ScoobyJawa

I've got the car in tomorrow for a whiteline camber kit fitting and alignment, but just having a look at my last settings from when I had a Tein Super Street kit fitted, I've noticed theres a degree of difference between the castor angles between front left and right. Left being 4.45 and right being 3.41. (with preferred settings being 3.10min 3.55pref 4.40max).

Obviously its not far out from the settings but will the 1 degree difference on each side cause any issues? I'm aware you can get a similar caster bush kit from whiteline that allows up to 1.5 degrees adjustment and if it created an issue, it would make more sense to get hold of that too so it can be done same time and avoid having to get the alignment done again.

What would caster effect on the road?

I do find the car "pulls" quite badly and really follows ruts/camber etc of the road, really veers left towards the kerb if I let go of the wheel! I was hoping that this would have been cured or made better by getting the camber aligned better, or will the caster effect that?

Cheers
Neil

(nb - camber is currently -1.29 front left, -2.05 front right with preferred settings being min -1.35 pref -0.50 max -0.05 - so I was looking to get them both adjusted down to about -1.05)

911

I feel equality is very important in all corners of an Impreza.
I fitted the large MRT top mounts/camber bolts/alk to allow mak angles but also give a good degree of adjustment to the Technicial doing the job.

After fitting the above and several other mods to say the least, I had Ralliart do the job.
Took him 4 hours to get it all straight and 'equal'. The car is undamaged, straight and true as a body shell.

If you are taking it to someone who Knows, ie PowerStation/TSL/Roger Clark etc then the car will come out great, BUT, if the level of adjustment is limited so will be the accuracy.

My car, done 2 years ago now and untouched since has seen 6000 miles on the road with competition suspension and radical settings (I had to sign a disclaimer at Ralliart) and runs as straight and true as my Jaguar X type Company car.

You should be enjoying the same.

Hope this helps a bit.

911

stockcar

can't understand any place that would go so far to inform you of your settings and then for them to be so wrong??

on a std car the Castor is not adjustable, however, your side to side Camber is and its miles apart!!
take it to a "professional" and get it set-up correctly and mostly it will cure your wandering................
alyn - asperformance.com

ScoobyJawa

Sorry guys, should have said its a skyline! Nature of the beast as only toe is adjustable and when lowered the camber goes mad (and is not adjustable!) Hence the whiteline kit, which they also do a caster one for allowing up to +/- 1.5 degree adjustment, but I haven't got that!

Its a well qualified place doing it so no worries there, just wondered what effects the camber/castor would cause "any" car hence just asking a general Q!

Pick it up tonight so we'll see if its any better, at the least it won't wear tyres as badly!

ozzy

If you run the car on banked ovals then you may want to run different camber/castor settings between sides. As Graham says, you can't have a balanced car with different settings left or right. There's no reason why they can't be the same if setup carefully.

As said, get the alignment done by someone that knows what they're doing. It's not a difficult process, but it needs a mechanic to take care and make sure it's done properly.

Stefan

ozzy

Doesn't matter what the car is, the geometry should be "balanced". You can set different castor or camber settings between the front and rear, but you don't want them varying between left & right too. There's a "thrust angle" and if you get the settings wrong the car may have a natural tendancy to move left or right rather than running straight and true. You have to force it to run straight by applying steering input and this usually leads to dodgy handling and very bad wear on the tyres.

ScoobyJawa

The rear is pretty much ok. The caster can't be made the same as its none adjustable, unless you fit the whiteline caster kit, but by the sounds of things I probably don't really need to do that.

Overall settings aren't really that bad, quite typical in fact for a lowered Skyline, just me being a perfectionist want to get it as right as possible!

mark6

i wouldn't really worry about the castor angle m8,of all the settings i would say castor has the least affect on the car when only out a little,all the castor angle does is help straighten up the wheels when in lock when you let go of the steering,when its out a fair bit it can end up pulling you into lock or not coming out of lock which can be serious when high speed cornering,your camber is normal for a lowered car as lowering increases the negative camber and this could be the cause of the pulling,when the camber is sorted it may affect the castor slightly so see what its like then,also if its still pulling after the geometry is done try swopping the front tyres left to right if they aren't directional,as this can often be the cause of pulling.

ScoobyJawa

Got it back and camber is now down to just over 1 on both sides. Half way between stock and "sport" settings, have to see how it drives tomorrow and how well the tyre wear goes!