Upgrading Suspension For More Track/sprints From Current Bilstein/whiteline

[evil_weevil]

Hey guys,

I currently have the full whiteline kit and the bilstien shocks in my r33 gtst, this is a very good package however getting more into sprints etc, I feel that there may be other options to look at.

Has anyone upgraded their kit? Or added or changed parts?

From last saturday @ superlap, there was alot of understeer. I reduced the front sway bar setting to medium from hard (left rear on medium) however the car still felt unsettled. One bloke was thinking my springs may not be suited - i.e. not stiff enough?

Anyone have any ideas or tips?

I dont know much about my current settings, cept for the front camber was around -1.7 and castor around +3 or 4?

Any other tips or tricks guys?

cheers,

Chris

[ferni]

What tyres are you running? Running semis will need a stiffer setup than streets.

Also more camber and castor is good

[jonosx]

Hey mate,

I would be looking at converting the shocks to height adjustable coilovers and getting the Bilstein shocks revalved to suit more track work.

This gives you access to a much wider range of spring rates, allows the car to be cornerweighted for the best setup.

Both of these are easily achieved and relatively inexpensive. Drop me an email at [email protected] for more info.

As for the alignment that is nowhere near enough camber for the track. More castor wouldnt hurt as well. What were your toe settings?

P.S. I was driving the white S14 in the clubsprint class on the weekend.

Edited July 7, 2008 by jonosx

[bradsm87]

Try hard rear and medium front on the swaybars. Probably only a bandaid fix tho. I was just recently in exactly the same situation. Had the Sydneykid road kit and loved it on the street. I experienced understeer and bottoming out the shocks on the track. I've since installed Tein Mono Flex coilovers and am yet to try them out on the track. So far it seems that the springs are a little too stiff for the shocks and they need to be adjusted almost as high as they can go for them to feel like the shocks match the springs correctly. If money wasn't an oblect, I'd like to replace the 7kg/mm and 5kg/mm spring with 6 and 4.5. Another good option would be the sydneykid track kit which is probably a fair bit better shock than the Tein but doesn't have separate height and preload adjustment.

[e_Dog]

Man so much thought goes into suspension setups doesnt it? Im thinking about upgrading from the stock setup to SK's whiteline/bilstein package, but wondering if i shouldnt just go straight for some coilovers??

Chris if your considering switching the shocks springs, i may be interested in grabbing yours off you and settling for the SK package for now

[Amec]

SOME basic handling rules of thumb:

- stiffen the rear and soften the front to induce oversteer

- increase grip on the front and decrease grip on the rear to induce oversteer

- wider tyres mean more grip

- softer tyres mean more grip

- more negative camber means more grip

- more castor means better turn in

[evil_weevil]

Thanks heaps for the tips guys, appreicate it

Oh, also - I just wanna say I do love the full set up I have, its great on the road, and so far with minimal fun track days its been sweet, now getting more into the sprints I think I may need to look at others.

Ian - I'll let you know which way I go mate

ferni - at superlap I was only on falken 615's for clubsprint however at other days I use r888's so majority of the time out there its now the good semi's haha

jonosx - cheers for the tips mate!

unfort I dont know what the toe settings were

and your s14 looked awesome mate!!

[moobaque]

Try hard rear and medium front on the swaybars. Probably only a bandaid fix tho. I was just recently in exactly the same situation. Had the Sydneykid road kit and loved it on the street. I experienced understeer and bottoming out the shocks on the track. I've since installed Tein Mono Flex coilovers and am yet to try them out on the track. So far it seems that the springs are a little too stiff for the shocks and they need to be adjusted almost as high as they can go for them to feel like the shocks match the springs correctly. If money wasn't an oblect, I'd like to replace the 7kg/mm and 5kg/mm spring with 6 and 4.5. Another good option would be the sydneykid track kit which is probably a fair bit better shock than the Tein but doesn't have separate height and preload adjustment.

Sounds like you are possibly having the same issue i was... until i had some pros look over the setup.. Apparently i wasn't running enough pressure in my tires to allow the mono flex's to do there job. my tires were flexing to much in the sidewalls (im only running street rubber 17's) causing especially my rear end to do a bit of a dance. Now we are running 38 all round (for street anyway) and its amazing the difference. Yes its still a relatively stiff ride but the shox are now doing there thing... keeping the tires to the road

Cheers

Cam

[BHDave]

and your s14 looked awesome mate!!

Have you even cleaned the wheels since you picked them up jono? I'm sure there was still one of my finger prints in black on one of the fronts.

Chris,

Don't write off the current combo just yet. If you still have scope to adjust the bars then do that first. Put the rear on hard and then play with the front until you are happy with the balance. After that you may want to look at bigger bars again before playing with the springs and dampers.

You need more front camber. If the car isn't really street driven i'd look at 2.5-3 degrees up front and 1.5-2 at the back.

You need more caster. Dial in as much as you can with waht you have and make sure it's even both sides.

2mm toe in for the rear, I run 4mm toe out on the front which is probably a bit excessive but it seems to work.

You are also now playing with a mechanical diff which will increase the cars tendancy to want to drive straight. You may need to alter you driving to suit it.

[evil_weevil]

Cheers Dave!

yeah car is hardly driven, got a bluebird and the mrs 323 for daily driving So not worries about tyre wear.

The diff - yeah its a new ball game out there with it now! in my first session I reslised how different it was!

[e_Dog]

Cheers Dave!

yeah car is hardly driven, got a bluebird and the mrs 323 for daily driving So not worries about tyre wear.

The diff - yeah its a new ball game out there with it now! in my first session I reslised how different it was!

What kind of diff you get chris? How much did it set you back? What are your impressions of it?

[T04GTR]

yeah cris. harder isnt faster......

camber and a propper wheel alignment will help. you want to start of with 0 all round. a nd about 1-1.5 degree neg on the back and about 4-4.5 on the front if its tracked.

see waht it does then play with the swaybars.

then after all that then bandaid it with the toe

[evil_weevil]

Ian - pm sent

Dave - yeah cheers man, Im doing some research with it all now bud

[T04GTR]

lol

[evil_weevil]

lol?

[noone]

Add as much caster as possible made the biggest difference both street and track on my 32GTR seemed to help reduce the understeer and associated front tyre wear a heap too

Try it you will like it

[Duncan]

lol