K-mac Camber/Caster plates. Immediate help needed.
Mar 22, 2010, 06:14 PM
#17
Wow!
Out of curiosity, did you notice much of a loss in the sharpness of your steering going with that much caster?
Any downsides to dialing in that much caster?
The small amount of time I did get to drive my car, the steering felt a bit "looser" trying to take quick sharp low speed turns. Now this could have been partially due to the fact that I was running on very low compression/rebound settings on the coilovers at the time.
I'm just curious what your experiences are with all that caster.
Thanks for your input.
Out of curiosity, did you notice much of a loss in the sharpness of your steering going with that much caster?
Any downsides to dialing in that much caster?
The small amount of time I did get to drive my car, the steering felt a bit "looser" trying to take quick sharp low speed turns. Now this could have been partially due to the fact that I was running on very low compression/rebound settings on the coilovers at the time.
I'm just curious what your experiences are with all that caster.
Thanks for your input.
Mar 22, 2010, 06:29 PM
#18
It definitely is a setting you'd like to use for the road course, but for autocross, I'm still trying to get used to it. I've made peace with it at least, which was good enough to get me overall autocross champ last year in the biggest, most competitive class, but at the same time, I also won the comical conehead award for hitting the most cones (which I attribute a lot of it to the steering response slowdown)! I literally went from 3.5 degree to 7.3 degree in about a month's worth of time, haha. It's got advantages and disadvantages.
advantages
- you don't have to dial in as much camber which is good for straight line braking
- you get added dynamic camber the more you steer
- at least in my experience, the turning radius gets smaller which is good! more noticeable at full lock
- with the added dynamic camber, I can speed through wagon wheel 360 turns (I've even compared against other top autocross drivers with video footage and my setup outruns theirs by a good margin around wagon wheels)
- I've also video-compared taking sweeper turns faster with my setup against other top drivers (they run more camber but less caster)
disadvantages
- steering response does slow down noticeably at that high of a degree (no good for tight slaloms), and you must anticipate turning before the turn, moreso (sometimes I have to turn early with blind faith knowing that my early steering will not clip the cone, haha)
- steering doesn't feel as linear (turning the wheel left/right the first 3-5" doesn't turn the car as quickly or as sharp as the turning after that)
- steering gets stiffer, but I actually like it
As mentioned, the disadvantages aren't as nearly as noticeable on a road course where the steering doesn't become as rapid and violent as on a small autocross course.
advantages
- you don't have to dial in as much camber which is good for straight line braking
- you get added dynamic camber the more you steer
- at least in my experience, the turning radius gets smaller which is good! more noticeable at full lock
- with the added dynamic camber, I can speed through wagon wheel 360 turns (I've even compared against other top autocross drivers with video footage and my setup outruns theirs by a good margin around wagon wheels)
- I've also video-compared taking sweeper turns faster with my setup against other top drivers (they run more camber but less caster)
disadvantages
- steering response does slow down noticeably at that high of a degree (no good for tight slaloms), and you must anticipate turning before the turn, moreso (sometimes I have to turn early with blind faith knowing that my early steering will not clip the cone, haha)
- steering doesn't feel as linear (turning the wheel left/right the first 3-5" doesn't turn the car as quickly or as sharp as the turning after that)
- steering gets stiffer, but I actually like it
As mentioned, the disadvantages aren't as nearly as noticeable on a road course where the steering doesn't become as rapid and violent as on a small autocross course.
Last edited by Thoe99; Mar 22, 2010 at 06:33 PM.
Mar 23, 2010, 01:05 PM
#20
I've done some more research on various plates.
The Vorshlag's add 0.5 degree of caster.
The Vorshlag High caster plates will offer 1.0 degree of caster.
Both plates are "fixed" for caster.
I'm also checking into the CiroDesign camber/caster plates. They seem reasonable on their price for the plates. I'm just trying to find out how much caster they'll add, and then I'll make my decision.
Still waiting to hear on the GTworx plates.
The Vorshlag's add 0.5 degree of caster.
The Vorshlag High caster plates will offer 1.0 degree of caster.
Both plates are "fixed" for caster.
I'm also checking into the CiroDesign camber/caster plates. They seem reasonable on their price for the plates. I'm just trying to find out how much caster they'll add, and then I'll make my decision.
Still waiting to hear on the GTworx plates.
Apr 8, 2010, 12:27 PM
#23
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what about the max c whiteline plates?? I'm in the same boat looking to get some caster added here cuz I don't wanna have to run as much camber, with the max c plates you can still get plenty of camber through adjustment of the stock camber bolt though, you can prolly still get about -1.8 degrees out of em' i'd guess. I would have to assume that the max c plates wouldn't allow for as much caster as the k-macs would though. They just seem like they would be much stronger to me, and that's why I like them personally and right now plan on getting em. Any additional info would be appreciated! Subscribed.
Apr 8, 2010, 12:33 PM
#24
what about the max c whiteline plates?? I'm in the same boat looking to get some caster added here cuz I don't wanna have to run as much camber, with the max c plates you can still get plenty of camber through adjustment of the stock camber bolt though, you can prolly still get about -1.8 degrees out of em' i'd guess. I would have to assume that the max c plates wouldn't allow for as much caster as the k-macs would though. They just seem like they would be much stronger to me, and that's why I like them personally and right now plan on getting em. Any additional info would be appreciated! Subscribed.
I'm going to be going with the CiroDesign camber/caster plates. I'm just waiting for him to finalize a few things and then I should be receiving them fairly shortly. I'll post up pictures/review later.
If you email him, he can send you pictures/specs of the plates. From the looks of it, they allow about as much caster adjustment as my kmac's did.
I'm not ******* the Kmac's. The ONLY reason one failed is because I overtightened the nut.
Apr 8, 2010, 02:23 PM
#30
Well, I'm on the 8 kg/mm Fronts and 9kg/mm Rears and I haven't really gotten to put many miles on them yet due to it just sitting on jackstands.
When I did get to drive it, my first impression is that they were a bit stiffer than my bc racing coilovers, even at the softer settings. However, I've been driving a blazer all winter, so it's been awhile since I drove the evo and that thing rides way different than the evo obviously.
Plus I was driving on A032R's on the street when I did get it out, and they have pretty darn stiff sidewalls.
Probably not too helpful, but it's all I got for now.
