Question about automotive suspensions

  • Context: Automotive 
  • Thread starter Thread starter krekquel
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Automotive
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
1 reply · 3K views
krekquel
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
hello :)

hopefully i will be able to explain my question clearly.

i am trying to understand the effect that caster angles and steering axis inclination have on the camber angle of a wheel. imagine that we are looking at the left front wheel and turning it 90 degrees to the right (theoretically). the way i imagine it to work...

1. every degree of SAI (steering axis inclination) i have will translate to the same number of degrees of POSITIVE camber when the wheel is turned 90 degrees.
2. every degree of positive caster i have will translate to the same number of degrees of NEGATIVE camber when the wheel is turned 90 degrees.

correct so far?

if so...

let's assume the following about the front wheels of a vehicle:
camber = -2.5 degrees
castor = +1.5 degrees
SAI = 17 degrees

now... if i turn the wheels of the car are turned 30 degrees... i would expect the following to happen:

i would expect a +5.6 change in camber because of the steering axis (17 x 30/90)
i would expect a -0.5 change in camber because of the castor (1.5 x 30 / 90)

resulting in +2.6 degrees of camber when the wheel is turned 30 degrees.

but that can't be right. when i look at the wheel... it most definitely does not look 2.6 degrees tilted out.

so what am i missing here?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
perhaps i am being impatient... anyone? :(