Camber is probably the most useful and popular alignment adjustment that can be made to a street car. The other alignment adjustments are toe and caster. Camber is the angle of the wheel from the vertical as viewed from the front or the back of the car. Negative camber means that the top of the wheel is leaned in towards the car, and positive camber means that the top of the wheel is leaned out away from the car.
Maximum cornering force is achieved when the camber of the outside wheels relative to the ground is about -0.5 degrees. A slight negative camber in a turn maximizes the tire contact patch due to the way the tire deforms under lateral load. Hence, it is good to have some negative camber to increase cornering force.
Another reason why it is helpful to align your suspension with a slight negative camber is that camber will change with suspension travel and body roll. Most suspension systems are designed so that camber increases with more suspension travel. However, camber relative to the car’s chassis is not the same thing as camber relative to the ground. It is camber relative to the ground that affects handling. Therefore, even though camber relative to the chassis is made to increase, camber relative to the ground may actually decrease on the outside wheels if there is substantial body roll. To counter this tendency, it is important to use negative camber and to control body roll.
The only drawback to negative camber is increased wear on the inside of each tire. Since the top of the wheel is leaned in, the car is riding on the inside of the tire while it is on straightaways. In a corner, suspension travel and lateral forces on the tire’s rubber compound combine to straighten the tire relative to the ground. Therefore, the car rides evenly on the tire in turns, which improves cornering ability. However, extra time spent driving on the inside of the tire causes that part of the tire to heat up and wear. This effect is small if you avoid adding too much negative camber.
On most street cars, camber is not easily adjustable. However, if you choose to purchase aftermarket camber plates, you can set camber to improve handling. More negative camber tends to increase tire grip in corners. Therefore, if your car experiences understeer, you can decrease front camber (make it more negative) to improve front grip or increase rear camber (make it more positive) to decrease rear grip. Remember not to add too much negative or positive camber since it will decrease the life of your tires and may cause a blowout. Even pure race cars rarely use more than about 3 degrees of camber.
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Now more common than ever, HID lighting that used to exist only with high end brands and racing cars, they can now be bought as aftermarket upgrades that are not only brighter but easy to install. A stern warning though, one needs to be knowledgeable in the car’s basic electrical layout for proper installation, failure to properly install the lights and the supporting hardware (ballast) can cause a total meltdown of your car’s electrical system. HID lights are brighter yet they consume less electricity due to the ballast and the arcing effect that starts with a high charge to get the arc started then normalizes into standard mode which uses up less power from the electrical system.
First check if the lighting housing or lens as many call it can handle the heat of the new bulbs (most can but some older ones made of plastic can crack more due to the UV rays produced by the arc). Remove the old bulbs and place in a safe place (being careful not to touch the bulbs themselves for they are fragile and any contaminants such as oil and dirt will cause it to fail ) that can serve as back-up in case your new ones get busted. Install the HID bulbs last and start with the hardware installation that will get you installing some mounts to hold the ballasts(one for each bulb). Use the original wiring harness and please avoid cutting the wires, which is easy if you can obtain connectors that would interface without cutting anything. Once everything is in the right place and you have checked and re-checked all connections, you can now install the bulbs, making sure they are properly connected and seated in the housing. Test the lighting units and be ready to turn it off if you notice anything unusual. If you don’t want to go through all the trouble, you can always ask the auto shop to install it for you. If your new auto doesn;t come with HID, then try to ask if the dealer can do it for you. It may invalidate your Honda dealer/manufacturer warranty so do check first.
Image source: www.zcars.com.au
Most of us try and evade dents in the car, hoping it will go off away with time. Car dent removal seldom crosses our minds as we would rather ignore the concept of repair until we really need it. This could be dangerous as putting it off will only make the situation worse. Dents can be formed almost anywhere and at anytime. But cheer up! You don’t have to burn your pockets in fixing your car dents by following these 8 easy steps in amending it.
1. Pierce a hole in the center of the dent.
2. Insert a dent pulling tool in the hole.
3. Pull on the tool until the dent pops out or appears flat.
4. Remove the dent pulling tool.
5. Crawl under the car with a metalworking hammer and a dolly.
6. Bang out the back of the dent carefully until smooth.
7. Fill the hole with body filler.
8. Cover the area with touch-up paint.
The Three Basic Methods of Car Pinstriping
Before we talk about the different auto pinstriping methods we need to cover a couple of basic points:
1) Pinstripes are usually done in two colours: one that compliments the body colour, and another, thin line, which contrasts to make the stripe stand out. There are no rules: colour choice is a matter of personal preference …. and
imagination !!!
2) Make sure the surface to pinstripe is absolutely clean. Get rid of all residue with a good pre-surface preparation product
OK, now to the different auto pinstriping techniques :
Mechanical Pinstriping
A mechanical auto pinstriping is the best for striping long areas like trucks, vans, or station wagons. The main advantage is that it puts down stripes of consistent width, letting you concentrate more on keeping the contour of the stripe aligned along your work surface. The Buegler pinstriper and accessories are one of the preferred by body shops and pinstripers for their high quality construction and consistent operation. The easiest way to use a Buegler striper is to set up your stripe line using a magnetic auto pinstriping strip. It adheres firmly to steel surfaces, forms mild curves, and has a centre groove designed with the Buegler’s guide arm in mind. The strip can also act as a guide for your hand.
Striping with Stencil Tape
There are several different stencil tapes that are suitable for almost any auto pinstriping application. Stencil tapes let you lay down stripes of different colours without waiting for the other stripes to dry.
Stencil tape striping requires brushes: the pinstriping brush is the most important element for an excellent final result.
Freehand Striping
This auto pinstriping method is the most advanced one and requires the most practice to master, but offers unlimited flexibility. The easiest method for the freehand striping novice is to lay down a strip of masking tape about ¼ inch from where you would like the line to be. Use the tape as a visual guide for your stripes. Do not use standard masking tape for edging pinstripes. the pinstriping paint will seep and bleed under the edge of standard masking tape. The pinstriping can be as plain or as fancy as your patience and level of skill allows.
Regardless of the design, pinstriping is one of the best ways to make your vehicle very unique. Like anything worth doing right, practice will make worthwhile results …. and having the best possible supplies is critical too.
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