The Drifting Thread

[BRZ NA]

Went to thunderdrift last time, all stock.the is awesome. Easy to handle 2nd gear only though.only thing I want is that I think this car needs more steering angle. Spun out because of that when I m trying to enter faster. Still a very Nice car to drift or grip.love it

[p00mba]

i'll be doing my first drift event at lime rock july 26th... excited and hopefully get the hang of it...

[namdoog]

Had a lot of fun in the car today, but was struggling a bit. The front end kept washing out, really hard to recover from a bad entry or if I went into a corner too slow and clutch kicked it spun. But whenever I managed to hit the sweet spot it was spectacular.

Ran the stock tires up front and Sunny 3800 225/45/17s at 45psi in the rear. I just wanted to smoke the sunny's because they came with the wheels I bought but I was actually pretty impressed with the tire. 2 hours or so of track time with constant runs, they didnt chunk, smoked up well, and have plenty of tread left (I actually drove home on them because it started to rain at the track and i didn't feel like swapping them.. just dropped the pressure and rolled out)

Stock tires in the front were very limiting. As others have said - weak sidewall and very little bite. Will probably go with a better performance tire next time around.

[TylerLieberman]

Originally Posted by namdoog

Had a lot of fun in the car today, but was struggling a bit. The front end kept washing out, really hard to recover from a bad entry or if I went into a corner too slow and clutch kicked it spun. But whenever I managed to hit the sweet spot it was spectacular.

Ran the stock tires up front and Sunny 3800 225/45/17s at 45psi in the rear. I just wanted to smoke the sunny's because they came with the wheels I bought but I was actually pretty impressed with the tire. 2 hours or so of track time with constant runs, they didnt chunk, smoked up well, and have plenty of tread left (I actually drove home on them because it started to rain at the track and i didn't feel like swapping them.. just dropped the pressure and rolled out)

Stock tires in the front were very limiting. As others have said - weak sidewall and very little bite. Will probably go with a better performance tire next time around.

Yeah better tires up front will help for sure. Maybe lower rear pressure too. I started at 45psi cold and it was too much. Went down to under 40psi hot and it was a 100x better.

[namdoog]

Originally Posted by TylerLieberman

Yeah better tires up front will help for sure. Maybe lower rear pressure too. I started at 45psi cold and it was too much. Went down to under 40psi hot and it was a 100x better.

Yeah, I should not have bumped up to 45 for my second run. My first time out I was at 35 hot which was a little too grippy but I had more control in-slide. 45 cold was easier to initiate but harder to control. 35 cold is probably a good starting point for next time.

Gotta get the car into the shop tomorrow to get checked out, I definitely knocked my left front out of alignment.

[JackSmiley]

For suspension set-up - should i have higher rates at the front and lower rate at the back? Or is it the other way around?

[campy]

Should I buy a second set of stock wheels/tires for cheap? Or just spend more money and go for something aftermarket at possibly 3x the price? Are the weights/dimensions of the stockies good for drifting?

Originally Posted by JackSmiley

For suspension set-up - should i have higher rates at the front and lower rate at the back?

That's correct.

[retrosmiths]

I too would like to know the answer to this. ^

-Sent from outer space

[TylerLieberman]

Originally Posted by campy

Should I buy a second set of stock wheels/tires for cheap? Or just spend more money and go for something aftermarket at possibly 3x the price? Are the weights/dimensions of the stockies good for drifting?



That's correct.

Originally Posted by retrosmiths

I too would like to know the answer to this. ^

-Sent from outer space

The stock wheels work fine for drifting. I run my daily wheels on the front and then the stock wheels as spares on the back.


My gold wheels are 17x8.25 with 215/45 tires. The stock wheels use the same size tires so the car still sits the way I want it. The setup works great for me and a lot of other people on here do the same thing. No rubbing at all and the wheel weight doesn't really make the car feel sluggish. Stock wheels make great drift spares.

Eventually, I'll buy a set of 18" Gram Lights or Works and then the gold wheels will become my drift spares...but until then, this works fine.

As far as tires go, you can pick up some used tires or get some new, cheap tires. Achilles, Nexen, Nankang, Federal, Kenda, Accelera etc etc. All of those tires are extremely cheap (~$55 per tire in 215/45r17) and some of them last quite a while. Seeing how we only make 150-160whp, you don't need some extremely wide, extremely grippy tire. Cheap tires work well for the car.

Hopefully, that helps answer your question.

[ultra]

What's the fave initiation method?

I can't help but fall back on the ripping fast & hard on the ebrake with lots of gas texhnique even in second...works well enough even though I know it's rather noobish.

Running 225/40/18 continue sport contact 2s so I have a bit much grip I think...hard to maintain a really good smokey slide.

Big difference running stock tires & higher PSIs on the rear?

Caveat - I just slide on occasion for fun. Not serious.

[TylerLieberman]

Originally Posted by ultra

What's the fave initiation method?

I can't help but fall back on the ripping fast & hard on the ebrake with lots of gas texhnique even in second...works well enough even though I know it's rather noobish.

Running 225/40/18 continue sport contact 2s so I have a bit much grip I think...hard to maintain a really good smokey slide.

Big difference running stock tires & higher PSIs on the rear?

Caveat - I just slide on occasion for fun. Not serious.

Upping rear tire pressure helps. Can also stiffen up the rear dampers (assuming you have coilovers). Make sure you push in the clutch when pulling the handbrake. I know it sounds weird, but I've seen people go months doing it without the clutch and then wonder why they break shit.

Clutch in, handbrake, keep rpms up and then drop handbrake and dump clutch. If you don't keep the rpms up, the car will bog and grip up. Gotta stay in the power band.

You can also try clutch kicking. Turn in with the throttle down and give the clutch a good kick and the rear will slide out.

There's a bunch of different methods. For more on that, search for Drift Bible on youtube. It'll give a quick run down on some of the basic techniques.

I prefer clutch kicking. I don't like using the handbrake. I only really use it on transitions and to extend my line really far. Everything else I pretty much use left foot brake and clutch work with throttle.

[fc3s_johnny]

Nice thread, subscribed and everyone keep the info flowing...

[mrk1]

When I pull my hand brake I just get clicking noises and no lock up. Even in parking use my brake doesn't work to great, got to take a look at it.

[retrosmiths]

Make sure traction control is off, and pull it harder.

That's what the instructor told me at one drift event a couple weeks ago.

-Sent from outer space