Quote:
Originally Posted by ZDan
Not true. Exceedingly easy to tune out understeer with spring and sway bar rates. Slight front weight bias => slightly more rear roll bias = neutral. They will have tuned to achieve the handling balance they wanted, which is not strictly dictated by the 53/47 weight distribution. Easy enough to tweak front/rear roll stiffness to get even load distribution between the outside front/outside rear, which would maximize total lateral grip and reduce understeer.
There's no way they will have "tuned it to oversteer". Maybe tuned to understeer less. In which case it would have slightly more total grip at max cornering than the BRZ, not less.
Realistically, the cars are going to be very similar. With the same toe and camber settings, they're going to be close to equivalent of course.
If not at the track or autoX...
But again, the performance is going to be *very* close between the two.
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Tuning to understeer less without major changes like camber adjustment, tire size/compound changes, or weight distribution = tuning the rear to let go easier = reducing rear grip in the name of "balance".
I've experienced this plenty. WRX guys are always trying to "fix" their understeer-prone front heavy cars. They tighten up the rear sway bar, they get more oversteer....but they haven't changed the amount of front grip, which means the only thing it accomplished is the rear of the car is letting go sooner.
You said yourself, the major settings between the two cars are the same. The parts are the same. The spring and damping rates appear to be the only differences. Toyota went with softer springs and higher damping rates, which is going to result in more weight transfer, which absolutely can help cause oversteer because it means the rear axle is transferring more stress to the outside wheel and less to the inside...which will reduce overall grip. Subaru went with tighter suspenders and less damping, and that will result in more even distribution of weight under load. At that point, the natural balance of the car will come out more....and with a slight front bias, this car will naturally have a little steady-state understeer.
I would bet that the scion/toyota version will post ever-so-slightly lower skidpad numbers, reflecting a small reduction in rear grip.
But yeah as you said the differences are likely to be extremely minor and almost a non-issue for most driving. .01 or .02 on the skidpad is not going to be noticable to most people.