I hear ppls concerns but I have full turning radius and don't rub one bit the only issue is speed bumps but that's part of the fun

and the fenders yeah it sucks but its just another part of the lifestyle lol it'll be fixed tho no real big deal

 

Looks sleek ...not overdone ...good job

 

To those with B&G or other coilovers without camber plates did you encounter issues with your caster being off after lowered? My previous set had them but tried to get an alignment a while back and they weren't able to adjust caster without a camber plate.

I didn't believe them at first because if you have stock suspension you should be able to adjust the caster and is the same as a coilover minus the lowering ability. I'm thinking I might have to get a camber plate add-on now. Are they all pillowball?

 

My caster is off. I was on an alignment rack the other day and noticed it. I don't see how that would affect tire wear enough to worry about it, however.

 

Well if your caster is off then you will pull to one side or the other and then be fighting the wheel, at least I am, to stay straight thus one wheel will get some inside wear.

For mine the weren't able to get the alignment "straight" without having caster adjustment. I didn't believe them 100% though.

 

Here's a prize for being wrong... Me telling you that you're wrong.

Caster has to do with where the wheel sits, in relation to the center of the strut. Or in other words, you can extend or shrink your wheel base by adjusting the caster + or -

What you are referring to is called Tow in/out. Tow is the angle of wheel when at dead center steering wheel. Wheel pointing outwards is Tow Out. Wheel pointing inwards is tow in. These are adjusted by the tie-rods on the steering rack. Adjusting the tow in/out will effect your straight line acceleration and turn in response. If you have tow in, you'll be more stable in a straight line (good for drag, but again, too much will slow you down). Tow out will slow you down due to friction, but allow a faster turn in response, and give you more of a steering angle (drift cars typically run excessive tow out, to gain more steering angle, and they also modify the knuckles to have more clearance from tie rods).

Basic camber plates typically only allow for camber adjustment on a car. And that is the angle of the wheel being straight up and down. Positive camber should be avoided at all cost, *unless you like driving on ovals* and a proper amount of negative camber, will provide max traction while cornering. Too much, and the car becomes very unstable at high speeds due to having less tire on the ground.

On the tC I couldn't tell you what a optimal camber position in, but I would say it's no more than -1.5 on front or rear. I Found on the xb1 that -2 was about perfect (front and back) but they have a higher center of gravity, and produce more body roll. Thus for, the extra .5 provides a little more tire on the ground during hard cornering. Also, tire wear wasn't terrible on that setting.


Tire wear, and stability will be effected by both Camber and Tow. The safest route to go is, OEM spec (or as close as a alignment tech can get it to that). It'll provide optimal tire wear, safe handling, and best fuel mileage, because your tow in/out will not be adding extra drag/friction to slow you down.

 

Uh, thanks for the info but minus points for the approach.

Wrong I am not. I know about tow, caster and camber. I know what caster does and know that most inner wear is actually from an incorrect toe angle more so than even camber, which most people think it is. I know that camber plates are essentially for camber, hence the name, but they suggested that some of the caster problems could possibly corrected with a plate as some allow for a caster adjustment. I'm not setting up a car for the track etc just trying to get it lined up to where I'm only playing with camber. Thanks for the input though, it is appreciated.

I guess my real question was how other has dealt with caster issues or being out of alignment in that spec. I have my toe zeroed out but car still pulls right and also am running some negative camber since I'm on coilovers for clearance.

 

I'm in the same position. Got aligned, but still have a pull to the right. My caster is off, but both sides are off pretty much equally. So I didn't think that would affect anything. This is what the tech confirmed but who knows. I accepted a bad alignment a long time ago. I don't expect to ever get my alignment in spec after being dropped more than a couple of inches.

 

True. I don't expect it to be perfect necessarily but as close as I can get. My caster unfortunately isn't off equally so that's why I'm having issues most likely.

There has to be a way to get it in spec/corrected even when lowered. I haven't been able to find any camber plates sold separately anywhere.

 

Not a fan of the bumper off method of oil changes

 

What makes you want take the bumper off?

 

^ do these photos have **** for quality? I'm posting from my phone to photobucket to forums while I'm without Internet. These like doodoo to me.

 

Being low and I have to use wood to get onto my ramps but they weren't cooperating this time. I need to pick up a new low profile jack.

Photo quality isn't the best but not too bad. I did the same with the photo I posted though and mine looks ok.

 

Here's a pic of my tC after I got my new wheels put on. Btw thanks for the help Jasper!




Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

I sure do miss those wheels. Looks good ^

 

 

Seems like an unnecessary amount of stretch and could have gone with a less-narrow tire but the car looks good overall. Probably the cleanest RS4 though.

 

Your tech is right. With caster if it is to far negative the car wonders, to far positive you get bump steer(the steering wheel jerks around at every little bump in the road). If castor angles are unequal the car will pull to the side that's the most negative. So if the castor angles are equal left to right it's probably toe or possibly even tire wear that's causing the pull. If your running wider tires from stock you might even have to toe it in a bit because of the extra friction from the scrub radius. That's what I had to do with my xB and now it drives straight when I let go of the wheel...provided I'm not on the gas!

 

And dang!! There's some really low and schweet tC's in this thread!

 

15mm spacers are in the mail for the rear, thats why i am running such a stretch, ill be pretty darn flush