I was taught (or learned) that springs are the basic "platform" or foundation that everything else works from. I used to strive for a perfectly balanced platform but I've changed my thinking over the years. I now subscribe to Carroll Smith's old dictum of running relatively a soft rear spring/wheel rate (enough to control camber under acceleration) and using the front spring/wheel rate to balance basic levels of understeer/oversteer. Putting power down has taken on more importance in my thinking then corner entry or mid-corner speed.

 

+1 for springs being the "basic platform" concept. At least that is what I was taught/learned as well.

My first experience with what a simple camber adjustment could do was on an ITA car. I had stock front suspension at the time, and I had understeer on corner entry in almost every corner. I swapped out the front shocks and got some camber plates and whoa! I dropped 1.5 seconds off my lap time at Moroso Motorsports park instantly. Plus the car just felt so much better.

Same thing with the Z. I am running the Cusco adjustable A-arms (a bargain at about $400) and I can get almost 3 degrees negative camber from them. It makes the turn-in of the Z so much more crisp. It doesn't plow into corners any more (as it did somewhat in stock form).

Even when I was N/A , at Firebird Raceway (main track), having sways and camber arms made a huge difference. With these items, plus some minor mods like intake and exhaust, shocks and springs, my car was 4 seconds a lap faster than a stock 350Z. Everything is additive, but you have to get the parts to work together with proper tuning.

Part of the reason that I am on my 4th aftermarket suspension set-up is that I was not happy with others that I tried. One set of coilovers was just so stiffly sprung that the car would bounce in the braking zone into a certain corner at a certain track, and you would get a skipping effect into the corner. This was very unsettling, as the rear tires would lose traction and lock up, gain it again, and lose it again several times. Dropping the spring rate helped by allowing the suspension to do its job and soak up the bumps. So spring rate matters not just on corner exit but sometimes even when entering corners.

Good info on taking tire temp measurements too!

 

[QUOTE=Eagle1]Mood Dude is hard on it with that lift! It looks like just a wee bit of camber to the turn is helping out too. I like the negative 3 degrees front camber setting. My G is -3.5, but anything in that zone is fine and it really depends on your other features on springs and dampers, strut braces, sways, wheels etc etc.

[QUOTE]

What would you guys suggest for toe settings for track day use?

 

Topic resuscitation ON

Knowing that all suspension bits work as a system and with all the comments in my topic, I’m about to pull the trigger on a set of SPL front A-arms.

I’m very much interested in getting the race-spec arms that allow camber adjustments a bit beyond -3 degrees. But I find this statement from the SPL site a bit disturbing:

I don’t plan to drop the car or change the springs. Haven’t found a stiffer, zero drop spring or whatever the spec would be for such a spring. So this is a concern that worries me.

How much negative camber do I want anyways? How much do you guys run?

 

what about running the cusco a arm ? .. i guess i should explain myself alittle better ..

so far i've been talking to Eagle1 about getting my G35c ready for track season this year, since this is my first track with an RWD car, im a bit worried about how the car will react .. i've been living on this track forums reading as much as i can and learn about the car as much as i can .. and thanks to ya'll for great discussions

anyways .. so far i have cancelled all my bling show parts for track parts, wheels, tires, springs, seats .. now the only thing that comes down is either sway or front A-arms .. so this topic was great that it was brought back to life so i can read some more opinions ..

 

I run around -3.0. The Pirelli Corsas seem to be fine with it, and the A-arms I use (350Evo) are capable of giving me more, though I haven't checked to see how far I can set them. I'd certainly be a little nervous bottoming out the ball joint knuckle, and putting a bubble or worse punching a hole through my fender.

I'll respond again later this week on the max negative camber I can get out of the 350evo units when I have to change my camber for next weeks track day.

 

Boinks !

I'm going forward with this mod, ordering parts this week.

Heavily leaning towards the SPL for price and ease of adjusting.
The 350EVO (if available) are listed at 850$ vs the SPL at 550$.

 

I forgot to follow up with the max camber that the 350evo arms give...about -3.8 degrees with my current 1" drop.

 

Thanks!

We'll see how much I can get with the race spec SPLs.

I'll aim for -3 for the moment.

 

Kolia, what is your current camber with factory arms? I was at -1.1 degrees up front with Swift springs and with the Cusco arms I was able to get -2.6 degrees. They seem to be very high quality parts, adjustable in 1/2 degree increments and absolutely will not slip(like the SPC arms). I'm sure they're not as high quality as SPL or the 350evo's, but for less than $400 it's a damn good deal. Just my $.02

 

I'll have to find my last alignement data sheet.
I was within OEM spec, so close to -0.60 degrees.

I have OEM springs and do not plan on changing them anytime soon.

 

SPL arms are on the car now.

These things have zero play. Steel bushings everywhere...

Alignement is schedualed for Thursday. I'm basing it on values from those John @ BetaMotorsport posted in an other topic, with less street camber.

FRONT

Camber -1.0 (Going to -3.0 at the track)
Caster +9
Toe 1/16" out

REAR

Camber -1.5
Toe 1/16" in

Unfortunatelly, I'm not sure what's going to happen exactly to the front TOE when I go from -1 to -3 camber at the track. I'll see how it feels.

Any comments on those numbers ?

 

You'll have to check and most likely adjust toe when you adjust camber. Try to keep it at 1/16" out total for now. As you get comfortable with the new arms and the camber they give you, try upping toe out to 1/8" total.