The front suspension needs to be adjustable for Camber and Castor as well as toe. What does all that mean ?, well toe is what they correct when you go to the tyre place, although in fairness some can now do much more.

What follows is a VERY brief description, There are books and books written on this subject, and I know that my knowledge is only slightly more than none. It will give you a flavour, but anyone wanting a better understanding would be well advised to get one of these books.

Camber is the angle of the wheel to the floor when looking from the front of the car. Negative camber is when the top is closer to the car than the bottom is, Positive is the opposite. When a car corners it rolls, this rolling causes the wheels to move also, since they are attached to the car, and causes the front wheels to go into Positive camber. The effect is that  the inside of the outside wheel starts to lift off the ground and you lose grip. If you start with negative camber, then when the body rolls the wheel goes into neutral camber, if  you have got is all correct. Too much negative camber causes tyres to wear rapidly, although when you only get 50 miles out of a competition set, then wearing rapidly is relative.

Castor is the angle of the strut that holds the wheel. The general principal is that the top, when viewed from the side of the car, should be further back than the bottom. This helps to promote self centering and stability, but the more you have the heavier the steering becomes. Power steering of course negates this effect, and I read recently that with power steering just have as much camber as you can get, there is no such thing as too much. Don’t know if this is true.

I particularly liked the design from Ground Control as the weight of the car sits on an axial bearing that provides no radial support. The radial location is taken care of by a spherical bearing that takes no, or very little, axial load. Most designs take the whole weight of the car on these spherical bearings, and with a big car that load is substantial. Axial load is along the axis of the shaft. So in the case of front struts the strut is trying to come up through the bearing (Technically, the car is trying to go down – but let’s not get pedantic) so that is an axial load. When the strut wants to move sideways, for instance during cornering, then that is a radial load.

I designed the rear mounts myself, and a friend made them up. These are much easier as they only have to hold onto the top of the strut, although it does articulate so a bearing is required. In this case I just used a spherical bearing as the loads are much lower, although I suspect life of the bearing will be limited.