Ve ss caster arms

[Kiwive]

Hey guys.. in the process of Changing my caster arms over on my ve ss.. took my car in to the Mechanic and he said my caster arm bushes are gone.. have decided to to change the whole arm over as don’t want to waster money changing bushes and 6 months down the track have to do my ball joints.

I’ve brought some Superpro caster arms and in the middle of swapping them over I’ve discovered that the spacer plates arnt the same.. the ones Superpro provided the hole is drilled off set from centre where the ones fitted the whole is centre..

Am I ok just using the existing ones or do I need to use the new ones??

And is there anything else I need to be aware of , as in position or will that be sorted when I get a alignment??

Thanks in advance..

 

[_R_J_K_]

I’ve discovered that the spacer plates arnt the same.. the ones Superpro provided the hole is drilled off set from centre where the ones fitted the whole is centre..

These increase the castor slightly, it's a kit they also sell separately. You can use them, but you will need a wheel alignment afterwards. Have a Google for the installation instructions.

Should be fine to use the originals though.

 

[Kiwive]

Yea planning on getting a alignment as will be getting new tyres.. the instructios that come with them said it is only for one side of car pulls hard left to purchase another set to put on drives side.:.and there is four plates in kit so am I better off using them or just using original ones on passages side?? I’ve done drives side and just left the plate that was there

 

[_R_J_K_]

Pretty sure the passenger side only thing is just to account for the camber of the road for pleb drivers or whatever where the road angle is really bad, don't really understand why this is still an option that's offered, probably something to do with evening tyre wear in that scenario. Somebody else will probably know, probably a bit more of an old school method.

If it were me I'd put them on both sides, there's really no downsides to increased castor in this kind of situation, no matter what the setup.

 

[Kiwive]

Does it matter that the new plates hole is off centre? If I just l leave the original plate will the camber be ok/ when I get an aligment they will correct if wrong??

 

[vc commodore]

Pretty sure the passenger side only thing is just to account for the camber of the road for pleb drivers or whatever where the road angle is really bad, don't really understand why this is still an option that's offered, probably something to do with evening tyre wear in that scenario. Somebody else will probably know, probably a bit more of an old school method.

If it were me I'd put them on both sides, there's really no downsides to increased castor in this kind of situation, no matter what the setup.

Caster is generally what is used to counteract the camber of the road...A little more caster on the left is generally what is applied. Camber can also be used to help get the car driving straight, but generally you only adjust the camber to get the car driving straight, when the owner of the vehicle doesn't want to spend too much money fixing other little problems and just wants the car driving straight.

Of course this is all in a "nutshell" response, as other factors can come into play, when it comes to getting a car driving straight

 

[vc commodore]

Does it matter that the new plates hole is off centre? If I just l leave the original plate will the camber be ok/ when I get an aligment they will correct if wrong??

I find this rather unusual....The caster rod doesn't effect camber a great deal (unless it is actually bent really bad from a hit), so having an offset hole doesn't make a great deal of sense to me....It won't effect caster, because you have to shift the front wheel back or forward in the wheel arch, to increase or decrease caster... So I can't really see it effecting camber in anyway....Just creating the potential for accelerated wear in the bush, because the end of the arm will be pushing more to one side, rather than equally over the bush

 

[_R_J_K_]

Does it matter that the new plates hole is off centre? If I just l leave the original plate will the camber be ok/ when I get an aligment they will correct if wrong??

The alignment is supposed to correct the position of the wheels to the setup you're running, so yes, they should correct any issue as much as they can.

It won't effect caster, because you have to shift the front wheel back or forward in the wheel arch

The offset plates pull the caster rod (and subsequently the knuckle it's attached to) forward slightly. Kinda pointless for a company to offer it as caster kit if it doesn't improve caster, even if it is only slight.