Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

One of the side benefits of my front wheel disc brake conversion is much better steering. The 1956 Packards seemed to "hunt" and they took many wheel corrections per mile. The two 56 Packards that I have owned over 30 years had this problem. Radial tires solved part of the problem.
The big surprise was the big improvement in steering. The car tracks better and drives almost like a modern vehicle, in addition to the improved braking.
My two sons are engineers, not automotive suspension or brake experts. Separately they both came up with the same answer, but it was just a guess.
I would like to see what the forum thinks the reason for this improvement could be.

Radial tires will do wonders for any car that originally came equipped with bias ply tires.


As for your disc brake setup, if they'd fit my '48 I'd be interested in a set.

did the caster change???

PackardV8, the front end was aligned to specs with drum brakes a short time ago. I installed the disc brakes and noticed the difference. I will take it in for an alignment check in the near future.

Eric, I do not know if my setup would fit a 48.

Jerry

Do you have a spare setup? I can try it out on my '48 and my '37 and see if they fit and then we'll know what years we can put these on.

Caster may have become + instead of - ???

The bias ply tire has a lot of foot drag. MEANING that as the car goes faster and faster the contact surface of the tire to the road moves BACK toward the rear of the car. THIS IS THE SAME as jacking more negative caster into the front suspension.

The radials have near minimal foot drag. So the radials simulate closer to zero or positive caster.

Negative caster causes steering hunt. Positive caster offers resistance to road and wind compliance thus reduces or eleminates hunt.

Some years ago, a friend obtained his grandfather's 1968 Oldsmobile F-85, The car didn't have power steering and was hard to handle. My friend installed steel belted radial tires. He said the steering eas greatly improved.

Gentleman, I have been driving my Packards with steel belted Radials for well over ten years. The Patrician had steel belted radials with front drum brakes for years. The improvement that I am talking about is above and beyond the advantage that steel belted radials produced. I personally would not use bias ply tires. The change came with the disc brake conversion. Any opinions?

Jerry

Eric, I only made one set for my Patrician. It took hours of machine work. It was a over a two year project.
Already I have engineered some improvements that I will develope as time permits. I will gladly share my procedures and photos, but I cannot afford the liability insurance for brake work on a vehicle. I am really thankful for this website as it has given me many tips and ideas on how to make improvements to my Packards.
Your expertise is admired.

Jerry

I would guess that your conversion somehow changed the tread dimension of the front suspension and put the contact patch of the tire more directly under the projected axis of the kingpins.

For general discussion, there is nothing wrong with negative caster as long as it is combined with kinpin inclination. Inclining the kingpins toward the center of the car was done to minimize side thrust on the kingpin bearings while allowing the axis of the pins to intersect near the center of the tire contact patch, and still allow space for the brakes.

This inclination automatically gives a self centering action as any deviation from straight ahead causes the front of the car to rise as the knuckle rotates either left or right around the kingpins. Negative caster was often specified to help reduce the self centering action for easier steering