| Theory - Wheel alignment |
| Wednesday, 11 April 2007 | |
Some important wheelangles
CamberCamber is the angle of the wheel, measured in degrees, when viewed from the front of the vehicle. If the top of the wheel is leaning out from the center of the car, then the camber is positive, if it's leaning in, then the camber is negative.If the camber is out of adjustment, it will cause tire wear on one side of the tire's tread. If the camber is too far negative, for instance, then the tire will wear on the inside of the tread. 0 or Negative camber is almost always desired. Positive camber would create handling problems. If the tyres had positive camber, during a turn, the inside wheels would tend to even more positive camber, compromising the efficiency of the contact patch because the tyre would effectively only be riding on its outer edge. If the camber is different from side to side it can cause a pulling problem. The vehicle will pull to the side with the more positive camber.
Toe in & out The toe measurement is the difference in the distance between the front of the tires and the back of the tires. It is usually set close to zero which means that the wheels are parallel with each other. Toe-in means that the fronts of the tires are closer to each other than the rears. Toe-out is just the opposite.
CasterThis is the forward (negative) or backwards (positive) tilt of the spindle steering axis. It is what causes your steering to 'self-centre'. Correct caster is almost always positive.Look at a bicycle - the front forks have a quite obvious rearward tilt to the handlebars, and so are giving positive caster. The whole point of it is to give the car (or bike) a noticeable centre point of the steering - a point where it's obvious the car will be going in straight line. If the caster is different from side to side, the vehicle will pull to the side with the less positive caster. If the caster is equal but too negative, the steering will be light and the vehicle will wander and be difficult to keep in a straight line. If the caster is equal but too positive, the steering will be heavy and the steering wheel may kick when you hit a bump. Caster has little affect on tire wear.
More information
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 29 April 2007 ) |
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