Altering castor - paging them what know - TDM?

Question

I'm wondering if it's worth altering the castor on the Golf if I ever get around to fitting PAS, to give more camber with steering lock and improve feedback through the PAS. As far as I can see, there are a couple of ways of going about it:

1) Castor bushes. This means polybushes, and expensive ones at that. I'm not entirely convinced of the merits of polybushes.

2) Adjustable top mounts - not cheap again. I suspect this may be far too harsh for road use? OTOH the top mount make make bugger all difference to ride compliance

3) Physically cutting the strut tower and moving it. Obviously going to be bloody expensive and a real job for someone, probalby needing a jig, but you would retain OE top mounts etc.

Burgerman · Accepted Answer

Personally I think its a waste of time. Trail is more important to feel anyway. If you can change that without altering the castor angle it will have the same feel. More trail makes feel and effort (heavier steering) and the opposite is true.

Conor · Answer

Rose jointed adjustable track control arms...

Doki · Answer

£ and big NVH issues, surely?

Pete M · Answer

Yup.Personally, I think you're barking up completely the wrong tree wanting to adjust the caster. Get the PAS rack on, then get the suspension *properly* aligned - not by some spotty oik in Kwik Fit, they don't even have the equipment to do it, never mind the know-how. Once that's done I doubt you'll feel the need to play with caster.Having the camber set correctly will make a big difference, as will everything else. If you really feel the need to adjust the caster the easiest way is probably to fit an aftermarket anti-roll bar with a tad more adjustment available. With my RS2000's I used to use the ARB from the RS1800 to do this exact job (shorter distance between front of car and strut, therefore pulling strut forwards a touch and increasing caster angle), I'm pretty certain there'll be something similar out there for the Golf.

Doki · Answer

Fair enough. I was under the impression was that the ability to increase castor was one of the main advantages handling wise with PAS. TBH there are a million things want sorting before I get that far...

Adrian · Answer

"Doki" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

You'll almost certainly find that there's far bigger gains to be had by going through the entire suspension and replacing all the old sloppy bushes by new OEM ones - or poly bushes or "hard" joints of whatever kind's available.

Like you say, though, NVH...

Doki · Answer

I'll be getting round to that a long while before I get round to fancy top mounts and the like.

Altering castor - paging them what know - TDM?

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