I've noticed this for years, but could never figure it out. When I see a Benz parked with the wheels cranked over, the wheel seems to have a totally odd angle compared to other makes. I'm sure there is a reason for this, but why doesn't anyone copy this German engineering?
I assume you are referring to extreme camber when the wheels are cranked all the way over to one side?
The reason you don't see this on many other cars is due to the complexity of this style of front suspension. I'm not sure exactly what they are using, but I'm sure it would be a lot more "involved" than what you would find on, say, a Toyota Camry...
Yup. What is the advantage? Has to be one. Or do they just do it because they can?
cwh wrote: Yup. What is the advantage? Has to be one. Or do they just do it because they can?
I'm not certain on this, but I believe then when a car leans in a turn, that wheel that while stationary is at an extreme angle, will actually be upright due to body lean.
My best guess anyway.
I thought that was a boatload of caster and a boatload of ackerman....
Per
MB cars are made to run at high speeds.. the more tyre patch you can keep on the ground at those speeds, the better.
those high camber and ackerman angles also make the steering want to return to the straight ahead and stay there. Also a very good thing at high speeds
Yeah, they are weird. The deal: the inner control arm bushings are large, about the size of your fist, also very flexible and there are two ball joints at the bottom of the knuckle, one in front and one behind the center point. The bottom of the knuckle describes an arc when the steering is turned rather than rotating about a fixed point. Not to mention the bottom of the knuckle 'walks' back and forth at the same time. No, it doesn't make any sense to me either since the caster, camber and Ackerman all change as the lower pivot point moves through this arc.
FWIW, the Chrysler 300, Challenger etc (anything built on the LX platform) uses the same setup.
So does the 2nd Gen DSM (at least the 2 lower ball joint thing).
Well they must be running a lot of caster and a very low kingpin angle since kingpin adds positive camber under steering. It seems like if you were designing a car for high speed use you would want low ackerman effect though.
OK, MB cars are built for autobahn speeds. You crank your front over to that degree at high speed and you start making tight little circles in a haze of tire smoke. Or is it just a matter of degree?
Yeah, KPA, caster. You have to design for a turn radius. I designed for the typical autocross radius of 30', I think. I coresponded with a friend that designs autocross courses and he told me the typical or minimum turn radius per "the SCCA book," so that's what I designed for.
Camry's are a strut. You can't do much with a strut.
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