control arms
Why don't we want more than 3 deg. pos. caster? The more caster you have, the greater the camber change is in turns. This is good, but what are the other effects that I don't know about?
You could run more. In my case I though thte .5 of camber would be more beneficial to higher cornering speeds that an addional 1.5 deg of caster.
For going straight on a dragstrip 4-6 degrees is desired.
Caster inherently creates tire scrub. That why it has it's self centering effect on the tire when going straight.
Caster effect occurs when the imaginary line between the upper ball joint center and the lower ball joint centerline (steering axis) touches the ground in front of the center of the tire contact patch. That results in postive caster.
The force on the tire as it goes down the road self aligns the tire contact patch like a huge tail rudder in the wind.
As you turn the tire around the steering axis, the contact patch is scrubbed around the axis point. Too much is not desirded.
But another feature of caster is that is gains you camber when turning. But in a racing sense, you would just run more static camber to match you tire temperature generated in the corners.
Also, that caster effect will change the corner weights on a car when the the tire turns. The tire lifts or lowers the front end on that side of the car when the tire turns. You can see it on a car placed on digital scale pads. Not a that big deal at 3-6 degrees. But you get more it becomes more of a deal.
There are lots of compromises in Suspension Design.