How to screw up your cars handling and ride - step by step!

[ZDan]

I track my daily, I run -3.4 front and -2.8 rear camber, zero toe all around. Zero commute miles these days but I road-trip to tracks so a fair amount of street miles vs. track. Wearing pretty evenly.
Your track usage is going to more than offset street usage as far as wear characteristics.

Originally Posted by Evan55

Im looking for track alignment suggestions.
My usage is mainly track, but the car is driven to the track (4+ hrs) and occasionally around town. (Not my DD)
My car is a 17 PP with stock suspension except for camber plates and rear lower control arms.
Tires are Hankook RS4
Ive got over 150 track days under my belt, including a few seasons of Spec Miata racing where I won quite a few races, but its been a long time since I drove anything other than a trailered miata racecar so I'm looking for a good starting point for this strut car on street tires!
I like a looser car that rotates well.

Its tempting to go straight for -3 degrees up front and -2.4 in the back but Im just not sure how that would wear tires on those long drives to the track.
For toe Im thinking 0 front, and just a hair of toe-in in the rear, like 1/16


thoughts?

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by Evan55

Im looking for track alignment suggestions.
My usage is mainly track, but the car is driven to the track (4+ hrs) and occasionally around town. (Not my DD)
My car is a 17 PP with stock suspension except for camber plates and rear lower control arms.
Tires are Hankook RS4
Ive got over 150 track days under my belt, including a few seasons of Spec Miata racing where I won quite a few races, but its been a long time since I drove anything other than a trailered miata racecar so I'm looking for a good starting point for this strut car on street tires!
I like a looser car that rotates well.

Its tempting to go straight for -3 degrees up front and -2.4 in the back but Im just not sure how that would wear tires on those long drives to the track.
For toe Im thinking 0 front, and just a hair of toe-in in the rear, like 1/16


thoughts?

Yeah as other's have said that's pretty close to where you need to be. A little bit more camber than that would help but that's still a good starting point.

There might a little bit of uneven wear from long highway drives but like Zdan said, the track usage is more important from a wear standpoint.

- Andrew

[Evan55]

Great feedback, thanks everyone.

Are the 200tw tires on stock springs a concern at all? Would I be overloading the springs and riding on the bumpstops?

[bfrank1972]

Originally Posted by Evan55

Im looking for track alignment suggestions.
My usage is mainly track, but the car is driven to the track (4+ hrs) and occasionally around town. (Not my DD)
My car is a 17 PP with stock suspension except for camber plates and rear lower control arms.
Tires are Hankook RS4
Ive got over 150 track days under my belt, including a few seasons of Spec Miata racing where I won quite a few races, but its been a long time since I drove anything other than a trailered miata racecar so I'm looking for a good starting point for this strut car on street tires!
I like a looser car that rotates well.

Its tempting to go straight for -3 degrees up front and -2.4 in the back but Im just not sure how that would wear tires on those long drives to the track.
For toe Im thinking 0 front, and just a hair of toe-in in the rear, like 1/16


thoughts?

I have around -2.8 fronts with no problems with camber wear or driveability issues, at least once the tires warm up. I run about 34 PSI cold on MPSS, and starting out they tend be a little grabby on rutted roads, but as soon as they warm up it's all good.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Evan55

Great feedback, thanks everyone.

Are the 200tw tires on stock springs a concern at all? Would I be overloading the springs and riding on the bumpstops?

You are going to get a lot of body roll, I did back when I had stock struts with lowering springs and 200TW tires. You will need to be patient with the car in quick transitions.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by Evan55

Great feedback, thanks everyone.

Are the 200tw tires on stock springs a concern at all? Would I be overloading the springs and riding on the bumpstops?

You're already on the bumpstops with the stock tires.

Depends on your attitude, might get frustrated with stock springs/dampers, might be fun, all up to you.

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Evan55

Great feedback, thanks everyone.

Are the 200tw tires on stock springs a concern at all? Would I be overloading the springs and riding on the bumpstops?

Wouldn't worry about it. You will be getting into the bumpstops but they should act progressively to limit body roll with the stock springs.

Given that you have camber plates, I would recommend that *if* you go to lower/stiffer springs, you think about Bilstein B6s at the same time. My camber plates reduced front bump travel enough that I was HARD on the bumpstops which made street driving unbearable, and gave terminal midcorner understeer at the track. I went to Bilsteins which have more bump travel, and now all is well street and track

[solidONE]

Funny thing I know a guy with, not a Testarossa, but a stanced airbaged 355 GTO... He does headlight modifications for his business. Making your car handle like crap is lucrative business. apparently.

[Cephas]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

I uhh...had some free time.

LEGEND. I am dying over here...

Anyway thanks for this thread, just finished the whole thing and got a lot of little questions answered. All I've done so far is ditch the stock tires for some 225/45 Goodyear Exhilarates. Pretty fantastic A/S for street use, I'm surprised they aren't mentioned on here much/at all. The grip is quite good now wet or dry, but feeding in the power mid-corner produces some vague feelings, like the car can't decide whether to oversteer or understeer. Probably should have the alignment tweaked a bit and go from there.

Thanks again!

[Evan55]

Originally Posted by ZDan

Wouldn't worry about it. You will be getting into the bumpstops but they should act progressively to limit body roll with the stock springs.

Given that you have camber plates, I would recommend that *if* you go to lower/stiffer springs, you think about Bilstein B6s at the same time. My camber plates reduced front bump travel enough that I was HARD on the bumpstops which made street driving unbearable, and gave terminal midcorner understeer at the track. I went to Bilsteins which have more bump travel, and now all is well street and track

Isnt it the B8s that have the shorter bodies for increased travel?

[strat61caster]

B8s reduce droop to keep shorter lowering springs captured when the suspension is unloaded. No benefit to bump travel, specs can be googled for proof.

[Racecomp Engineering]

At some point...I'd love to get a picture of stock, B6, and B8 all lined up. But we don't really sell B8s...they just have less droop.

We have 3 sets of B6 coming in about a month. I'm taking 1 set for myself.

I will at least get a picture of stock vs B6 with measurements.

- Andrew

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Evan55

Isnt it the B8s that have the shorter bodies for increased travel?

I called Bilstein and asked, the tech actually pulled up the drawings and said that the *only* difference between B6 and B8 struts for the FT86 is reduced bump travel in the B8s to prevent "loose" springs at full droop. Which isn't a problem with B6s up to at least 1.25" lowered.

[jkamelo]

Merry Christmas!

I’m plotting out my spring purchases and want to make sure I won’t ruin my car’s stock handling. I’m currently on stock everything, so I plan to pick up:

- Enkei TSR-X 18x8.5 +45 square setup (wheel is 20.4lbs)
- CSG Flex A or RCE SS1
- Tires (TBD)

Am I on a decent track here? I’m trying to balance looks and performance. And what should I avoid when picking my tire?

Thanks!