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Suspension Change

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Romeo View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Romeo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 April 2011 at 1:35pm

Well, a bit of an update/one more question. The update is that I picked up a set of Nexen N9000's from Ryan (Owns the very attractive Red Fiero that rides on 19" six spoke rims), so I have fresh rubber, and have a date set to get my Gretchin aligned as well - Tuesday.

Before I head in though, I had touched on this before, and Colby had helped give me an answer, but be damned if I could find his post again: What is the maximum amount of caster one can run on a Fiero? In a perfect world, a straight 7 degrees would allow me to dial back half the camber on the front, while still providing enough dynamic camber in the corners to keep the fronts almost flat (Ever so slightly negative, about 0.03-0.05 degrees). Obviously, if running that much is beyond the stock suspension capabilities, I will have to dial in a touch more negative camber up front as well.

As a side note, if you read that and thought "What a fantastic idea for my daily driver, I need more caster", perish the thought. On a vehicle without power steering, caster makes the wheel harder and harder to turn, an effect that only gets amplified with speed.

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Dawg View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Dawg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 April 2011 at 1:54pm
Everything I've read says 5 deg.  Any more and I would think the road feel would be punishing. 

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Romeo View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Romeo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 April 2011 at 2:48pm

Oh, I'm not worried about road feel or comfort (At all. Seriously.)

My sole concern is the mechanical limitation of how much caster can be forced before it's simply not possible to dial any more in. Hopefully it ain't 5, or I'll have to tweak in -0.5 more camber! It'd be excessive on wear...

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Colby View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Colby Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 April 2011 at 3:28pm
Well, I think stock is 5* +/- 2* and I think I remember reading that moving both of the washers over to one side results in about a 2* change. So I think you could get close to 7 degrees.

For what it's worth, I replaced the two large washers with a bunch of smaller washers to let me adjust it. And with all but one of the washers (I think) on the one side the increase in steering effort is noticeable, but not too bad, at least on my 14" rims. I've just never had the caster measured, so I have no idea if it's actually much more than stock.
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Romeo View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Romeo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 April 2011 at 9:45pm
That was the post! Baha, thanks Colby! And not only that, the information is precisely what I wanted to hear!
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