Hey guys,
I've been looking for the answer to this for a while now. Lets see if anyone on the forum can answer this.

Before I get into the subject at hand, let me back up a little. I do a lot of work on NSX's. I set them up for track sessions, racing, etc. An NSX runs 8 degrees of caster in the front suspension. As most of you know, caster helps the car turn better by tilting the tires in the direction of the turn. If you turn left, the left front tire will tilt more toward 0 or even positive camber. (caster affects camber by allowing the tires to tilt in a turn). NOW, back to the original question. I have a 93 LS special. I'm building it for roadcourse racing. Nothing professional, just for personal fufilment. You know the deal. I just bought an alignment machine for my shop. I was checking the specs on the 90-93 integras. The camber spec is 1.5 degrees. NOW, the camber specs for the 94 and up Integras, including type R's is 1.17 degrees. This is counter intuitive for tuning. BUT the Integra type R is well known for it's ability to turn and handle well. So this is my question. Why would an Integra with the ability to turn well have less caster than an older model?
The more positive caster you put in the more the tires will tilt. Why would they back off the spec for the caster? Especially in a car that is a Front wheel drive Front motor design. Normaly a FF car will have a ton of understeer. This would tell me that more caster would be needed to turn the car in a high speed turn. Am I missing something here?
Next question. I'm thinking about taking the factory radius rods off the front and modifying them to put more caster in my car. BUT, if someone will tell me a reason why I shouldn't I'd like to hear why.
Thanks guys, have a great weekend,
Barn Man..

 

the only easy way to add caster is to swap upper control arms.
they'll give you 2.2 degrees more caster

 

I'd think the ITR would have a quicker ratio rack thus needing a different caster setting. I'm sure the Teg guys would know.

Have you tried a balljoint camber kit? Thats how I increased my caster. I went up to 3 or 3.5deg on my Prelude and still want more.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Barn Man &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hey guys,
The camber spec is 1.5 degrees. NOW, the camber specs for the 94 and up Integras, including type R's is 1.17 degrees. This is counter intuitive for tuning. BUT the Integra type R is well known for it's ability to turn and handle well. So this is my question. Why would an Integra with the ability to turn well have less caster than an older model? </TD></TR></TABLE>

The short answer is, because it works. You might want to ask this question in Road Racing or ITR Forum, where resident experts will give you a several page dissertation on the subject.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Next question. I'm thinking about taking the factory radius rods off the front and modifying them to put more caster in my car. BUT, if someone will tell me a reason why I shouldn't I'd like to hear why. </TD></TR></TABLE>

A well known Honda Challenge competitor broke (several sets of) axles before he realised that it was the increased caster causing the stress, so be careful and research this in RR Forum before you do it!

 

a high positive caster setting will tend to make the car more stable. the steering will want to return to center on it's own a bit more and the car will track better. on a powerful mid-engine, rear drive car with a very nice weight balance, this is a good thing.

fwd cars, due to their front heavy nature, tend to have a natural stability. the steering wheel returns to center very easily on it's own. the car will also track very well, and be stable with cross-winds and such. a caster setting close to zero should make the car more responsive at corner entry.

camber gain from caster is very minimal in race conditions. dynamic corner weight change however, increases dramatically with increasing amounts of caster. this can make a car feel faster, but actually be slower. the car feels faster because the feedback from the front tires is different. worse case scenerio the change in feel makes the driver either under-drive or over-drive the car without knowing it.

caster changes will also affect bumpsteer. i don't know of anyone who has measured the change in bumpsteer from swapping the uca's, so i can't comment on how bad it is on our cars, but it will change. with stock uca's on the correct side we experience toe-out in bump and roll. this will tend to make the car push more, so it is entirely conceivable that a change in caster could actually hurt chassis balance rather then help it.

nate

 

I want to know more too. I have never touched the caster on my 93 JDM Integra (94 US bodystyle))
Jay

 

solo-x you are defenelely right.
sure though more castrer will make the car'' feel'' better; i swapped my uca's since my subframe is bent and had -.8 and -1.2 and the car felt VERY unstable, it sucked.
After swapping uca's caster went to 2.3 and 1.7; much better.

Wich i could get it close to zero though