Caliper placement,in front or behind strut?

[RobertoX]

^^ Oh yeah, exactly, its often the small things that get missed!

Before getting into the finer things you have to make sure the simple but important things are sorted out first.
It would be a good idea to make a check list of all the important things and go through and confirm it one by one.

For example:
Install the set-up with no springs and check at max and min suspension travel that:
No hoses are kinked: (check)
Confirm brakes work: (check) [just to be sure there is no unforseen reason]
no suspension members interfere: (check)
You have new struts so: wheels don't touch body work: (check)
Brake cylinder size and rotor diameter is matched to your MC and balance front to rear is ok: (check)
Bleed nipple is at top: (check)
You can achieve the required toe setting: (check) [ie struts are on the right side of the car]
...
...
{lower down the list}
Your ackermann is ok (check)
Your brakes are installed on the side of the strut that provides an understeer or oversteer steering torque. (check)



By the way you can bleed the brakes with the nipple installed at the bottom if you take the calliper off, turn it upside down, put something disc-width between the pads, bleed and then re-install. (of course with out removing brake hoses)... it much less a PITA to just do it properly to begin with though....
Oh depending on the caliper, sometimes you can swap the bleed nipple with the brake line if they are at opposite ends (you must confirm the connection type though).

[Duk]

It usually comes down to packaging.
However there is also the effect of the weight of the calliper on the steeing.
As you corner the inertia of the caliper creates a torque around the steering axis.
If the caliper is front mounted the torque create a moment that steers the wheels in the opposite direction to the corner (effectively an understeer moment), and vice versa.

Hmmmmmmm.
So you are saying that the weight of the caliper mounted at the front of the strut causes an understeering condition because it attempts to steer the wheel in the opposite direction to the angle the wheel has been steered to?
If you have that issue in your world then there are problems with the rigidity of your steering set up, more than anything else.
If someone was able to remove enormous amounts of weight forward of the front axle line, then maybe there could be noticable effects of having the caliper mounted at the front rather than the rear, but ultimately you'd be splitting a pretty fine hair.

And that's the thing with terminology, you can call something whatever you like. And with cars each component has different names depending on who you talk to and the same name is used for different things... lol

It's when people start calling things what they want/use incorrect terminology that breeds confusion. It's like me calling you Bill when your name is Bob. It's fine if everyone's on the same page (having some fun) but pretty annoying when people bandy around a whole bunch of incorrect terminology and expect help. We're all guilty of tho .

[The Real Roadrunner]

got to go that way because of the mount brackets[/COLOR]. Swapping the struts left to right would put the calipers out front, but that would cause major dramas with the lower control arm mount, as they are slightly offset.

cheers Chuck.

?????

The strut is identical no matter if its fitted to the left or right. the hub face is parrallel to the 2 bolts for the steering arm and there is no offset in regards to the bolt positions and strut.

The only time you MUST mount the calipers to the back is if you are running the CHP setup with the calipers that have the different piston sizes.

Other than that just be sure you have steering arm clearance and if your lacking some try fitting some RCA's as they may help. Brake lines kinking can be fixed by running the correct length hose.

Cheers
Linden

[RobertoX]

Hmmmmmmm.
So you are saying that the weight of the caliper mounted at the front of the strut causes an understeering condition because it attempts to steer the wheel in the opposite direction to the angle the wheel has been steered to?

Yes, this is a consideration, this is documented also.
The calliper is a reasonably large chunk of metal with quite an offset to the strut so it does create a steering force.

If you have that issue in your world then there are problems with the rigidity of your steering set up, more than anything else.

It has nothing to do with the rigidity of the steering set up, it is simply an extra force that must be reacted by the driver...

If someone was able to remove enormous amounts of weight forward of the front axle line, then maybe there could be noticable effects of having the caliper mounted at the front rather than the rear, but ultimately you'd be splitting a pretty fine hair.

It sounds like what you are describing is changing the weight distribution of the vehicle, whilst this would happen it would be negligible...
Anyway, like I said, there is a hierarchy of things that you should confirm...

It's when people start calling things what they want/use incorrect terminology that breeds confusion. It's like me calling you Bill when your name is Bob. It's fine if everyone's on the same page (having some fun) but pretty annoying when people bandy around a whole bunch of incorrect terminology and expect help. We're all guilty of tho .

This is really annoying and leads to confusion but it seems that there is so much variation in the terminology in auto circles, depending on which area you're in, what country you're in, how old you are etc. etc... pain in the arse sometimes

[fixeruperer]

some older bentley's and royce's have a caliper on the front and the back twin caliper yo!

"Jaguar XJS had inboard mounted rear calipers."
all xj's(6,12,S) and e-types and early s-type had inboards they stopped running that setup in 88. (but the xjs went on for a few more years)

[wagonist]

usually toyota have them at the rear but i have noticed other manufacturers place them at the front.

Just as a matter of clarification.
You'll find most older Toyotas run with the caliper on the rear because the steering mechanism was on the front (older steering box & linkages).

The newer stuff (from about the mid 80s) with have the calipers on the front because the steering rack is mounted near or on the firewall at the rear.

Mostly its just simply to do with packaging to get the steering arms & the calipers to both fit.

Therefore, realistically, it doesn't matter in the normal world, just whatever works for each vehicle.