What do people recommend? for a UK wagon running Avos and other choice suspension mods such as ARB's

and what difference does each mod make?

IE camber / castor / toe in / toe out & Ride Heights

Tyres are likely to be Road Legal sticky ones.

Handling / Traction are priority.. I would also like some stability under breaking, preferably with better turn in and a little less understeer..

Suretrac front diff, std MY01 Sti Centre and Std 94uk turbo Rear diff.

With a decent power to weight ratio.

David

 

I had the Prodrive suspension setup done at Prosport in Stockport made a big difference, First bend in anger ended up on the other side of the road the turn in was that much better. This may work on yours give them a ring on 0161 432 9999, mine is only a standard UK turbo.


As per Avo shocks we only use these on our minimum spec racecars, they are good to start with but soon go off the boil. (may be different on a road car though)

 

Im not interested in a 'suspension setup'

Im more interested in settings..

I have:

Full poly bush kit
Avo Coilover Kit
Ap 4 Pots with 330mm Disks & Braided BrakeLines
ABS Removed
Solid DropLinks Front & Rear
Uprated Front ARB
Uprated Rear ARB - to order.
Upper And Lower Strut Braces Front & Rear.

Will be fitting Camber bolts to provide more than std adjustment.

Im more interested in what changes what aspect of the car.. Im not after recommendations of a bilstein kit and Eibach springs etc.

David

 

Think you should speak to John Felstead as he's probably played around with a lot more settings than anyone else. Or Graham (911) with his hill climbing knowledge.

Depends what you're after, you're own driving style and what roads you'll be driving on. It's a very personal thing, but John would provide excellent advice on where to start and how each change would make a difference to a car (in theory though).

Everyone told me to try the Prodrive settings (1 deg toe-in and max neg camber). I went along with printout in hand saying "I want that" only to be told you've already got that m8

Ended up putting zero toe-in/out and increasing the camber slightly and so far the car's better for it. Moving on to P1 suspension and a stiffer front/rear ARB than I currently run, but I'll be having the same conversation about the geo as you shortly.

Stefan

 

Yeah I know what you mean, im thinking of more for drag / handling circuit.. The car is not really a road car at the moment.

I want to be able to keep all '600'hp pointing where I want it tho.. (if I ever turn the boost up past 7psi)

David

 

David, I can't really answer your specific questions, but if you like I can post the camber and toe-in setup for my MY98 JDM WRX Wagon as set by a specialist here in Japan 3 weeks ago. My spec list is somewhat similar after fitting uprated ARB's F/R, ALK and drop links. It already had a front lower strut brace. I didn't get full-on race spec poly bushes, it's more of a daily drive so compromised on something with a little more compliance.

Handling is much better, especially turn-in, but I also need some camber bolts to get the camber at the back that they recommended.

Let me know.

 

Well until an expert turns up heres my stab at it -

Drag / handling requirements are different so its going to be a compromise. Assuming no change in settings from drag to handling start with:
* 0 camber, 0 toe at back for best traction & least drag,
* stiffest rear springs your dampers will control to minimise squat, since squat will induce camber & reduce traction,
* front springs will need to be about 25% stiffer than rear so something like 375/300lb f/r,
* soften front dampers and stiffen rears for drag to maximise traction,
* set ride height so that radius arms are horizontal or maybe slightly lower, you want lots of droop at front and not much bump at rear to maximise front & rear traction,
* around 2deg neg camber at front to give reasonable turn-in but not too much camber since you have 0 at rear,
* 0 toe-in at front to minimise drag,
* I assume std rear diff is viscous so change to plated diff for max traction,
* front lsd to reduce wheelspin,
* set rear arb to stiffest for circuit handling & to balance uprated front arb,
* with such stiff springs you might be better with std front arb and rear at middle setting,
* Whiteline ALK is designed to improve front traction under power so should help drag & handling,
* without abs to balance the brakes you might need adjustable bias valves to reduce rear lockups, or maybe play with pad compounds, but your prob ok since you've got big fronts and std rears,

Add a large pinch of salt

 

cheers duncan, interesting thoughts.

Any more?

 

top

 

I would just send the car to a professional & tell em what you want.

Mine is great after having all sorts messed around with front & rear but I couldn't tell you all the angles etc? I just know it's a compromise for road & track. It can be set up more severely than it is. Great traction & very entertaining handling.

Depending on where you are there will always be someone within a few miles.

I have used R.B. Motorsport in Lancashire. The guv there used to set up touring cars so I reckon he knows his stuff.

 

Interesting you recommend RB Motorsport.. Will have a chat with Cord when I see him on thursday.

I want something a little different to prodrive settings as its not really a road car.. and can be a comprimise..

David

 

I'm using these settings for sprinting

Front

1.5 ve neg camber using bolts, will fit top mounts to allow more if needed.
? 1 degree of castor from whiteline ALK (which works well no more nose up)
1 degree of toe in (not sure about this, I think its made it slightly nervous)

Rear
2 degrees neg camber (adjustable lower arms)
1 degree toe in

The car is lowered using bilstein coilovers set to very stiff at the front and mid point on the rears.
The car looks level which I would like to change and drop the nose a couple of mm.

Tyre pressures using slicks f32 r30

I must add that this is new to me and I've only played around at one race meeting, I will continue to fiddle in an attempt to find the setup which suits my driving style.

I took advice from 911 and another member can't remember your name sorry.

 

whats the difference to using adjusatable tie bars compared to rear camber bolts?

 

Camber bolts have a maxium adjustment of upto 1-2 degrees, adjustable lower arms unlimited and also toe in adjustable. Also alot thicker and therefore stronger with less movement around the bushes I would have thought.

Mark

 

I too drive a wagon....

Hardware

AST coilovers
ALK
Solid droplinks
Whiteline 24 mm ARB on rear
F/R upper braces

Settings I have on my wagon currently (courtesy of Powerstation) after much fiddling/experimentation,

Front...camber 1.5 deg -ve
..........castor 3.5 deg
..........toe 0.0

Rear....camber 1.5 deg -ve (camber bolt)
..........toe 0.0

Bumpsteer removed

Ride height was left very close to standard after reading JohnFs posts regarding this.

The bumpsteer and toe set-up really improved braking stability and reduced understeer

The castor increase improved turn-in feel

Downside (if you can call it that) is the rear is looser and LOO is increased, but still very predictable.


Have a look here http://autozine.kyul.net/technical_s...x.htm#Handling

 

Thats a good link DocJock

Steve