Excessive negative camber Patch#

Also, some single-engined general-aviation aircraft that are primarily meant to operate from unimproved surfaces, such as bush planes and cropdusters, have their taildragger gear's main wheels equipped with positive-cambered main wheels to better handle the deflection of the landing gear, as the aircraft settles on rough, unpaved airstrips. In such vehicles, the positive camber angle helps achieve a lower steering effort. Off-road vehicles such as agricultural tractors generally use positive camber. Tatra Trucks have quite acute positive camber due to their chassis design, which incorporates a central-tube and swing axles, as seen on this Tatra 815 crane truck Because control rods (in vehicles so equipped) are responsible for locating the suspension points and keeping them in place, changing the overall length of the rods influences the camber angle. However, this solution is only amenable to vehicles which employ control rods, not A-arms. Yet another aftermarket solution for changing the camber angle is via control rods of adjustable length. After that, one tightens the bolts in order to lock the ball joint in the desired position. With these control arms installed, tire camber can effectively be changed by simply moving the tires. Control arms (or A-arms) with adjustable ball joints represent another avenue for allowing side-by-side adjustability. If the original-equipment bolts are replaced with eccentric ones, then the adjustment will engender a change of up to two degrees. These bolts feature large washers that are either eccentric or offset. Camber bolts with eccentrics allow adjustable camber on some vehicles. Some aftermarket coilovers come with built-in camber plates already in place, and there are certain other aftermarket solutions which allow the modification of the camber angle of the wheels. These plates are available for most of the commonly modified models of cars. With aftermarket plates containing slots for strut mounts instead of merely holes, this allows the entire shock absorber to be able to move back and forth, allowing for fine-tuning the camber of a vehicle. Significant suspension modifications may correspondingly require that the upper control arm or strut mounting points be altered to allow for some inward or outward movement, relative to the longitudinal centerline of the vehicle, for camber adjustment. Excessive camber angle can lead to increased tire wear and impaired handling. The elimination of an available camber adjustment may reduce maintenance requirements, but if the car is lowered by use of shortened springs, the camber angle will change. In cars with double wishbone suspensions, camber angle may be fixed or adjustable, but in MacPherson strut suspensions, it is normally fixed. Heavy-duty vehicles, such as tractors, trucks, etc., tend to have more positive camber angle, so that when they are loaded and the whole vehicle lowers, the wheels are almost vertical. As a result, the handling of even low-priced automobiles has improved dramatically.

What was once an art has become much more scientific with the use of computers, which can optimize all of the variables mathematically instead of relying on the designer's intuition and experience. Proper management of camber angle is a major factor in suspension design, and must incorporate not only idealized geometric models, but also real-life behavior of the components flex, distortion, elasticity, etc. Therefore excessive camber impairs straight driving in rain and snow and when accelerating hard.

Excessive negative camber Patch#

Zero camber gives the best traction as it maximises the contact patch between the road and the tires and puts the tire tread flat on the road. However, any camber affects the contact patch of the tire while driving in a straight line. Caster angle will also compensate for this to a degree, as the top of the outside tire will tilt slightly inward, and the inner tire will respectively tilt outward. However, due to the weight transfer inherent while turning, the outside wheels bear more of the force of turning and negative camber will improve handling overall. Note that this is only true for the outside tire during the turn the inside tire would benefit most from positive camber – again, only with a short long arms system. The centrifugal (outwards) force is compensated for by applying negative camber, which turns the contact surface of the tire outwards to match, maximizing the contact patch area. This is because it places the tire at a better angle to the road, transmitting the centrifugal forces through the vertical plane of the tire rather than through a shear force across it. Negative front wheel camber is used in drift cars to improve their handlingĬamber angle alters the handling qualities of some suspension designs in particular, negative camber improves grip in corners especially with a short long arms suspension.