Shark Racer

The car is a daily driver, but I have no problem with getting on it every day either.

I want to make sure it is good for cruising and for hitting up the mountains.

I was considering the VetteBrakes "Advanced Street" #s.

Thanks in advance. Also, could someone explain toe and caster to me? (I know what they are, but would like to know what they do.)

-Steve

73 LS-4

VB's advanced street numbers will work fine with a daily driver. I set mine up a tad more aggresive in camber then those but not to their next level, but mines only driven occasionally so tire wear isn't a huge issue. Plus since I have free access to the alignment equipment, If I don't like where it is it's easy enough for me to set it back.

Caster basically effects the returnability of the wheels to the straight position. In other words if you make a turn and let go of the wheel most cars tend to want to straighten out. I also believe that caster has a big bearing on steering response. I believe (some of the more serious autocrossers will hopefully chime in), the more caster you run the more the tendency for the car to want to go the direction you have the wheel turned to. In other words if you turn the wheel right the alignment is going to want it to pull to the right rather then try to recenter like most stock alignment setups. Toe, for most vehicles is setup for the most part slightly negative, I believe this is becouse as a vehicle drives straight the toe is normally tried to be pushed out which will put it close to zero so tire wear will be good. As VB states going with the toe out slightly helps improve turn in but can make the car darty. Not exactly sure as to why this is, again hopefully someone will chime in. I believe camber is your most important angle as far as overall grip is concerend. hope I was of some help.

:cheers:
Pat Kunz

norvalwilhelm

I don't know what Vettebrakes specs are but these work for me.
-.75 camber, +2.75 caster and 1/16th toe in. These are alot more aggressive then stock but will work alot better and not wear the tires.
The most important thing is getting them the same side to side. You have spec ranges and some only worry that they are within specs not the same side to side and it makes a difference.
These specs will not get you it trouble and a great improvement over stock.

burners

I would go with the advanced street recommendations those are good numbers. Toe affects the responsiveness of the steering and to a degree the stability. Toe out will make it very responsive to steering inputs and a bit less stable feeling. Toe in will make it less responsive and therefore more stable feeling. Caster affects how quickly the steering returns to center as well as steering effort. The more positive caster you have the quicker it will return and the more effort it requires to steer (although the increase in effort isn't substantial). I run max caster and zero toe.

Chris O'

I run:

Front
Toe-in 1/8 inch total
Camber .9 to 1 deg –ve
Caster is a just under 4 deg

Rear
Toe-in is about 1/8
Camber .5 deg -ve