Summary

00:00 - Any specific tips for a front wheel drive MacPherson setup? Yeah so I mean it depends a little bit on your application here Michael but one of the problems you'll see tie and time again with a front wheel drive or for that matter, anything with a MacPherson strut, is that you have really poor camber recovery.
00:16 Let's say you're using it on a circuit which is a pretty typical example.
00:19 What I mean by camber recovery is how much camber you gain by the suspension compressing.
00:26 So let's say we're heading around the track, we're turning left and the outside of the car is compressing, if you have zero camber recovery, that's going to mean that any amount that the body rolls, you're also going to roll the same amount on your tyre.
00:38 So as your suspension compresses, you're not going to go into negative camber and recover some of that camber that you've lost by having the chassis roll.
00:45 Now a MacPherson strut is a shocker for that, it's one of the biggest downsides of a MacPherson strut.
00:50 It's a great thing for packaging and for cost reasons, that's why so many manufacturers use them but from a performance perspective, you're not going to find anyone out there that's going to choose to use a MacPherson strut if they're designing a car from scratch as far as optimising its performance on track and the reason primarily is to do with that poor camber recovery in roll.
01:08 So what you typically find in a MacPherson strut setup is you end up having to run more static negative camber than you otherwise would in maybe a comparable AA arm system that might have better camber recovery.
01:22 So probably my main tip is to think about your static camber settings, try it back to back with a whole lot of different camber settings.
01:29 If you're taking big swings at it first, you want to be moving at least 0.5° or 1° at a time when you're really trying to try different camber settings, see how it affects the balance of the car and you'll very quickly hone in on a static camber setting that's going to give you the balance and grip that you're looking for.
01:43 That's probably my main takeaway, just really thinking about your camber settings anywhere where you've got a MacPherson strut because they are pretty poor at recovering camber.
01:51 That question was taken from one of our free live lessons.
01:54 If you like free stuff and you want to expand your knowledge, click the link in the description to claim your free spot to our next live lesson.
02:02 You'll learn about optimising the performance and handling of your car on the racetrack, as well as improving your skills behind the wheel.
02:09 Plus, you'll have the chance to ask your own questions, which we'll be answering live.