sorry for bad alt text, I lack the terminology to describe this accurately
(i'm not a mechanic, i have no earthly idea if this is accurate. Don't sue me)
What's going on with the caster picture? Not sure what it is showing.
it has to do with the angle between the point the tire pivots (steers) on and the point the wheel spins on. The steering point needs to be forward of the spinning point to help the car go straight down the road. Think of a shopping carts front wheels (they're called casters), and how they'll pivot around with the direction you're pushing the cart. That angle can be adjusted so the car tracks properly...
It's showing the 'knuckle' the wheel is mounted to leaning forward and backward.
In addition to what others have said, it also affects camber in turns. Positive caster when turning gives the outside wheel negative camber and the inside wheel positive camber to keep a larger patch of contact when turning at high speed.
I remember one time I changed my struts, rotors, pads, and mounted new tires myself. When I was done, I had to drive it about 30 miles to get it aligned. During the drive to the shop, its alignment was "all of the above" in the graphic ๐
0/10 do not recommend.
What's with those cars that camber their tires all crazy on purpose? Style or is there a functional reason?
Standard street performance is around 1-2 deg negative camber, an experienced eye can tell when looking at the car from the outside but it's not super obvious. Aggressive track camber is around 3-4 deg, that's getting a bit more obvious to the naked eye, but still looks fairly normal. The cars you're talking about with like 10+ deg of camber, where the outside of the tire isn't even touching the pavement, is just the owners making their car handle like shit and burn through tires every 1000 miles because they think it looks cool.
the over and under-inflation wear isn't as much of an issue these days as it used to be. In the old days of bias-ply tires, that was definitely the case. You could have a low tire and hardly be able to tell, because the stiff sidewalls would hardly sag. Their flex point was down the middle of the tread. Radial tire construction puts the flex point in the sidewalls, which doesn't distort the tread as much, plus gives a much smoother ride...
Alt text is there to provide all alternative for the visually impaired. A good rule is that it should provide as good of an experience as anyone else would get. Given how complex this image is, a separate text write-up would be more useful, so don't sweat it.
Me, I have Multiproblem.
Time before ABS: local wear
Lol if this is that I think it is, I've always just called it a "flat spot"
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