Interesting reading. Initially I was running my Hotchkis med front and rear and OEM tire stagger size and the car was nicely balanced. Running 245 all round required the front to be full stiff to restore balance.

From JIC's published spring rates, installing them moved the stiffness bias rearward. However, while the car handled much better, it felt like there was a lot more understeer - sort of opposite to what I expected.

I'll try adjusting the rear sway full soft and see how this weekend's AutoX goes. IMO, full stiff up front makes the bump compliance more difficult to handle with a lot of feedback coming through the steering wheel.

 

Two close shots of my left rear tire. Right tire is a symmetric copy of this one. Notice how significantly greater the wear on the inner side. Guess it's not gonna last till winter, so I'm buying a new rears... Gosh, what do I try now?

 

I just installed Hotchkis sways this weekend. Have the front on medium and the rear is set to stiff. Haven't had a chance to properly try this setup out to see how the car handles with this.

I must say though, I can't believe the difference sway bars make. The car acts like night and day now.

 

Yes the difference is incredible. I went to autox this weekend and I couldn't believe how much better car behaved in corners.

I think my loose rear might have something to do with my tires. I weared them down to markers. Probably Toyo have different (harder?) compaund for the base

 

Thats the negative camber of the rear. Most Z driven with any kind of enthusiasm have this.
Gald you like the feel of the car, good luck with autocrossing!

 

I ran the rear bar full stiff for this weekend's Solo2 (decided to try the conventional mind-set first). Overall, it was much better. The rear was quite a bit more happy to come around making the Z's heft feel much more agile in the tight stuff. It took me a run or two to adjust, but if felt natural quickly enough.

The only thing that was of concern/different is that for the first time ever I was getting a *lot* of left rear wheel spin on a fast left sweeper. It was consistent on every run and spun for a good 20' even though the back isn't sliding. Acceleration was definitely being comprimised. It felt/sounded just like an open diff on a FWD.

Could it be that the stiffer bar is kicking the inside tire up more than before causing less traction? Or could it be that the viscous unit is finally staring to show it's weakeness? What do you guys think?

I guess the easiest was to determine is to set the rear back to med and see...

 

vlad,

i had the same problem...then got new tires (toyos again) and a quality alignment at an alignment shop. i had some SERIOUS toe issues in front and in back. the toe was by far the culprit, not the camber. just a suggestion.

that $1000 set of tires was an expensive lesson for 12000 miles of driving.

sean

 

probably lifting the inside tire from the stiff sway setting.