Got a track related question? I'll try to answer.

[orthojoe]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

What parts do you have? We've had zero issue with losing alignments (unlike the s2k...) Everything is held via nut/bolt, so it shouldnt move unless it's not properly tightened or you're spinning out and sliding pretty hardcore.

Broken rear axles (driver side inboard CV) is fairly common, but is usually HIGHLY accelerated by rough shifting. Slow down on the shifts, and don't shock the drivetrain.

Wheel bearings... is your knuckle straight? Front or rear?

Mods:

Whiteline front camber bolts
project mu club racer pads
MPSS tires on OEM wheels (failures occured when I was on OEM tires)

That's it. Nothing else. I swear. I didn't break my rear axle. My friend did. I'll let him know what you said. You could be right. LOL.
Regarding the alignment. It's NOT just me. I can confirm that 2 other owners have problems with the car maintaining alignment.
Front wheel bearings failed on my car and my friend's car. 2 other people I know have not had their wheel bearings fail yet. 50% failure rate in my microcosm.

Originally Posted by solidONE

Wow... You know we got guys on here that are pushing over 300whp on the factory drivetrain with decent amount of milage. But, of course, they probably don't quite beat on it as hard as you or your friend. Maybe you should have went with a John Deere... what was the build date on you and or friend's BRZs?

300whp on factory drivetrain will overheat and melt on the track. Street driving and track driving are totally different animals. We all have 2013 models. IIRC my build date was November 2012, and my friend was Feb 2013.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by AZP Installs

Aaron is quite the wheelman! He is a true professional who has been doing this daily for 20+ years.

He definitely belongs on the short list of best race car drivers you've never heard of, and there are a lot of them.

[solidONE]

Originally Posted by dradernh

1) It may be that the OEM wheel bearings (and CV joints) need to be repacked with Redline CV-2 or something similar: http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=82. That's always good insurance, even if the component isn't a known weak spot on a tracked street car. It's the equivalent of running high-temperature brake fluid. What I wonder is how long they'll hold up even when packed with Redline - especially when drivers begin leaning heavily on them with 18" wheels and R6s, and with track-stiff suspensions.

2) That describes a Miata and a Miata driver to a tee. Those are arguably the smartest guys at the track when it comes to having safe, reliable, and low-cost fun.

My next "mod" or "prep" procedure.

[solidONE]

Originally Posted by orthojoe

300whp on factory drivetrain will overheat and melt on the track. Street driving and track driving are totally different animals. We all have 2013 models. IIRC my build date was November 2012, and my friend was Feb 2013.

I'm pretty sure your friend has the A01C tune, which supposedly had the tip in knock addressed (What I have and it still knocks on CA91 octane). Not so sure if your 11/12 build has the updated tune or the A00C, which still has that issue that has been blamed for the tip in knock and injector seal failures. There is a TSB to get reflashed from dealer. Let me try to find it.

Edit: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/attac...1&d=1395947828

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by orthojoe

Mods:

Whiteline front camber bolts
project mu club racer pads
MPSS tires on OEM wheels (failures occured when I was on OEM tires)

That's it. Nothing else. I swear. I didn't break my rear axle. My friend did. I'll let him know what you said. You could be right. LOL.
Regarding the alignment. It's NOT just me. I can confirm that 2 other owners have problems with the car maintaining alignment.
Front wheel bearings failed on my car and my friend's car. 2 other people I know have not had their wheel bearings fail yet. 50% failure rate in my microcosm.



300whp on factory drivetrain will overheat and melt on the track. Street driving and track driving are totally different animals. We all have 2013 models. IIRC my build date was November 2012, and my friend was Feb 2013.

This is the first I've seen an early wheel bearing failure. I'll keep an eye out for more data points.

Are you guys all going to the same alignment shop?

[Doborder]

Originally Posted by orthojoe

Mods:

Whiteline front camber bolts
project mu club racer pads
MPSS tires on OEM wheels (failures occured when I was on OEM tires)

That's it. Nothing else. I swear. I didn't break my rear axle. My friend did. I'll let him know what you said. You could be right. LOL.
Regarding the alignment. It's NOT just me. I can confirm that 2 other owners have problems with the car maintaining alignment.
Front wheel bearings failed on my car and my friend's car. 2 other people I know have not had their wheel bearings fail yet. 50% failure rate in my microcosm.



300whp on factory drivetrain will overheat and melt on the track. Street driving and track driving are totally different animals. We all have 2013 models. IIRC my build date was November 2012, and my friend was Feb 2013.

Let me chime in here. I'm that friend. The wheel bearings are just crap. Yes, I have driven the car hard, but the wheel bearing broke after the first track day.

Alignment is crap too. I had the car realigned after every 2 track events and they were totally off each time. So I spent $300 on alignments last year.

The CV rear axle is probably my fault. I was learning how to heel toe and didn't get the hang of it until after 5-6 track day. But really Subaru, you got to build a slightly stronger rear axle. I'm planning to do another 5-6 days this year. If anything else breaks, I will have a 2013 BRZ for sale.

My mods are the same as orthojoe. Everything broke while I was on OEM tires. I have a new set of 17" rivals I want to run this year.

Any advise on preventing rear axle breaking? I will try to shift smoother. Anything else?

[gramicci101]

They made the axles weak because they're building to a price point and it's cheaper and easier to replace an axle than it is a limited slip diff or ring and pinion set. You could get some awesome super strong axles, but that'll just make a more expensive and difficult part the weakest link in the chain.

[Doborder]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

This is the first I've seen an early wheel bearing failure. I'll keep an eye out for more data points.

Are you guys all going to the same alignment shop?

Yes, same alignment shop. He works on three brz/frs
Same problem with alignment.

[orthojoe]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

This is the first I've seen an early wheel bearing failure. I'll keep an eye out for more data points.

Are you guys all going to the same alignment shop?

Yes we are. I know what you're getting at, however, I'm going to argue that these guys know what they are doing. They are a race shop that maintains the cars for and are the 'go to' place for all the big names and racers in the area. They do everything from spec miatas all the way up to GT3 cup cars and I trust the shop implicitly.

Originally Posted by Doborder

Let me chime in here. I'm that friend. The wheel bearings are just crap. Yes, I have driven the car hard, but the wheel bearing broke after the first track day.

Alignment is crap too. I had the car realigned after every 2 track events and they were totally off each time. So I spent $300 on alignments last year.

The CV rear axle is probably my fault. I was learning how to heel toe and didn't get the hang of it until after 5-6 track day. But really Subaru, you got to build a slightly stronger rear axle. I'm planning to do another 5-6 days this year. If anything else breaks, I will have a 2013 BRZ for sale.

My mods are the same as orthojoe. Everything broke while I was on OEM tires. I have a new set of 17" rivals I want to run this year.

Any advise on preventing rear axle breaking? I will try to shift smoother. Anything else?

Get a Cayman GTS or R.

Originally Posted by gramicci101

They made the axles weak because they're building to a price point and it's cheaper and easier to replace an axle than it is a limited slip diff or ring and pinion set. You could get some awesome super strong axles, but that'll just make a more expensive and difficult part the weakest link in the chain.

EXCELLENT POINT!

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by Doborder

Let me chime in here. I'm that friend. The wheel bearings are just crap. Yes, I have driven the car hard, but the wheel bearing broke after the first track day.

Alignment is crap too. I had the car realigned after every 2 track events and they were totally off each time. So I spent $300 on alignments last year.

The CV rear axle is probably my fault. I was learning how to heel toe and didn't get the hang of it until after 5-6 track day. But really Subaru, you got to build a slightly stronger rear axle. I'm planning to do another 5-6 days this year. If anything else breaks, I will have a 2013 BRZ for sale.

My mods are the same as orthojoe. Everything broke while I was on OEM tires. I have a new set of 17" rivals I want to run this year.

Any advise on preventing rear axle breaking? I will try to shift smoother. Anything else?

You just need to slow down your clutch release and eliminate overlap between the gas pedal and clutch. If you feel/hear a thud/thunk, then you're overlapping, and that inner CV is gonna go out quick.

Since all 3 of you are using the same alignment shop, have any of you considered a different shop, to eliminate the shop as the variable? We haven't had any issues with the so-cal guys losing alignments. I know you guys trust the shop, but just because they're well versed in other cars, doesn't mean they're well versed in Subarus or this platform in general.

What part of your alignments are being lost? Are you guys spinning out and/or going off track at all?

[orthojoe]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Since all 3 of you are using the same alignment shop, have any of you considered a different shop, to eliminate the shop as the variable? We haven't had any issues with the so-cal guys losing alignments. I know you guys trust the shop, but just because they're well versed in other cars, doesn't mean they're well versed in Subarus or this platform in general.

What part of your alignments are being lost? Are you guys spinning out and/or going off track at all?

I totally understand why you would point out the shop as being a variable, but Tom and Jay at competition autowerk in San Ramon know what they are doing. He does the alignment on my Porsche, and the alignment on that car doesn't budge at all over an entire season. They maintain all the race cars in the east bay, from spec miatas up to GT3 cups

I will admit that all of our cars have spun out and gone off track. However, my alignment was off even after a track day where I had not gone off or spun out. I just don't bother getting the car aligned anymore.

Both toe and camber get out of whack. I know some guys are getting the SPL LCA with rear toe lockout feature, which I think was designed to address this issue?

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by orthojoe

I totally understand why you would point out the shop as being a variable, but Tom and Jay at competition autowerk in San Ramon know what they are doing. He does the alignment on my Porsche, and the alignment on that car doesn't budge at all over an entire season. They maintain all the race cars in the east bay, from spec miatas up to GT3 cups

I will admit that all of our cars have spun out and gone off track. However, my alignment was off even after a track day where I had not gone off or spun out. I just don't bother getting the car aligned anymore.

Both toe and camber get out of whack. I know some guys are getting the SPL LCA with rear toe lockout feature, which I think was designed to address this issue?

Correct. There are several arms on the market that will get loose, and lose their alignment, and when you change camber, you also change toe in the rear. Spins/offs MAY make the front camber bolts slip, but should not affect the rear AT ALL, unless you're bending something.

I highly recommend the SPL stuff.

On the flip side, we haven't had any slippage issues on our shop BRZs, and we're on all OEM stuff, except for the dampers.

[orthojoe]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Correct. There are several arms on the market that will get loose, and lose their alignment, and when you change camber, you also change toe in the rear. Spins/offs MAY make the front camber bolts slip, but should not affect the rear AT ALL, unless you're bending something.

I highly recommend the SPL stuff.

On the flip side, we haven't had any slippage issues on our shop BRZs, and we're on all OEM stuff, except for the dampers.

Yeah, alignment is getting jacked up in the front AND the rear. That is definitely weird. I don't have a good explanation as to why our alignments are going bad and you guys down there are fine. Good for you and other owners because that means it doesn't happen to every car. Bad for us. LOL.

[connorlug]

I'm sure these have been asked a million times but

what are the basic things you need for yourself/ your car to start driving an actual track?

and whats the best way to get started (more so on a budget, i know racing and budget don't really go hand in hand lol) i've done a bunch of autox events over the past 3 years..and i'd just love to get the frs on an actual track.