front ride height and camber

[twobone]

I noticed that my front tires are not scuffed on the outside inch and a quarter. The suspension is slightly sagged at the front leading to a high levels of camber.

 

The shocks have adjustable spring platforms. So is the proper thing to tighten up the spring preload to raise the front to perfectly level on the bottom wishbone?

 

There are two rings at the bottom. What is the procedure? Crank up the top ring and set it and then use the bottom ring to lock it in place?

 

Thanks

[Klasik-69]

Ride height and camber adjustments are two totally different things, although one will affect the other. You wouldn't change the ride height to correct the camber, or vice versa.

 

If you have a Caterham suspension, you would unbolt the top ball joint attachment and separate the upper control arm from the spindle. Then you would screw in or out, depending on whether you want to add or remove negative camber, the ball joint at the control arm. Screwing it out will make the upper control arm longer thus adding positive camber. Do this with the car level from side to side, roll the car back and forth between ajustment to setttle the suspension, then check with a camber gauge to see where your are. Both sides need to be the same unless you're racing on a NASCAR track and always turning left. :bigear:

 

Once you have adjusted the camber to where you want it, you will now need to reset the toe-in alignment since by changing the length of the upper control arm, you have effectively changed the toe.

 

If you change the ride height, do that first before doing any of the other stuff. Any change you make will change other components of the suspension/alignment settings. I use digital levels to measure my camber adjustment and have set mine up for track use at around -2.5. This setting may not be very good for street use since it will wear the inside of the tire more than the outside. If I was setting up for street use only, I may start at around -0.8 and then monitor the tires for signs of uneven wear. On a track, we use a pyrometer to check tire temps outside, middle and inside. This tells us where the impact is from that track. For street use, using a pyrometer would be of little use. Good luck.

[twobone]

Thanks. As you suggest, I will look at my ride height first. The lower A arm appear to not be parallel to the ground. The shock body has platform adjustment rings at the bottom of the shock body.

 

Is this the correct process?

-Jack up the front to take weight off the wheel

-Crank up the top of the two collars to further compress the spring

-Crank up the bottom of the two collars to lock the new ride height

[athens7]

Remember that the relationship between front and rear ride height (rake) is also important to handling. Caterham suggests 15mm higher ride height in the rear vs. the front. More rake equals more turn in (up to a point). I remember that the front lower wishbones should be basically parallel to the ground. My alignment setup for street and autocross use was zero toe, -1 1/3 degree camber. The car was stable on the road, neutral on track, and wore tires evenly across the tread. YMMV.

 

I believe your understanding of spring perch adjustment is correct.