What is a good caster setting for de powered racks?
#1
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What is a good caster setting for de powered racks?
Hey guys, I de-powered my rack awhile ago but I did not start DD-ing the car till now.
The last alignment was done with P/S, so the caster is set at 5-5.5 degrees. I just cannot live with this anymore (I have a smaller momo steering wheel and I want to autox the car, which would be very hard right now with the steering effort).
So, what kind of caster do you guys run with de-powered racks? I did some looking up, seems 3-3.5 degrees is reasonable. I just wanted some input, especially if you have autox experience on a de-powered rack.
Thanks for the help!
The last alignment was done with P/S, so the caster is set at 5-5.5 degrees. I just cannot live with this anymore (I have a smaller momo steering wheel and I want to autox the car, which would be very hard right now with the steering effort).
So, what kind of caster do you guys run with de-powered racks? I did some looking up, seems 3-3.5 degrees is reasonable. I just wanted some input, especially if you have autox experience on a de-powered rack.
Thanks for the help!
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lol, that too.
#6
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A local asked what to use and I demanded he go with 3.75 over the +5° of conventional m.net wisdom Lanny alignment. He argued pretty hard with me about it, but eventually decided to take my advice.
He called me later that week and thanked me for reinstalling power steering back on his car.
He called me later that week and thanked me for reinstalling power steering back on his car.
#7
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A local asked what to use and I demanded he go with 3.75 over the +5° of conventional m.net wisdom Lanny alignment. He argued pretty hard with me about it, but eventually decided to take my advice.
He called me later that week and thanked me for reinstalling power steering back on his car.
He called me later that week and thanked me for reinstalling power steering back on his car.
Thanks guys!
#10
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The difference between 5-6* and 3.5-4* in caster is huge. I changed to about 3.5* on my depowered DD after trying it at 5+* for months and it was much easier to drive.
Last edited by ZX-Tex; 09-06-2011 at 03:07 PM.
#11
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A local asked what to use and I demanded he go with 3.75 over the +5° of conventional m.net wisdom Lanny alignment. He argued pretty hard with me about it, but eventually decided to take my advice.
He called me later that week and thanked me for reinstalling power steering back on his car.
He called me later that week and thanked me for reinstalling power steering back on his car.
#15
A local asked what to use and I demanded he go with 3.75 over the +5° of conventional m.net wisdom Lanny alignment. He argued pretty hard with me about it, but eventually decided to take my advice.
He called me later that week and thanked me for reinstalling power steering back on his car.
He called me later that week and thanked me for reinstalling power steering back on his car.
The whole preaching that thou shall have 1/2° more camber in the rear than the front thing is also interesting in that it is based on no testing and it is just plain wrong for maximizing performance.
I arrived at pretty much the same conclusions as 949 say through my own independent trials prior to 949 publishing it. And Emilio also keeps coming up with the best products to make my car faster as well. The guy cuts through the BS and gets the picture I’m impressed.
Bob
#16
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Typo on my part. Replace 'camber' with 'caster' which is what I meant. The rest is fine.
Not that it matters much, but is it even possible to set a stock Miata suspension for +5* camber? I doubt it.
#17
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Just wanted to post, I just put on a 2" steering wheel spacer behind my Momo wheel. Made a world of a difference, the car is much eaiser to drive (my arms were nearly straight when driving before, knees real close to the wheel). I feel like when I get the caster back to 3.5* she'll feel smooth as butter.
#19
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Bob, what kind of camber numbers do you run, and how even are your tire temps? I run 3.0/2.8* in the rental and get even wear, but if I try to run 2.8R in the black car I just cook the insides off the rears. I'm down to 2.5* and the tire wear is still **** (although 0.60* of toe-in isn't helping) but at least the pyrometer is happy now.
#20
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BTW - I think that with stock suspension the classic "Lanny" alignment is probably not all that bad, but as soon as you knock up to a 375/250 GC setup or anything in the 5xx/3xx or 7xx/4xx range you should stop sucking and run more front camber.