I'm trying to do a wheel alignment on my 72 Cutlass S.I'm wondering if anyone has had trouble with after market tubular upper control arms. Even without any shims I can't achieve a negative caster on my wheel alignment. Don't know what to do. Any information would be great.

 

Was the camber & caster ok before using these upper arms ? If alignment was ok prior I suspect wrong arms, make sure they are the correct ones. also ck the spring height, spring height will effect camber.

 

Some of these tubular arms have offset shafts that are installed backwards. Its a simply fix- unbolt the crosshaft and rotate 180..

 

Are you talking about caster or camber? You don't want negative caster.

 

His post said caster. I agree ,you want positive caster for stability and wheel return after cornering. Every time I aligned a car with after market arms I would cringe...maybe he could make the upper control arm mounting studs longer to add more shims to front or back side where needed ??

 

I assumed he meant camber with my response. Its easy enough to punch in the wrong words..

 

I was talking about caster the 1972 motor manual has a spec of desired caster is negative 2.5 degrees. After doing some homework I have found that I want a positive caster. In the old days I think those specs were for bias ply tires. I wound up with a positive 3 degrees caster. Caster controls the return of the wheel to center and better control at higher speeds. Most race cars are running upwards of 8 degrees caster. I think I'll give it a try. This is a new build so I don't know where the old setup was at. Now I have to wait until spring to even drive the car because of the snow on the road. Thanks for the response guys I do appreciate it.

 

Yeah, honestly, the post doesn't make sense. If you're shooting for camber, you add shims to give you negative camber, so why are you trying without shims? If you're shooting for negative caster, stop. You don't want negative caster. Most aftermarket arms are going to add a lot of positive caster.

Edit: posted at the same time. Caster not only helps with wheel centering, it also improves the camber for BOTH tires the more you turn the wheel. The outside will go more negative while the inside will go more positive. Its a way of getting camber without static camber, which has issues with tire wear and braking traction.

 

I was only able to achieve about 3.5⁰ caster with factory parts. Basically, bottom out the front bolt, and only leave enough threads for the nut on the back. Use shims to even it out.

 

I guess you didn't read my last post. According to the motor manual I was using it calls for negative caster. Like I said after doing some research I know now that I don't want negative caster. Camber I had no problem with.

 

I read it just fine. I'm just saying that you are probably pretty close to maxed out.

 

Not with aftermarket arms. I'm at 6.5 degrees of caster with my UMI arms. OP doesn't say what brand he's running, but most have WAY more built in than the factory arms.