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Front End Alignment Basics

Posted August 19 2009 05:00 AM by CarCraft 
Filed under: Editorials

One of the easiest ways to improve front suspension handling without spending any money is with the front end alignment.


The Oct. ’09 issue has a story I wrote on at-home alignment basics. It deals with how to set your alignment, but there is much more information on how to make it better. Most domestic front suspension systems—the early Camaro as an example—are designed to understeer in a corner. This induced understeer occurs because when the car rolls over onto the right front on a hard left corner, the camber angle tends to roll to positive camber. Engineers call this camber gain, and it’s quite excessive on a stock early Camaro. The more the car rolls, the more the top of the tire tilts outward, essentially allowing the tire to fold under the wheel. Changing this geometry requires significant (read: expensive) changes to the front suspension. One way to limit this camber gain is to minimize the amount of  body roll. This doesn’t really fix the problem; it just minimizes the amount of positive camber gain. This can be done with stiffer front springs or with a larger front sway bar. Large front sway bars are relatively inexpensive and do the job. The next trick is to dial in more negative camber. With a stock suspension, this might be as much as 1.5 to 2 degrees of static negative camber. We do this to counteract the positive camber gain that will occur in the corner. Ideally, we’re attempting to place the tire at a slightly negative camber in the corner. This will work fine for autocross day, but camber is a severe tire-wearing angle. So you will have to remove this static camber after race day if the car is a daily driver. Otherwise, this will prematurely wear out the front tires on the inboard edge. Also keep in mind that any camber changes will have to be accompanied by checking the toe-in. Generally, any change to camber will also affect toe-in.

 

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Chevrolet Camaro Research
Chevrolet Camaro When purchasing a new car it is important to be prepared and know all the information in order to make a good decision. Research the Chevrolet Camaro and find reviews and information on fuel economy, features, options, specs, reviews and more. The 2010 Camaro goes for a suggested retail price of $26,580.00, and has drivers side crash test ratings of 6 stars and passengers side crash test ratings of 6 stars. The Pontiac G6 and the Dodge Charger are other vehicles that might interest you.
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