Why do cars have positive caster?

Modern cars use positive caster in order to resist unintentional turning of the vehicle, or wandering/straying from the intended path, when traveling straight at speed. What is this? A car that pulls to one side when traveling in a straight line may have negative caster.

How does positive caster affect handling?

Increasing the amount of positive caster will increase steering effort and straight line tracking, as well as improve high speed stability and cornering effectiveness. Positive caster also increases tire lean when cornering (almost like having more negative camber) as the steering angle is increased.

What is positive caster?

Caster angle settings allow manufacturers to balance steering effort, high speed stability, and front end cornering effectiveness. Positive Caster – If the line slopes towards the rear of the vehicle, then you have positive caster. The down side to positive caster is if the vehicle does not have power steering.

What is the advantage of having a positive caster angle?

Positive caster angle This makes a vehicle easier to control and improves its directional stability (reducing its tendency to wander). Excessive caster angle will make the steering heavier and less responsive, although in racing large caster angles are used for improving camber gain in cornering.

What is positive caster angle?

The caster angle is the slope of the imaginary line that intersects the upper and lower steering pivot points, viewed from the side. A positive caster angle occurs when the upper pivot point is behind the lower point. If the upper pivot point is forward of the lower point, it creates a negative caster angle.

What happens when the vehicle has too positive of camber?

Positive Camber Effects When your front wheels have a positive camber, they are inclining outward. This creates more stability because it will cause the vehicle to pull to each side.

What is the purpose of castor angle?

The purpose of this is to provide a degree of self-centering for the steering—the wheel casters around in order to trail behind the axis of steering. This makes a vehicle easier to control and improves its directional stability (reducing its tendency to wander).

How does positive caster affect the steering wheel?

The driving effect of the positive caster can be noticed as you’re driving forward. Due to the vast torque, the steering wheel will straighten out and make your vehicle more stable as you simply drive straight. If you increase the degree of the positive caster angle too much, it will create more heaviness in the steering.

What is caster angle and how does it affect the vehicle?

Due to the huge amount of self-aligning torque on the front tires and wheels created by the upper ball joint or strut mount, the vehicle will be steady on its track when you drive straight. The effect of this caster angle generates a tension that keeps the front wheels straight at the time of driving at speeds.

What is positive and negative caster angle?

Positive caster happens when the wheel and lower pivot point stay before its upper counterpart. Vehicles these days apply this caster angle to prevent inadvertent vehicle turning or veering from the straight trajectory when driving at a high speed. Negative caster occurs when the upper pivot point stays in front of the lower pivot point.

What are the benefits of positive caster and self alignment torque?

You experience the benefits of positive caster and self-aligning torque every time the steering wheel naturally “unwinds” back to 12 o’clock when exiting a corner. And without positive caster and the resulting self-aligning torque, the vehicle would be very inclined to wander at highway speeds. (You’d feel that too!