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Different adjustments of suspension. alignments are one of the largest factors in the way a car handles. LARGEST. not your strut bar, not your bling bling 20's. Camber - negative and postive are what we got here. lets use a diagram. this is your car |xxx| from behind. zero camber good? this is negative camber /xxx\ wheels pointed inward get it now, postive \xxx/ wheels pointed out now as you turn, the car rolls (tilts) as it rolls you move the tires contact patch changes. the tire is no longer even with the pavement, to counteract this, you dial in camber. so as the car rolls, it rolls onto the largest area of contact patch. downside of this is, when you're not turning, you're riding on the inner edge of the tire, not optimal for acceleration or braking traction, as well as wearing the inner edges of the tire quicker. make a choice. Caster- imagine your suspension in the front, hub at the bottom, strut mounts on top. positive caster is when the top of the struts point toward the rear of the car. caster is what allows the wheels to straighten out when you let go off the wheel. for performance, try and get as much caster adjustment allows, which isnt really very much. Toe- imagine you superman floating above your car looking straight down on you car. the wheels are like this in the front |xxx| that is zero toe. /xxx\ is toe in, \xxx/ is toe out. toe in makes the car more stable in a straight line and is easier on the tires. toe out makes the car turn in more crisply, while making straight line stability a bit tricky, and wearing tires fast. toe, out of all adjustments, is what will kill tires the quickest out of all adjustments. got that all? great. now some talk about the design of suspension itself, this will mainly pertain to imports, so no DeDion links or crazy rocker armed setups Macpherson strut design - one of the simplest front end designs. found in cars like the Toyota Celica, dodge neon and the newest generation of civics. basically a single a arm at the bottom, and a strut/spring combo linking the whole shebang to the strut top mount, maybe a few rods thrown in to help stiffen up the multiple angles of loads that are applied. simple, effective and cheap. when mac struts are used in the rear, it is often referred to as a chapman strut, after the lotus designer colin chapman. Unequal length double a-arms- found in many higher end sports car, and the older EG and EK civics. imagine a mac strut with 2 arms. why bother you say? adjustability! because of this, the actually geometry of the movement can be tweaked very minutely, for different effects. ever wonder why civics that are slammed have ridiculous amounts of camber? double a-arms are why. double a-arms can gain much more camber through its suspension travel, desireable for cornering, but not so hot for improper lowering clowns. Solid beam axle - not found in many imports because they mostly suck, found in the ass end of camaros and mustangs, and many SUVs and big trucks. this is a non -independent design, meaning if one wheel moves, the wheel on the opposite side reacts to that. sucks for passenger cars that like to handle, especially on rough pavement. good for pure drag cars and trucks. -fataLLightning

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