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Woof, understeer hell. How to fix this push

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Old 04-10-2020, 05:29 PM
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Bmsluite
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Default Woof, understeer hell. How to fix this push

Been taking the car out lately to learn the chassis.

Learned this thing pushes pretty bad. Has a lot more understeer than I am used to.

Setup now: stock springs, B6 shocks, eibach sway bars (2nd to stiffest hole front/ middle hole rear), stock tire sizes on UHO A/S tires, adjustable rear camber arms

​​​​​​Alignent front: - 1.2 camber 0.04 toe
Rear - 1.2 camber 0.08 toe
​​​​​​Will have in a few weeks new rotary forged wheels with UHP summer tires size 255/275.

So what else can I do to make this car more neutral? Less sway bar stiffness in the front? I could go back a hole. That's really all I can think of without totally changing my setup.

I guess I could also change my driving style a bit. I'm used to more neutral handling in those long sweepers. I do trail brake which I find I need to do for a bit longer with this vehicle than others I have owned and setup.
Old 04-10-2020, 06:20 PM
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DarkZ03
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Increase the sway stiffness in the rear
Old 04-10-2020, 06:28 PM
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Originally Posted by DarkZ03
Increase the sway stiffness in the rear
All the way to full stiff in the rear?
Old 04-10-2020, 07:17 PM
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Sure, what's the specs on them? Not familiar with the Eibach but I've had two different brands and I've ended up in the stiffest or second stiffest if I wanted oversteer, but as far as I know most front bars are stiffer than stock already on the soft setting. So you can always dial back the front too, or mess around with tire pressure but with Chicago weather being moody as it is now I would wait before doing that.
Old 04-10-2020, 08:07 PM
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Square tire set up, 275 all around. For the front, much more camber, do not toe in. How severe the numbers depends on your intention with the car (daily, autox, road course).
Old 04-10-2020, 09:25 PM
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Soften the front, keep rear as is.

“Increase” rear camber to around -1.7 to -1.9

Last edited by MicVelo; 04-10-2020 at 09:28 PM.
Old 04-11-2020, 05:59 AM
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Originally Posted by DarkZ03
Sure, what's the specs on them? Not familiar with the Eibach but I've had two different brands and I've ended up in the stiffest or second stiffest if I wanted oversteer, but as far as I know most front bars are stiffer than stock already on the soft setting. So you can always dial back the front too, or mess around with tire pressure but with Chicago weather being moody as it is now I would wait before doing that.
I misspoke. I have hotchkis sway bars.
Old 04-11-2020, 06:00 AM
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Originally Posted by Emski
Square tire set up, 275 all around. For the front, much more camber, do not toe in. How severe the numbers depends on your intention with the car (daily, autox, road course).
Too late for that. I already grabbed the 255 for the fronts. They had a sale at firestone for essential workers. When those wear out ill slap 275 fronts on them
Old 04-11-2020, 06:02 AM
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Originally Posted by MicVelo
Soften the front, keep rear as is.

“Increase” rear camber to around -1.7 to -1.9
That's where my rear specs used to be. I lowered it to net me more rear grip as I was constantly losing rear grip and I wanted some more straight line rear grip as well. I'm feeling like I just need more grip. Ip front. Hopefully the Indy 500 tires will help as they tend to be a more oversteer type tire even in staggered form
Old 04-11-2020, 07:12 AM
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Originally Posted by Bmsluite
That's where my rear specs used to be. I lowered it to net me more rear grip as I was constantly losing rear grip and I wanted some more straight line rear grip as well. I'm feeling like I just need more grip. Ip front. Hopefully the Indy 500 tires will help as they tend to be a more oversteer type tire even in staggered form
Adding more rear grip = understeer.

Higher camber angle will allow for enough slip angle in the tires to increase oversteer while providing more grip on rollover.
Old 04-11-2020, 08:39 AM
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Is there not a way (other than more front rubber) to add more grip to the front? I'd rather not nuetralize the car by taking away from one end to fix the other end.

I'm going to go out now with the car. I'll mess with the tire pressure some more. Hopefully I'll catch some fish too as that's the main reason for this journey.
Old 04-11-2020, 10:11 AM
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Originally Posted by Bmsluite
Is there not a way (other than more front rubber) to add more grip to the front? I'd rather not nuetralize the car by taking away from one end to fix the other end.

I'm going to go out now with the car. I'll mess with the tire pressure some more. Hopefully I'll catch some fish too as that's the main reason for this journey.
OK, I would suggest that you wait and re-ask these questions AFTER you install your new tires (and break them in). If I read it all right, you are going from A/S tires to a summer set, yes? That will change the entire dynamic of the car.

Insofar as not wanting to "neutralizing the car by taking away from one end to fix the other end".... that's what adjustability does for you, it's how you set up the chassis to do what you want it to do. For you to tune it properly for how you want to use it, one end or the other is going to have to give before the other end. Even a perfectly neutral chassis (any car), there has to be some settings biased from front to rear. And that ALL goes back to the tires. So ya, get the stickies on before messing with it since you're only a couple/few weeks away.


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Old 04-11-2020, 12:33 PM
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Originally Posted by MicVelo
OK, I would suggest that you wait and re-ask these questions AFTER you install your new tires (and break them in). If I read it all right, you are going from A/S tires to a summer set, yes? That will change the entire dynamic of the car.

Insofar as not wanting to "neutralizing the car by taking away from one end to fix the other end".... that's what adjustability does for you, it's how you set up the chassis to do what you want it to do. For you to tune it properly for how you want to use it, one end or the other is going to have to give before the other end. Even a perfectly neutral chassis (any car), there has to be some settings biased from front to rear. And that ALL goes back to the tires. So ya, get the stickies on before messing with it since you're only a couple/few weeks away.
Good point about the tires. I forgot I had had the tire pressures all screwy to deal with bump steer. I fixed the bump steer issue already though. It was the compression arm bushings. They were all torn..
Felt a lot better with even tire pressure (34). Still understeers though. Will come back with report after summers are on
Old 04-11-2020, 02:36 PM
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Originally Posted by Bmsluite
I misspoke. I have hotchkis sway bars.
So you have the 4 hole F and 3 hole R? If that's the case I'd try middle in back and either softest or second softest in the front
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Old 04-11-2020, 03:31 PM
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Originally Posted by DarkZ03
So you have the 4 hole F and 3 hole R? If that's the case I'd try middle in back and either softest or second softest in the front
Correct, 4 bar hole. And mine actually has the bushing stays molded in it. So they updated the design.

When the summer wheels get put on I'll try second to softest hole front and middle hole rear. Right now at 2nd to stiffest front and middle hole rear. Was actually considering staggering the rear hole middle and softest but seems my front end is the problem so I'll deal with that first
Old 04-11-2020, 03:56 PM
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Originally Posted by Bmsluite
Correct, 4 bar hole. And mine actually has the bushing stays molded in it. So they updated the design.

When the summer wheels get put on I'll try second to softest hole front and middle hole rear. Right now at 2nd to stiffest front and middle hole rear. Was actually considering staggering the rear hole middle and softest but seems my front end is the problem so I'll deal with that first
FWIW, I run Hotchkis 4/3 with Front on full soft -hole #1 towards end of bar, rear on 2nd hole. Staggered on 255/285 (or 245/275 depending on which set of wheels) Max Perf stickies. Beautiful! Adjust my shocks to the wheels; but since they're all pretty much around 20#/corner for all four sets, haven't had to do much adjusting in a couple of years. I had car on the track and have no hesitation with this set up there or in the hills. (If I were on track again, probably stiffen up the rear a bit but no problem as is.)
Old 04-11-2020, 04:22 PM
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Originally Posted by MicVelo
FWIW, I run Hotchkis 4/3 with Front on full soft -hole #1 towards end of bar, rear on 2nd hole. Staggered on 255/285 (or 245/275 depending on which set of wheels) Max Perf stickies. Beautiful! Adjust my shocks to the wheels; but since they're all pretty much around 20#/corner for all four sets, haven't had to do much adjusting in a couple of years. I had car on the track and have no hesitation with this set up there or in the hills. (If I were on track again, probably stiffen up the rear a bit but no problem as is.)
What shocks do you have with which springs? I went with bilstien B6 on OEM due to a) not wanting to lower since I'm in the city and b) I do not want to have to buy a ton of adjustable suspension parts to deal with lowering and c) this vehicle is on a budget. I do miss having adjustable shocks but I couldn't justify the cost this time around. My last tuned car got totalled by some chick eating ramen noodles who just blew a red light and smashed into me. After that I decided I had to cao the money I spend on builds as any second some stupid person can destroy all your hard work
Old 04-11-2020, 04:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Bmsluite
What shocks do you have with which springs? I went with bilstien B6 on OEM due to a) not wanting to lower since I'm in the city and b) I do not want to have to buy a ton of adjustable suspension parts to deal with lowering and c) this vehicle is on a budget. I do miss having adjustable shocks but I couldn't justify the cost this time around. My last tuned car got totalled by some chick eating ramen noodles who just blew a red light and smashed into me. After that I decided I had to cao the money I spend on builds as any second some stupid person can destroy all your hard work
Hear ya.....

I run Koni Yellows, single adjust, with Eibach Pro Kit springs. Started with the B12ProKit on this car (essentially the Bilstein B6s, but now packaged with B8s). Bilsteins are a GREAT choice. More comfortable than Koni or just about anything else and offer legendary damping in both directions. You're fine there. As mentioned, just wait for your tire/wheel setup then fine tune adjust your bars to suit what you need. I gave you my specs just for reference. Works for me and my needs, try 'em or ignore, your choice.
Old 04-11-2020, 09:53 PM
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camber is huge, the car really wants front camber to get the tires to bite
Old 04-12-2020, 06:04 AM
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Originally Posted by terrasmak
camber is huge, the car really wants front camber to get the tires to bite
Yeah I can tell that from taking the tire Temps with the laser gun. The outside of the tire is a bit warmer. There are no cheap upper adjustable a arms? They want like $600 for a pair which is just out of the question right now


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