man, this is some hardcore sh$#

 

Corner weighting makes such a huge difference. I usually start the process with 1/2 a tank since our sessions are not that long

 

I just dug up some weights I took at Mid-Ohio back in '04. Taken during the early afternoon, just having pulled off the track. 3/8 fuel tank, me in car with helmet, BCR Harness Bar, 2 sets 6 point harnesses, & no spare tire. Only mods were 13" Stoptechs & Cusco sway bars.

Cross weights: 49.88%, & 50.12%. Not to shabby for as it left the factory!

FWIW, subtracting my weight, my Enthusiast weighed 3187 lbs.

 

very informative tread.... I had my car corner balanced buy a shop last year and I know they did not disconnect the sways. Maybe this is why my car looked like it was parked on a hill when it was in a flat parking lot!!!

 

I feel dumb and poor. I need so much parts...

 

what's the tires temp method and where do I find more info? I gathered that if PSI is higher on one side then the other, that means the car is not evenly weighted..right?

 

After the car has been corner weighted, the temp technique is to mesure the tire temps on 3 points across the width (on all tires). This gives an indication of what part of the tire is working the hardest.

We use thes results to evaluate if the tire pressure is adequate and if camber is spot on to use the whole thread evenly.

 

Yep, no other information lets you know if you car tire pressure, camber, and toe are correct. Just remember you must use the information along with the drivers input and the actual coarse layout. If the driver does a hard brake and a hard turn left into a pit, you must consider that right front tire will be hotter than the rest.
The best way to take tire temps is to set up a slalom coarse, come to rest fast but not hard, take the tire temps fast, write them down, go in the same direction every time (ie. RF, RR, LR, and LF), take the temps in the same order every time (ie. outside, middle, inside), take a last temp of the first tire you did (to see how much the temp dropped to help with the last tire temp), take cold and hot tire pressures, average the temps (left, right, front, back, and cross), evaluate your data.
Ideally, you want you inside of your tire to be about 5-10 degrees hotter than the outside, you want the middle to be hotter than the outside, you don't want the middle to be as hot as the inside, and you want your cross average temperatures to be equal. You get bonus points if you can get your left and right to be equal. It will be hard to get your front and back equal since you have to stop at the end of the slalom coarse, yet use this information to see if you have to much brake bias.

 

And finally, guess the captain's age!

Nice post MoodDude

 

Thanks. Since I figured most people don't know about corner weight and tire temps except the racers (road and AuotX) it would be usefull for others. Since, if you install an overcoil and don't corner weight it, you handling 9 times out of 10 will be worse than with the stock set up.

Are you trying to guess my age?
Did you buy the Pilot Cups? I was looking at getting them for road and AutoX use since it looks like a good dual purpose race tire with a good wear life and the price looks much better than the Toyo's?

 

You did very of adding all these details. I’ve saved these for when I get adjustable suspension bits.

I’m not trying to guess your age The whole thing reminded me of my aerodynamics teacher that had us find the speed of an electric fan being turned by the wind coming thru the open window of a plane flying at a given altitude with a specific wing type… Pretty crazy teacher…

I ended up going with Toyo RA1 for the price (~800$ vs +1000$ for the Michelins) when I found out the state of my street tires… I plan on getting the Sport Cups later this season. I’ll be able to compare them with the data I’ll have collected on the Toyo.

 

Where did you find the Toyo's for that price?

 

+1

Very well writen post on THE way to take tire temps.

Can't say I agree on using tire temps to check brake balance though......

 

PMed you both about the Toyos

 

Thanks - PMed you back.

 

Me too! But you know that! Looking forward to seeing pics of your new wheel & tire set-up. Wish the wheels you got didn't require "tuner" nuts, as I had issues using some. I like my Zenki Forged Racing Lug Nuts. Now, where did you get the wheels?

 

You guys are asking the exact same questions in stereo! :P

Got my wheels from the local 5Zigen dealer.

 

I missed some things on Tire Temps - so I think I will do a write up on its own tread so I don't miss anything.

 

We will be corner scaling another car Friday, a stripped down modded TT Z.

 

Hmmm I wonder whos that could be