caster plates
31-May-2004, 05:22 PM
#5
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Bradford, Ontario
Posts: 124
http://www.ground-control.com/?D=38c...88e18c67625482
You clearly need to think sometimes before you make a comment like that!!!!
You clearly need to think sometimes before you make a comment like that!!!!
31-May-2004, 05:47 PM
#7
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Bradford, Ontario
Posts: 124
it allows more contact with the tire in corners is pretty much all and its not a drastic adjustment really, ground control makes a kit for newer civics and 84 to 87 for some reason. They have a univerisal kit that i was thinking about picking up and was just wondering if anyone had any experience with one before and how much trouble they had to go through to mount it.
31-May-2004, 08:00 PM
#8
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: on a race track
Posts: 17,846
ok firrst of all I am god's gift to Women. don't argue you know it's true.
ok now that that is setled. Caster plates are for Macpherson strut suspension we have double wish bone suspension. caster is not easliy adjustable. (unless your god's gift to women)
ok first off to adjust caster in the positive direction on our cars you have to move the upper ball joint towards the rear of the car. to make the caster more negative (don't know why you would but then again your not god's gift to women) you move the upper ball joint towards the front of the car.
now ask yourself this can the ball joints move?
answer: no
god's gift to women's answer: slighty
so how do you move them? by analyizing what you have if you look at the upper control arms (where the ball joints sit) you will see that they are not symietical and that they infact do have the ball joint biased towards one side or the other (depending on which arm you look at) ok so what happens to ball joint location if you swap the arms? well it moves towards the rear... hmmm look at that more positive caster (a good thing) I know this is a simple thing to do but it's super over looked.
now the down sides to more positive caster.
1) higher tire wear caster changes the camber angle in turns a higher positive caster the more camber you get
2) harder to steer more work is required to turn the steering wheel if too much caster is in the wheels
now the positives:
1) the wheels will follow steering input better
2) more camber on the turns will make the turns so much more grippy and faster.
3) you can brag to your friends that your car handles better with 2 hours of work then their's does with $1000 in parts in it...
(please note that due to my class in racing I have not actually done this to my car (illegal mod) however due to a slight over sight in getting a ball joint replaced last year I did race with the effects of this mod and I must say there is a difference to turn in response)
now you can go out and buy a caster kit. I won't laugh at you. but it won't help you and you will have wasted your money on it.
if you want proof of the fact that a top plate caster adjustment tool won't work just look at how your shock would move if you moved the top...it's all in the car as proof
I hope this helps,
God's gift to women (I don't get sex on a regular Basis)
ok now that that is setled. Caster plates are for Macpherson strut suspension we have double wish bone suspension. caster is not easliy adjustable. (unless your god's gift to women)
ok first off to adjust caster in the positive direction on our cars you have to move the upper ball joint towards the rear of the car. to make the caster more negative (don't know why you would but then again your not god's gift to women) you move the upper ball joint towards the front of the car.
now ask yourself this can the ball joints move?
answer: no
god's gift to women's answer: slighty
so how do you move them? by analyizing what you have if you look at the upper control arms (where the ball joints sit) you will see that they are not symietical and that they infact do have the ball joint biased towards one side or the other (depending on which arm you look at) ok so what happens to ball joint location if you swap the arms? well it moves towards the rear... hmmm look at that more positive caster (a good thing) I know this is a simple thing to do but it's super over looked.
now the down sides to more positive caster.
1) higher tire wear caster changes the camber angle in turns a higher positive caster the more camber you get
2) harder to steer more work is required to turn the steering wheel if too much caster is in the wheels
now the positives:
1) the wheels will follow steering input better
2) more camber on the turns will make the turns so much more grippy and faster.
3) you can brag to your friends that your car handles better with 2 hours of work then their's does with $1000 in parts in it...
(please note that due to my class in racing I have not actually done this to my car (illegal mod) however due to a slight over sight in getting a ball joint replaced last year I did race with the effects of this mod and I must say there is a difference to turn in response)
now you can go out and buy a caster kit. I won't laugh at you. but it won't help you and you will have wasted your money on it.
if you want proof of the fact that a top plate caster adjustment tool won't work just look at how your shock would move if you moved the top...it's all in the car as proof
I hope this helps,
God's gift to women (I don't get sex on a regular Basis)
01-Jun-2004, 04:23 PM
#11
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 12,906
call me crazy but if using a "top plate caster adjuster" it wouldn't actually do anything would it? cause it would just bend the shock rod?? which is probably the reason they only make the kit for 84-87 and newer civics... cause non of them have double wish bones up front?
02-Jun-2004, 08:22 AM
#13
don't worry.... happens to everyone.
SRR makes upper control arms with adjustable camber and caster. Eccentric ball joints also affect caster very slightly. I'm very much against messing too much with caster though. That's something Honda carefully engineered, and I'd leave that alone. If you want lighter steering effort with a manual rack, hit the gym
SRR makes upper control arms with adjustable camber and caster. Eccentric ball joints also affect caster very slightly. I'm very much against messing too much with caster though. That's something Honda carefully engineered, and I'd leave that alone. If you want lighter steering effort with a manual rack, hit the gym
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