You will know when things are being knackered as you will here a ticking sound and feel the transmission crunch as you a corner with the diff too locked.

When you turn a corner, the front and rear axles want to turn at different speeds as they follow different arcs. If the diff is fully locked, there is effectively no diff and so they arent allowwed to trn at different speeds, this is great but only if the wheels are allowed to slip on the ground, such as ice snow and gravel.

not great in the wet as there is still grip most of the time. In the dry, you have discovered that fully unlocked is fine.

In the damp, I leave this setting the same.

When the rain is heavy and I notice standing water I normally click one notch forward, as this make the back less lively. Even in this setting, if you are manouvering at full lock, you will hear the crunching of the transmission.

Experiment and see what you are happy with, but you will know if you are damaging anything. I have never used more than the back two clicks and I am not a fan of oversteer http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/wink.gif

so try it and find out.

good luck

can any1 in LAYMANS TERMS explain to me the best settings for the manually adjusted diff control on the sti5 typeR, in wet and dry conditions

I know from experience that driving with the diff lock off is ok in the dry but a nightmare in the wet. So, generally i push the control up to the 1st yellow square in the wet, however i dont know if i am wrecking anything mechanically by using the diff lock as much as i do.Any suggestions?
scoobynutta

cheers adam, it seems that this is a grey area for many peops who know about imprezas. I have the owners manual for the sti and even this is a bit vague. All information i have at the moment is from people who have actually driven this particular car (not many!) and they each have different preferences. I personally have found that for hard driving in wet conditions its very tail happy on the first two settings, and for A road driving in the wet i have it on the 3rd setting!
I have talked to a semi pro racing driver who keeps it in the first yellow almost all the time!
Having owned an "ordinary" wrx for two years i was used to hacking around without diff control settings. Although the diff control seems to be a good idea, i tend to prefer the wrx setting especially when it had abs and this one doesnt! the wrx just seemed more confident in all conditions. in the type R you get constant oversteer with the first setting and a bumpy ride in the next two settings i use. hard braking in the wet or even damp conditions can easily take 1'000 miles off your tyres.on the plus side, for standing starts no matter how wet the tarmac, click up a couple of notches and the is ZERO wheelspin. any other comments?

Everyones car is different, but I am the same as you.

Have gone from confidence inspiring wrx with abs to 22B that I pussy foot around.

There is no doubt that the 22B has more grip and in the same situation will corner faster than the wrx. The reason the 22B is slower most of the time is cos I am scared of it.

lol . whats your 22b like to drive? was thinking of getting one but i heard they were a real handful

How does that center diff work ? Is it an adjustable viscous coupling ? Or something completely different +

It is an electromechanical viscous coupling lsd. It works by having to sets of plates separated by a viscous fluid. The lock up is controlled by the distance betwen the plates and is varied when the switch is altered.


I am being unfair,

the 22B is a pussy cat until you ask it to play then it bites. Only if you push it hard.

Dont know how it compares witha type r. Apparemtly the rear endiness comes from a less forgiving rear lsd.

May consider changing both items for quaife atbs, that would remove some of the rear drive nature, and hopefully give the turn in more bite.

Although have to say, the quick rack of the type r, combined with the meaty steering of the 22b due to larger track and wider tyres, plus the bump steer correction, mak ethe steering of the car feel razor sharp. I am not sure how much of the feel comes from the 22Bness but I would say it is the nicest impreza I have ever driven.

Thanks for that info. Nice to know!

I would agree with you about the Type-R's tail-happiness in the wet, it has scared the sh1t out of me on several occasions... normally resulting in a 'oh f**k' - the worst thing for a passenger to hear lol!

I find the Type-R's handling quite unpredictable, I must admit I've never had it on a track (it's actually Dad's car, not mine). But compared to a pure RWD car like a 944, it is not particularly communicative. I suppose that high grip, minimal roll, short gearing and turbo lag (and of course 280bhp) don't conspire to make the most driftable car in normal road conditions... I can imagine that the 22B is even worse.

I still leave the diff unlocked though!