
And the car will drive perfectly!!!
 
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FluoFerret

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Apr 2, 2018
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To add to this, you must ask yourself the question of where will you do MOST of your driving? If it's mainly road racing, drifting and cornering and such, go with that negative camber and positive caster setting as mentioned in fleming442 's post above. But if you're just going to go to the local car shows/swap meets and generally cruising around, go with some more street friendly camber/caster settings, such as factory recommendations. You don't want that upper ball joint leading your axle centerline though, (negative caster) otherwise you'll wander the road like a shopping cart. Look at the cart's front wheels. Loads of negative caster. Easy to steer, but hell to hold straight at any real speed.
You obviously have internet where you live. Search for a shop that will do an alignment on your car!
Tell them to set the Camber at -0.25* Caster at +2.5* to 3.5* (but the same on both sides) and the total toe at +0.10* to +0.20*
And the car will drive perfectly!!!

GOOD NEWS: a client of mine, collecting old italian sportscars, told me today that the local Ferrari-Dealership is specialized in alignments of elder cars :friday: They even do the old british ones. I gave them a call this afternoon and their answer was that they would gladly have a go at a US-Car. They even offered to pick it at my place, return it afterwards :love: They will not only shim where needed, but first determine the exact sizes, and then they manufacture spacers in order to get the whole thing as robust as possible. The alignment will be done on a laser-bench with 3D-Analysis, and taking in consideration the alignment of the frame itself. Never heard that before, but hey, if it gets the work done, I am perfectly fine with it, even if it won't come cheap.
 
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