LeeD

I just picked up my new xA RS 1.0 last saturday and can feel it desparately needs some caster.

I'm not familier with the suspension of the xA at all, and have yet to pop the wheel off, but I'm getting the impression from the folks here that the front suspension is not multilink dual arm suspension but just a lower arm and strut. Is this correct?

And is anybody aware if there is a caster adjustment kit out there? I haven't seen one.

Cheers,

kdanie

I have seen 2 camber kits but neither adjust the castor. Why do you think you need more castor? If you are looking to give more straight line stability be sure your alignment is correct, many people have had to get their cars realigned after purchase.
If your car is "darty" or "twitchy" a slight increase in toe in will help. Some times wider tires will make a car feel like that and if it's lowered much you will loose a little castor due to the shortening of the struts. If you have installed lowering springs get your toe corrected-it will be off.

As a side note excess castor can cause a "jacking" effect, that is when the hub is turned the spindle pushes down on the tire due to the increased rear tilt of the strut, increasing the corner weight on that tire=bad for handling.

ken

RogerTTR

Unfortunately, we do not have one available.

LeeD

Thanks Ken,

Seems like your one of the very few guys here that actually knows there stuff mechanically and with the cars in regards to handling.

I'm also quite familier with caster, camber, toe and have done some road racing in my time. In my 300ZX TwinTurbo, I've been doing my own caster, camber, toe alignments for a number of years with my bubble gauge and other tools. Also, after doing those alignments and tire pressures, measuring the results with a tire temp gauge across the tread.

I can feel in the xA that the caster is very neutral. Meaning there is almost no "self centering effect" of the steering wheel. Although this is great for gas milage as there is almost no scrub, I prefer having a little more of a centering feel in the steering. A personal preference. If I was going to autox or track it often, I'd definately want much more, but I'd rather have better gas milage but a better a better centering feel.

Btw, I havn't lowered the car yet, but am familier with how suspensions react when under compression and the resulting change in the 3 axis and the complexities of it.

So a number of people had to get their cars align after purchase huh.. Interesting.. I'm going to have to break out the bubble gauge...

kdanie

You can always slot the mouning holes in the towers slightly to get a little more.... Not the best solution but possible.

ken