matt91112011
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Camber?
My car has been aligned by a brand name tyre shop and I don't think it's right, the car still under steers!
It has more camber on the rear than the front, is this right? I don't have the exact figures, but if you look down the line of the car, you can definitely see the difference.
I have very poor turn in, and entry speed and I can't really get hard on the throttle without having to fight understeer, there is absolutely no oversteer, even at full throttle.
Although my car does have different tyres front and rear, which are only normal every day use tyres.
Car is a 95 Bathurst with the following upgrades
Front and rear Heavy duty Adjustable Whiteline Swaybars F is full soft, R is full hard
Stock strut braces (is there any benefits to getting aftermarket ones?)
R32gtr Wheels, rear is spaced out to correct the track difference from front to rear.
Fully polly bush kit
Tein SS coilovers F 3 clicks off hardest setting, R is full hard.
Tyres are Pirelli p4 on front Michelin Pilot Sport on rear at 225/50
Is the car maybe to stiff for the current crappy tyres?
Thanks guys
Matty
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rico
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Well if your complaining that the car is too stiff its probably the damper set to full hard and 3 clicks from full hard... Poor turn in would be related to toe in at the front. Im no expert. Just giving you some input.
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Eric
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my car runs more camber in the rear than the front, as there is no camber adjustment in the front.
I still have understeer, these cars have it alot due to the weight difference. From what ive learnt in the mountains, driving ability comes into play more than wheel alignment, although they are contributing factors
what size tires are you running on the front? What spring rates are your coilovers? How low is your car? What tire pressures do you run?
Would deffinetly recommend dropping everything back to full softest and going from there
These cars dont really oversteer in the dry unless you are REALLY trying. e.g. flicking it into the corner and clutch kicking. standing on it in third or second wont really do anything, especially if you have an open center diff
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Adrian
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I have a 97 bathurst and people that have driven my car all say it understeers, but I find it quite neutral and can drift it through 2nd gear corners like the last turn at Wakefield Park. Wheel alignment is one thing, but the way you drive it also has a huge effect on the way the car behaves. I find with my car (and probably with yours), it needs a fair bit of trail braking as you're entering a corner to shift the weight balance to the front and get the front tyres to grip. In a car with a 50/50 weight distribution like an mx5 or s2000 you need nowhere near as much brakes on entry to balance the car. Hence why my mates who own those cars and drive my one complain it understeers because they're driving it as they though it's an mx5 or s2000. On the exit, jumping on the gas too hard or too soon will probably give understeer like you're experiencing. When you get on the gas, it shifts the weight to the rear. Since our NA engines don't have the power to break the rears into a powerslide, it tends to understeer instead due to the weight being moved off the front tyres. My advice would be to take it to a track day or 2 and really explore the handling before you start mucking with parts or alignment. Once you get in tune with the car, you might find it's actually ok. Or perhaps you'll find it's no good but you'll be in a much better position to figure out what needs changing. Having said all that, there should be more camber at the front than the rear. Or even the same amount. More at the rear is a bit odd. And soften the dampers a bit. Never go full hard or full soft. I've seen a few different shock dynos and the clicks towards the extremes either do nothing or way too much depending on the brand. Only the real expensive stuff (penske, ohlins etc) have nice linear adjustment all the way.
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asimovy
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A quick google shows that the treadwear rating of the Michelins is 220 and the Pirellis are 760. Treadwear doesn't tell you everything but such a huge difference means your rear tyres are much softer and grippy than the fronts, so that is probably the cause of your understeer. Get some michelins or something similar like federal rsrs for the front, just be careful if you are understeering heaps at the moment when you swap them you will be oversteering heaps.
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Adrian
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760?? Damn, yeah that'll give you some understeer.
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5SGTE
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My 91 GT has a very similar set up. Tein ss and whiteline bars f & r. I think my rear swaybar is a on the middle setting, so your should oversteer more, and my coilovers are certainly not set up as hard as yours. Short of reefing on the wheel to get understeer or booting/clutch slipping it to get oversteer I find it very neutral. That all said as above your front tyres are hard as and not matched well to the rears. I've always run pretty soft on the front and always had great wear. Maybe you should try some borrowed wheels with softer tyres on the front to see if they make a noticeable difference
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asimovy
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I didn't see your post just before mine adrian. I have no idea how you drive your car with so much understeer. When my car was understeering lots I found that getting on the throttle early would make it worse but light throttle or none at all would not give me enough grip at the rear and the tail would suddenly let go on entry. Then again both the front shocks were leaking to the point where they were doing nothing at all, it was like driving a boat so a lot more extreme then your understeer. I also found mrplow's and highlander's cars to understeer a fair bit when I drove them, maybe I just like going sideways too much.
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matt91112011
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Thanks for all your replies guys. Just finished work :(. I actually can't remember what my spring rates are :(, but they are from the UK, so they might be suited to Australian roads. :S The car is lower than stock, but not stupid. It's funny I used to drive an MX-5 then a 180sx, lol. Seems to me the first step is to rotate my tyres and see how that goes. Then I'll get and alignment if I need one. Thanks for the input Matty
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WHITCHY
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Are you running 225 tyres front and rear? Is your car post 93? They have revised rear suspension geometry and tend to understeer more than the earlier ones. Easy enough to swap in an early crossmember and shorter trailing arms. When I first got my SW20 it had 17x7 +45 front and back, Federal 595s 215 front 225 rear, suffered some understeer. When I got some better offset wheels 17x7 +32 front and 17x8 +35 rear swapped the Federals from the old wheels it improved a bit. Then I went to 17x8 +35 front and 17x9 +35 rear with Potenza RE001 all round and it completely changed the car! Very hard to induce understeer, turn in is amazing! Until I had the Potenzas I never realised just how much of a difference a good set of tyres makes! Good Luck!
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matt91112011
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Yeah I'm running 225's front and rear and the car is a 95 model, so yeah it has the newer suspension setup. I don't really want snap oversteer, but progressive oversteer would be nice! :-)
I am looking into new tyres in about 2-3 months when my current ones wear out, I'm thinking Yokohama Advan Neova AD08's at the moment.
Thanks
Matty
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Tree
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I know dat feel bro when I had 14 yo tyres at the front, 3-4 yo rears LOL AD08-esque tyres will be nice especially if ur considering tracking it in the future. Would not settle for less lol. In theory SW20s should run a bit of stagger tyre setup but meh whatever works for you. (doesn't 225 front scrub?) In addition to all the very good advice given above I will also suggest adding camber bolts if it seems to have limited adjustablility. 2-3 deg front and 2-2.5 rear should be pretty good
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matt91112011
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Lol, looking at it now, I feel like an idiot, it is only running 205's on an 8 inch wheel :S I will add camber bolts, and switch the front tyres to 195's. I've rotated the tyres now, but I haven't been able to test it properly yet, I'll give it a spirited run tonight and see how I go and report back, Thanks again guys Matty (the idiot) lol
post edited by matt91112011 - 2013/07/09 06:11:07
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Eric
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There's no need to swap the front tires from a 205 just because its an 8 inch rim. I run 205/40's on a 8
If anything, a bit of tire stretch is a good thing as it helps eliminate tire flex while cornering.
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matt91112011
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Ok, So I've given the car a reasonable run over the last few days through some corners that I know it understeers on more than others, and I am surprised at the difference literally swapping the round has done. I wouldn't say the car is transformed, but I am much more happy with the way it behaves, seems to have much better turn in, and better exit than it used to because I'm assuming that even though the rear has the crappy tyres on now, because the weight shifts to the rear it sticks anyway and because of the front tyres being more grippy, they hold on better too! Thanks for the help people! Matty
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