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and to help me better understand...what does each of these settings do?

for example, I understand how the camber works--tilt the wheels "out" so that when you go around a corner and the weight shifts, you actually end up planting the tire tread squarely to the pavement, maximizing latteral grip.

or at least...that's what I THINK camber is for!

toe in-out? why? does that affect the "turn radius" of each wheel as you turn the steering wheel? to give the outside wheel a straighter shot/less distance to travel? why wouldn't you want it to be 0 for reduced rolling resistance at ALL times?


caster -- isn't that where the upper control arm is moved forwards or backwards of the lower, to somewhat "rotate" the spindle that's holding the wheel...and what does that do for you...



Camber - you actually want the top of the tire "in" not out. This keeps the contact patch parellel to the ground as the body rolls around it. More body roll will require more camber.

Toe - direction stability on turn in. For a dedicated track car, I'd go toe out, but if this also see street driving, a very slight toe in would be prefered. At speed, the friction of the tires and slop in components tend to push them in to toe out by nature,so static toe in allows them to assume a natural zero when driving.

Caster-High speed stability and return to center behavior. Autocross is slow enough that the stability isn't a big deal, but return to center assistance can be nice.

The turn radius scenario you speak of in toe is actually called ackerman and not easily modified.

Ultimately, tire temps will tell you want settings the suspension wants. If you can borrow a laser temp gun, check the outer edges and center of the tire. Hotter areas need less of something, colder need more of something, until the temp is as even as possible across the tread. The drawback to this is ultimate track settings aren't necessairly ultimate street settings.