b'TECH TIP PAGE Tech Tip 54: It is not possible to have one ideal static camber & caster setup for every car. Nor it is possible to have one ideal camber curve & caster gain setup that fits all cars. Asidefrom different tires having different needs, how far the front end dives under braking affects the camber angle we need a ton!And, how far a car/chassis rolls plays a huge factor as well.Tire sidewall height, stiffness & design play the key role in finding out the optimum total dynamic camber we need, for the tire to achieve the optimum contact patch. Older NASCAR tires were 29 OD on 15 rimsthats 7 of sidewall. These had a LOT of sidewall distortion. We have a video of a Craftsman Truck at Texas Speedway where the sidewall is rolled under so farit is almost touching the tie rod end!For those tires, we needed a lot of dynamic camberas much or 7-8 on the outside front tire.For road race cars running a 315/30-18 race slick, the OD is 25.5 & the rim is 18, so the sidewalls as much shorter (3-3/4) & stiffer. Those tires love somewhere around 5 dynamic camber. The sidewall doesnt roll over as much, so we need less dynamic camber.What is dynamic camber?It is the actual camber of the wheel dynamically with the car in full dive, roll & steering. Static camber is the starting point. We have camber gain on both wheels from suspension travel in dive. Caster & caster gain increase camber on the outside tireand reduce it from the inside tireas the car is steered.We must account for spindle balljoint inclinationknown as kingpin angle inclination (KPI) or steering angle inclination (SAI). KPI/SAI act the opposite as camber, reducing camber on the outside tireand increasing it from the inside tireas the car is steered. Lastly, the car body roll angle0.5 to 4is reducing camber on the outside tire & increasing camber to the inside tire. All too complicated to map out on paper. Very easy to map this on dynamic suspension software.When Ron Sutton is designing a complete carsuspension & steering package, for each specific application & set of parameters, the ride height,target dive & roll angles are determined first.Software & experience allow him to create a spring, sway bar, anti-dive & roll center package to hitthose dive & roll angle targets out of the box. Once secure in the knowledge this car is going to dive this much under full braking & roll this much at max cornering, then Ron can set about dialing in the static camber, camber gain, static caster & caster gain to achieve the optimum tire contact patch for the chosen tires.Obviously, with this information you now have, you can see why if the car was designed with a 3.50 ride height, 2.50 dive target & 1.0 roll targetand you change just about anything pertinent that affects geometry, ride height, dive or roll angleit wont perform as wellunless we reengineer it.This is also why its so important to track tune the car to maintain the dive & roll angle targets the car was designed for. In another Tech Tip section we outline RSRT Quik-Tune strategies.227'