What is a caster car?
Caster is the angle that identifies the forward or backward slope of a line that is drawn through the upper and lower steering pivot points. The down side to positive caster is if the vehicle does not have power steering.
How does caster affect steering?
Caster. Increasing the amount of positive caster will increase steering effort and straight line tracking, as well as improve high speed stability and cornering effectiveness. Positive caster also increases tire lean when cornering (almost like having more negative camber) as the steering angle is increased.
What happens if your caster is off?
It is no different on four wheel vehicles. If you don’t have enough positive caster (forks too little angle toward the front) the car will wander and feel unstable. So the vehicle would pull to the side with the “fork” further back. Again, caster, like camber can cause pulls, but caster will rarely cause much wear.
How does caster affect camber?
Caster angle affects the camber of the wheel during steering. If a car is set up with positive caster, the outside wheel will gain negative camber during cornering. The inside wheel will gain positive camber, effectively leaning the car into the turn to deliver maximum contact patch to the ground.
Does caster pull positive or negative?
Camber may pull toward positive (more tilt in at the top) but caster will pull toward negative, or less caster.
How much caster is too much?
Vehicles with too much positive caster can be prone to understeer, so most modern vehicles don’t have a caster greater than 3 to 5 degrees. This is the ideal range to maximize straight line stability and still allow for comfortable turning.
How can you tell if caster is off?
When your car travels straight down the road with little handling on your part, that’s due to your caster setting. If you’re driving down a straight path but start pulling to one side, that’s a sign your caster is off.
How does negative caster affect steering?
Negative Caster Effects Negative caster results in lighter and easier steering but reduced stability when driving in a straight line. Vehicles with negative caster do not handle as well. A symptom of negative caster is a sloppy or loose-feeling steering wheel (which is lot less common than a hard to turn wheel).