Alignment. What does it mean, and why is it important for your new Tesla Model 3 Performance (or any other Tesla)?
We dive deep into what an alignment does for your car, why toe, camber and caster are terms you may want to understand and take a close look at all the UP suspension links available for the new M3P and explain their benefits and why they might be right for you. Then we get the car aligned on the alignment rack in prep for upcoming testing days at Buttonwillow Raceway Park.
Simply put, alignment refers to the direction or orientation in which the wheels point in relation to the car. When performing a wheel or tire alignment on a car, there are three main adjustments that are made and optimized for your goals: Toe, Camber and Caster.
Toe refers to the inward or outward angle of the wheels as you might see from above. To simply understand this, if you were to stand up and look down at your feet, which direction your toes are pointing is the same as which direction your wheels are pointing. Toe in means your toes, or the front of your tires, are pointed toward the center, and toe out means your toes, or the front of your tires are pointed away from the center. Maintaining zero degrees of toe is great for range, efficiency and tire life, however toe in provides added stability which is why it's common for factory specification, while toe out provides faster steering response and vehicle rotation making it idea for performance and racing applications.
Camber is the angle at which your tires are tilted when viewed from the front or rear of the vehicle. If the tops of your tires are pointed to the center of the car, then you have negative camber. If they are pointed away from the center of the car, you have positive camber. You might be thinking, why would I want me tires to be anything but flat on the ground? Well, that is the goal, but in cornering, the outer tire experiences deflection which effectively lifts the inner edge of that loaded tire. The faster you go around a turn, the more deflection a tire experiences. This is where negative camber comes into play which tilts the wheel inwards to maximize the tire's contact patch with the ground. So more negative camber can add cornering grip and improve handling to a point, which is dependent on many variables including car, driver, road, tire type, and application, which is why you might see -1-1.5 degrees of camber on factory performance-oriented vehicles, while race cars might have -3-4 degrees of camber.
Caster angle is the angle of your vehicle's steering axis and is measured in degrees between the tilt of the steering axis and an imaginary vertical line down the center of the wheel when viewing from the side of the car. Having positive caster has two main benefits: 1) it forces the wheels to want to go straight which is why your car's steering wheel corrects itself back to straight when exiting a turn, and 2) it puts the tire at a tilt when cornering which effectively adds dynamic negative camber to maximize the tire's contact patch in the road when cornering.
Wheel and tire alignment is adjusted via suspension links or arms. The Tesla Model 3 Performance suspension arms limit adjustability to just front and rear toe. By adding UP suspension arms, you can add the ability to adjust camber at the front and rear as well as the added benefit of stronger arms that eliminate flexion and incorporate spherical bushings for precise steering.
UP Upgrades in this video:
Front Upper Control Arms (FUCA)
Front Lower Control Arms
Rear Camber Arms
Rear Toe Arms
Rear Traction Arms
Rear Trailing Arms
