ok, I consider myself a HUGE car fanatic, but when discussions come to race setups with toe-in, camber, etc, I am clueless. I think they have something to do with the setup of the suspension and wheels, but what exactly do each do? What does negative camber do? positive camber? What are some of the other adjustable suspension terms and what do they mean? thank you

 

Let's start with basics. Toe is the tire rotating on a vertical axis - you aim to set the tires to point anyplace front a slightly pigeon-toed stance to a slight duck-footed stance (toes pointed in to toes pointed out). It depends on the car's geometry and what you hope to accomplish to decide what is the best setting. Many cars have slight toe-in for stability. Racers have slight toe-out for crispness of turn-in (the car starts reacting to the sterring angle sooner) as well as to compensate for the Ackerman angle (the inside tire has a different radius/distance to move than the outside - think of a trolley car in a turn with a solid axle between the wheels).

Camber is the tire rotating around the horizontal axis (pointed fore/aft). Positive camber places the bottom of the tire inside the top og the tire while negative places the bottom outside of the top. Think of old VWs, Corvairs, Spitfires, Porsche 356s with the rear tires looking like they are about to fall off with the bottom sitting so much further than the rest of the tire. What you're after is enough negative camber to allow the tire to remain perpendicular with the road surface for maximum traction. How much is determined by the suspension geometry and body roll.

Caster is like the front wheels of a shopping cart but in the opposite direction (shopping carts allow the wheels to drag behind while a car positions it in front of the axle). Among other things, it's used to help return the wheel to the direction of travel when not being forced by you steering (self-centering). Caster is the least important of the adjustments as long as you don't go nuts. To get max camber, you may have to give up caster (just the way the geometry and adjustments interact with each other).

Does this give you a start?