Spec C Handling Advice
 

Right, I am probably going to sound like a complete tool with what I am about to write.

Here goes!

I have not driven my car (hawkeye spec c) for a couple of months and I have to say I am not happy with the handling.

It has a set of Continental ContiSportContact 3 tyres all round which have done around 1k miles, so they should be well scrubbed in by now.

I am finding the handling of the car to be quite twitchy and fairly unpredictable. Now I know it has a quick rack, and this could be it, I have been driving a Range Rover with a very slack steering box so maybe I am over compensating! But I have just driven about 150 miles in the spec c today and I would have thought I would have adjusted to the steering after driving in twisting roads for the majority of those miles.

It seemed to be fine when it had the Potenza RE070's on, but that was in the summer when the roads where in much better shape, the only complaint I had about the RE070's was the very bad tram lining.

I will be taking the car to have an alignment done when I find somewhere that will do it properly.

So I am a little in the dark really, my gut feeling is the tyres, I run pretty standard pressures, usually 32 front and 30 rear.

Does any one have any direct experience with the Conti's in the winter time?

I think I will play about with the pressures after I have had a proper geo done.

Just a shame, as the car is not really inspiring me with confidence, which is what I bought it for in the first place!

Apart from the tyres and geo, what else can I check myself?

Thanks

Forgot to add that I have the EXE-TC Fast Road coilovers on the car, they are set half way.

Could be the coilovers,im running standard and its fine.

1. Is the car unsettled by bumps, ridges and potholes ?
2. Is it too stiff ?
3. Is it actually bloody slippery out there ?
4. Have you tried a soft compound tyre, they are amazing ?
5. Didn't you ditch this one, was it checked over properly for alignment issues ?

dunx

Standard Spec C suspension is quite different from EXE-TC coilovers. So if all other suspension bits are the same i.e. ARB's & strut braces then I would first get a full re-alignment & see how it feels. Never used Conti-sports so cant comment on those.

When you say twitchy do you mean front end seems very alive & very little steering input causes quick direction changes? If so then this is quite normal & a welcome trait of a Spec C. Or is it uncontrolably twitchy at the front, though this all subjective to opinion?

Or does the back end seem a bit too mobile, rather oversteery?

Or does the whole car want to just tramline?

I don't like the standard ball joint drop links. Allows more lateral movement than I like. I fitted KLC32 solid droplinks and I prefer these by far :) It is pretty grim driving at the moment though tbh especially with a wedge of torque on tap. I drive a lazy volvo most days and it's like driving in your sleep. :D

1. Is the car unsettled by bumps, ridges and potholes ?

No

2. Is it too stiff ?

I have tried the suspension on various settings, the stiffer the better it performs, I have now set the suspension to full hard.

3. Is it actually bloody slippery out there ?

Maybe a little.

4. Have you tried a soft compound tyre, they are amazing ?

I had the RE070 before, are these not soft compound? If not then what tyre do you recommend?

5. Didn't you ditch this one, was it checked over properly for alignment issues ?

It was ditched yes, but only low speed and low impact, the wheels dont even have a scratch from the accident. However alignment is going to get checked once I find some one I can trust to do the work. Aligment will be required but I just cant see it being out enough to cause these issues.

Standard Spec C suspension is quite different from EXE-TC coilovers. So if all other suspension bits are the same i.e. ARB's & strut braces then I would first get a full re-alignment & see how it feels. Never used Conti-sports so cant comment on those.

When you say twitchy do you mean front end seems very alive & very little steering input causes quick direction changes? If so then this is quite normal & a welcome trait of a Spec C. Or is it uncontrolably twitchy at the front, though this all subjective to opinion?

It is very lively, not uncontrollable. But I think these tyres are bad news as they seems to lose grip very soon.

Or does the back end seem a bit too mobile, rather oversteery?

Back end feels planted, its the front that seems to be easy to unsettle. Back end will go if pushed, but the front takes little effort to lose grip and unsettle.

Or does the whole car want to just tramline?

The car used to tramilne very badly when it had the RE070's on, but there was very little tread left and I read that the RE's were bad tramliners when they got low on the tread.

Thats one thing that does not happen with the Conti's.

Its got a Whiteline swaybar and lateral links. Not sure what the droplinks are, will have to check them out.

Today I have tried a few things out. I checked the tyre pressure while cold and they are fine, 32 front, 30 rear.

I tried the suspension set to full soft. This made the whole thing a lot worse. Tried in the middle, better but still not right. Finally I have tried full hard, an improvement was found.

I have also just put on some CDF Racing 25mm spacers all round, they have been sat in the cellar since I had the little off road experience so I thought I would try them out. Now I dont know of its just physiological but with the spacers fitted the car feels a lot better, not so lively at the front and more predictable with it.

But as from my previous post, I feel that the tyres are just not upto the job, they lose grip far too easily and they dont inspire me with confidence. They have been on the car for about 1,000 miles and cost me just over £500 all in. But I think I will have to ditch these and go back to the RE070's, unless someone can recommend a better tyre?

And they are ContiSportContact 3's, not 2's as I previously thought.

Your thoughts and recommendations are welcome.

R888's are noisy and expensive, but for the summer they are amazing, not good value tho'.

AD08 by Yokohama is getting some good feedback as an enthusiast's choice.

IMHO.

dunx

I looked at the R888's. But they look a little too hardcore for my liking.

The AD08's look good, but I think I will go back to the RE070's.

But it would be nice to find them in the 235 width instead of the 225.

All the parts you are running are quality on a quality car, get yourself up to Tracktive Solutions, Litchfields, RCM or another reputable tuner and get the set up looked at and it will make a world of difference :thumb:

I changed from 17" to 18" wheels (from Dunlops > Ultrac's) and the car was very twitchy under acceleration & braking, quick alignment set up at Tracktive Solutions and the car was spot on :thumb:

Lee.

I purchased the car from Iain Litchfield so as he knows the car, I think it best to take it to him.

But will it not be Powerstation that does it for Litchfield?

No mate, the Powerstation>Litchfields team work split a while ago, personally I would advise going to see Ian and not Powerstation :thumb:

OK mate, thanks for that info, I will call Iain now. :thumb:

I have exactly the same issue when i drive my RA after coming from my every day car a Mitsubishi Shogun. You have to remember to drive with ur finger tips in them becoz of the racks. and the low profile tyres compaired with the ballons on the 4x4s. It sounds silly but i know exactly what u mean.

If you need to set the coilovers to full hard for the car to be stable then something's a miss.
Definetely check the alignment first and take it from there.
Maybe you have a leak from one of the shocks and that's why you need to set them to the hardest to compromise?
I remember someone was saying that the Contis become very hard after 1 year of use and let go unpredictably but if yours are new it doesn't make sense.
Do you loose grip on the front on the dry or is what you describe on wet/damp roads?

To be fair the handling is not as bad as I thought, I think it was more of the fact that I was used to driving the Range Rover which had the most unresponsive steering I have ever experienced, while the Spec C is on the other end of the spectrum, it is VERY sensitive.

After driving around for a few days I think I have got a little more accustomed to the Spec C's sensitivity, I am sure than once I drive even more, I will appreciate its sensitivity.

But yes, the tyres are still an issue, they are not progressive at all and give no warning of grip loss, it just happens. This is in the wet, I have not had an opportunity to try them in the dry as the roads round here take a while to dry out after the rain has let up for a few days.

I am taking the car up to Powerstation when I can find the time as the alignment needs sorting.

Cheers :)

If you go back to one of the first posts I ever wrote on Scoobynet, it was just after buying my Spec C from Litchfields, I asked a very similar question to yours here! Looking back, for me it was a matter of just getting used to how very different the handling was & later to discover that, "different" was actually "amazing" handling. It just took a little while to adjust to it & learn its immense capabilities. That was my experience but it may not be yours!

https://www.scoobynet.com/driving-dy...nt-wheels.html

Will be virtually impossible as Jap only spec. I got some 2nd hand from a member on here when I had my Spec C a few years back - my fav ever tyre!

TX.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/235%2f45-17-YO...653815ffe6632c

These Terminator?

Thanks for the link. Yes, after reading your thread it seems that I am experiencing similar handling characteristics as you.

I have been driving the car a lot recently and I am only beginning to grasp the way it handles, I need to be a little less fearful of applying the power during the bend.

I am used to driving rear wheel drive cars and planting the accelerator when midway round a corner is a no no unless you want to go sideways.

I will be going on a driver training day when the weather warms up, I really need to find out where this cars limits are.


I have a friend who lives in Japan, he speaks their lingo so I might be able to sort something out.

Those are the AD08's they are widely available in 235 width, its the RE070's that are hard to get here in the UK.

http://bbs.22b.com/cgi-bin/ultimateb...;f=34;t=002578

;)

http://www.tyre-shopper.co.uk/ts/sea...de=2354517YK2W

10% off four or more !

dunx

On the coil overs have you set them the same dampening front and back?

I have BC Coilovers on a 2005 JDM STI so wont be a million miles away from you have. With Vred tyes on.

I have set mine 10 clicks from hard to soft front and 12 clicks back, its firm but day today livable.

I have tried setting it equal damping front and back before and the results weren't good.

Vash

You not sold this boat yet ? :D