Lifting and caster

stilson

stilson

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Joined
Dec 27, 2011
Messages
1,790
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Sunny Balga WA
Has anyone noticed a reduction in caster after fitting lift blocks? Is this something that should be corrected for along with camber? I realise that the A arm swings down in an arc so camber would be affected more but surely adding ~7% height between where the top mounts and the bottom connects to the hub would reduce caster by ~7% too.

Waddayathink?
 
My blocks (SubaXtreme) are shaped to counter the effects of camber / caster in the front. I think caster is not adjustable so I'm not sure what you could do about it if it was out a bit.

(Caster is the tilting of the uppermost point of the steering axis either forward or backward (when viewed from the side of the vehicle). A backward tilt is positive (+) and a forward tilt is negative (-).)
 
Solid blocks obviously don't, most fabricated lifts have a caster correction. It's still not enough to get factory caster, atleast it wasn't for me.

I put in a whiteline anti-lift kit, which gives just enough camber and caster to get to factory specs or slightly better.
 
Put camber bolts it the bottom at the front and in the top (and possibly bottom) in the rear for more neg camber, you can also do what I did and add GD WRX alloy A arms at the front which are 1cm longer but probably not really needed. I never worried about adjusting anything for caster and it wheel aligns fine.
 
How much caster are you really talking about? Does anyone have an alignment sheet that shows there is the difference and that you are truly off enough to worry about it?

Unless you can show an accurate amount of difference I think you might be splitting hairs here.

If you proceed with what you are discussing you need to remember. You are modifying a car from it's original orientation. You are moving suspension pick up points in/out, down, forward and back. It will effect how the vehicle handles. How it is aligned. How it wears tires.

The front suspension travel is a single arc. I understand moving the lower plate in to compensate for the 7mm offset but......caster? From my calculations and from measuring off the car in the garage....I just do not see enough of a change to compensate for it.
 
When i did the wheel alignment on my car after installed my lift kit the caster and camber could only get *Just* within the factory specifications detailed on the machine. That was slight + camber, and slightly less positive caster (than ideal). Not sure if i have the print outs still or not.

Installing the anti lift kit gave me slighty more + caster than factory, and allowed me to get about .25 of a degree negative camber.
 
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It does worry me a bit, and the factory spec is pretty conservative to begin with. I'd be interested to see your alignment printout if you find it.
 
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They are conservative specs, but with a lifted car that has 65 profile tyres and dissconnected sway bar (rear) my thinking was neg camber wasn't going to help my handling.

Lowered with some low profile tyres and HD sway bars would be a different story.
 
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