What Is Caster? Wheel Alignment

What is wheel caster? How does caster work? The final segment of four short videos on wheel alignment. This video provides information on caster, and the role it plays on automobiles.

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[jonnda]

Using casters to demonstrate caster, genius!

[EngineeringExplained]

@DarkStyler94 Yeah, I try to incorporate them when I have the means to, glad it helps!

[UrPeaceKeeper]

If you aren't sick of me typing yet, you might be after this post! :)  You've covered one important aspect of Caster angle and how it relates to a car's suspension but you've left out what I consider Caster's most important feature.  Caster turns to camber when you turn the wheel.  Caster and Kingpin angle (See your Steering Axis Video) tend to fight each other in this regard but on most production cars you will get negative camber gain on the outside tire and positive camber on the inside tire.  This has a profound impact on keeping a tire flat to the pavement.  This is far more important than the self centering effect of caster.  Cars during the 60's have generally very low caster angles and poor kingpin inclination and the result of turning a corner quickly in a car made in the 60's will show huge amounts of positive camber on the outside wheel as a result.  By upping the caster angle and tweaking control arm angles you get a much flatter contact patch and much more front end grip! :)

[EngineeringExplained]

@engineeringjtc Yes, I understand what you're asking. It does not matter which direction you turn. If you understand the diagram to the bottom left, and simply mirror it, this is what occurs when you turn the tire the other direction.

[EngineeringExplained]

@justins462 It's connected to the flywheel which is connected to the crankshaft. So as the engine rotates, the torque converter rotates, forcing the liquid inside to circulate, and finally spin the transmission shaft.

[nerminc.]

Even though I knew about some aspects (camber, toe-in/out) I had no idea so much went into the steering.
I'm building my first race car and I'm trying to learn as much as I can about suspension and adjustment. Thanks for the videos.

[NewYorker]

Changed my caster 2.5 degrees.  Went from unsafe to perfectly normal.  8.5 caster to 6.  On Jeeps they call it "Death Wobble", any vehicle w a rigid front axle is susceptible to this extreme shimmy.  Turns out this alignment parameter is the most important to cure it.  Thanks for the video :)

[LakaiSkate]

Life saver. I’m finishing my auto body technician ticket here in Canada and part of the last year of schooling is suspension and alignment cause we have to understand how that stuff works. Yet i have almost never had an experience with suspension or adjustment so you are saving my life for this test !

[jubuttib]

One big advantage is camber gain when turning. The higher the caster the more the tyres lean into the turn, usually resulting in better cornering grip. Best case scenario: You can lower static camber to increase straight line grip and increase caster to maintain cornering grip. More caster increases jacking though, which can affect corner weighting, and partially diminishes the effect of steering lock, so it's not without downsides. It also makes steering much heavier.

[Chalky]

Great explanation, thanks for this! I've struggled to understand this for a while, you made it easy to understand :)

[toothpik]

@EngineeringExplained Yes, I was a little confused at what you were getting at, right up until you showed us your chair and then it all fell into place. Thanks!

[GSXIKE]

Well explained and great demonstration. Thank you!

[brotherhoodboard]

All of your videos are so easy to understand. Thank you

[guhongxia]

Really appreciate your explanation for self aligning moment .
Thanks a lot!! 谢谢

[justarandomguy]

this is the best video on the internet, HANDS DOWN!

[orangesharpy]

Excellent. Everywhere else only explains what it is not how it works exactly. Just what I was looking for. Thank you!

[JelyFishTN]

Your awesome dude, just one litle advice, i noticed that you started giving real exemples, keep doin that ;)

[aljensen]

Thank you! This settles a disagreement on the meanings of caster & camber (Turns out I was wrong). We are big fans of 1/10th scale hobby-grade racing and C+C+Toe are incredibly important on such a small scale. Luckily, dirt tracks are a bit forgiving, however.
Now I can go out to my shop and apply names to the adjustments I need to make, and to make those adjustments with a better understanding of what's happening. Thank you, again!

[ManishKumar-xbsf]

@engineeringexplained i want to ask that what is the caster angle of this chair is it having a zero caster as there is no angle between both the axis and the both the axis are parallel to each other?

[EngineeringExplained]

@oldskoolcooper You pretty much always want positive, at the worst neutral. Since Formula cars are going at much greater speeds, it wouldn't surprise me if the caster angle they used was much smaller than on everyday cars.