Caster?
 

I see lots of talk about Camber, and lots of talk about caster for non power steering use, but not much talk about caster overall.

On a car with power steering, is there too much? Can we reach too much on a Miata? Running ELBJ?

Are there differences in how much you would want on a street car vs. Track vs. Autocross?

Have I just failed at google-fu and not been able to find a thread on this?

So far, my understanding of caster is that it helps with high speed straight line stability, helps bring the wheel back to center, and adds dynamic camber as you turn the wheel. I see no down sides (other than maybe stressing the PS pumpnout from the extra force needed) of running more camber.

Everything I have seen for castor on miatas with PS has been to run as much as possible, most end up with a little over 5 depending on how much camber(I think mine maxed at 5). What you would really need to determine the best scenario would be to get the geometry and look at the camber curves in a kenematics software(when i was on a formula team we used optimum k) and match that to the tire data for the specific tire you are using.

now granted this is going to the absolute edge when it come to tuning. It would be awesome if some one had this data to share, not that I'd ever get to that point on mine haha

Yeah, everything I hear relating to miatas is as much as you can get. But with ELBJs and only shooting for 2.5-3* camber (dual duty car that sees a good bit of highway time) I am expecting being able to hit way more than the 5.5 or so I have been running. And I don't know if I should, or just leave it in the 5-6 range.

Overall, I am more interested in learning about it in general though so I can come to my own conclusions. Maybe some day I will even have the time to generate some data.