Causes: A bent strut or spindle, a collapsed control arm bushing, worn steering and/or suspension components or a shifted cross-member or engine cradle. Most vehicles have positive caster. Technically, the negative caster is the opposite of the positive one. What to Inspect. Who is correct? Mechanical Engineering Automotive Technology: A Systems Approach (MindTap Course List) While discussing front-wheel caster: Technician A says that excessive positive caster increases the steering effort and causes harsh riding. 49 - What is scrub radius and why is it important? This can cause funky handling. The more caster you have (say 8 degrees); the more quickly the steering wheel will return to center when coming out of a turn. Technician A only Technician B only Both A and B … Suspension design & drive (front-wheel-drive or rear-wheel-drive) are the main factors which decide whether the caster should be positive or negative. 49 - What can be caused by excessive negative caster? Caster is the forward or backward tilt of the steering axis viewed from the side of the vehicle. Uneven caster side-to-side: Too much cross-camber can cause a vehicle to pull to one side. With less caster (say 4 degrees) it will not return to center as quickly. An out of specification caster angle is typically due to a broken or bent part, possibly caused by a collision. (CENTER) When a suspension does not gain camber during deflection, this causes a severe positive camber condition when the car leans during cornering. Seen from ride height, more and more negative camber will occur during the compression of the suspension (depending on the wheel geometry). Setting a negative caster was the only way to make the rotation of steering wheel easier in those cars. If the caster is not equal on both sides of the vehicle, it will pull to the side with the least amount or most negative caster. The caster angle causes this. A control arm or some other part of the suspension could have been damaged in an accident, going over a pothole, or just from uneven wear on your tires. You should have positive caster. If you had zero angle, the car would maintain the turn indefinitely. Ch. Wheel Alignment: Caster Angle. Manufacturers use this adjustment to compensate for crowned roads. Due to this negative caster, the steering wheel in older vehicles often feels too light, and it becomes hard to keep the vehicle on track during turning a corner. If you had a negative angle, the steering wheel would turn to decrease the turn radius until it hit lock (a hardover condition). The unintentional cause of negative camber is related to the suspension. 49 - Describe thrust angle and why it is important foi... Ch. Furthermore, negative camber causes a force to be applied to the wheels that we call ‘camber-thrust'. Technician B says that excessive negative caster causes front-wheel shimmy. (LEFT) Negative camber: The tops of the wheels are closer together than the bottoms. 49 - In what direction must the bottom of a tire and... Ch. Ch. A negative camber can cause your brakes to lock too. This force wants to push the wheels toward the centre of the car. 49 - Describe the difference between toe-in and... Ch. That is due to the process required to initiate a stopping routine. 49 - What can cause incorrect toe-out-on-turns? Turning corners become difficult with a negative caster. Positive vs Negative Caster. To actually answer your … Modern vehicles have caster angle ranging from about 2 degrees to 8 degrees. Vehicles with SLA suspensions use the upper and lower ball joints to create the angle, and those with struts use the center of the upper strut mount and the lower ball joint as the angle. Ch. Source: Hagerty. Under no circumstances am I aware of should you have negative caster (tilted forward). 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