Handling Characteristics Of The V Coupe?

[rs88]

It seems like the V is pretty tail happy... oversteers a lot.. ! I installed Stillen Sway bars over the Christmas period.. took out on a drive.. and it has improved a lot .. less slip.. Front - Soft, Rear - Medium...

However.. I'm still not happy or confident..

I always feel like the tail is going to slip driving in full auto going into fast corners (55km/h)..... Engaging the manual mode however brings back the traction.... but.. I shouldn't have to do that..

Setup Front 245/30 R20, Rear 275/30 R20 - ATR Achilles Sport tyres.. still has plenty of tread..

What do you guys think?

[Seano350GT]

What year is your car? I'm guessing it's the open diff. Since you have an auto that's what you've got i do beleive, someone correct me if i'm wrong.

The 6mt car with the "sports kit" 18's and brembos have a VLSD which is better for tracking/cornering and also stops you from doing the 1 pegger burnouts. That's briefly what i know about diffs, definitely not a strong point so if any of that is incorrect someone chime in that knows exactly how diffs work.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Seano350GT

[PN-Mad]

Ching chong spec tyres is what I think.

Either get some decent rubber under you (and yes it will cost a fortune because of your choice of wheels) OR

Go to front hard, and rear soft on the swaybars, to promote more understeer bias.

[Seano350GT]

I've got ATR sports too, 225/35/20 255/35/20 with no swaybars and i seem to be able to corner reasonably well but i wouldn't say it's good.

[sonicii]

I have found mine a bit tail happy in the wet.. in the dry it is fine as long as you don't go silly with the loud pedal..

tightening up the rear suspension with sway bars will only make it worse if you don't also do the front by at least as much. I am guessing the stillen sway bars may be adjustable? If so, maybe try making the front 'medium' and the rear 'soft', and see how it goes.

[zei20l]

try removing those massive and heavy wheels and go back to a 17" or 18" with decent rubber.

standard V chassis should handle well

[rs88]

Hmm.. you got me thinking Seano350GT .. its a 03 V35 with orange stitching on the steering wheel.. which according to research, must be the sports pack. Which also means I should have the VLSD.. ?

Sounds like the consensus boils down to Tyres.. I bought the car a year and a bit ago.. and it came with those 20" .. I must say it looks good .. but I'm after handling..

The Stillens are adjustable.. that was why I set to Front Soft and Rear Medium cut down oversteer .. but you guys are suggesting increasing understeer at the same time ..?

[180 wanabe]

I find that the chassis handles pretty well, for the most part I have run 245 on the front and 285 on the back with 19" rims using Federal tyres which whilst not the most expensive seem to hold the road just as well as the Kumo KU19's I had on before. Kicking the tail out for me is predictable although I noticed its a lot easier to do with 245 compliance rubber on the back combined with the transgo shift kit

[PN-Mad]

Back to suspension school Sonny

swaybars-

soft front, hard rear= oversteer bias

Hard front, soft rear = understeer bias.

Try it out - see if you prefer / feel more confident with a different bar setting. If your after handling, bye bye 20's. Back to 18s with some quality rubber, and sort out the handling with a proper suspension set up.

[Daleo]

Hmm.. you got me thinking Seano350GT .. its a 03 V35 with orange stitching on the steering wheel.. which according to research, must be the sports pack. Which also means I should have the VLSD.. ?

Sounds like the consensus boils down to Tyres.. I bought the car a year and a bit ago.. and it came with those 20" .. I must say it looks good .. but I'm after handling..

The Stillens are adjustable.. that was why I set to Front Soft and Rear Medium cut down oversteer .. but you guys are suggesting increasing understeer at the same time ..?

It's a relative increase; it's not like the car will understeer more than it did before.

What Alex is referring to is changing the BALANCE to more of an understeer than oversteer bias.

Using a heavy rear ARB will increase low speed understeer markedly.

If you are chasing handling at all; you are wasting your time with 20's on this car.

You have no sidewall flex to absorb impact or surface change and the tyre just bashes around going all over the place.

Go back to a 19" and get some sidewall. Also, use a decent quality tyre; just because they're wide, doesn't automatically make them grippy.

It wouldn't be a bad thing to get some Super Pro compression rod bushes (Strut Rod bushes) with additional caster; this will drastically reduce the inherent understeer once you start pushing hard.

This will allow you to use your adjustable ARB's effectively.

Back to suspension school Sonny

swaybars-

soft front, hard rear= oversteer bias

Hard front, soft rear = understeer bias.

Try it out - see if you prefer / feel more confident with a different bar setting. If your after handling, bye bye 20's. Back to 18s with some quality rubber, and sort out the handling with a proper suspension set up.

You speak the truth my good man.

[FlyingEL]

Ditch those crap tyres and you will be smiling. Crap tyre gives you crap handling. That what I did.

[rs88]

Thanks Guys... Looks like I'm a noob at this. Only starting to learn about performance/handling .. Hypothetical situation ... Same Good Tyres all round.. which one better? 20" has more surface contact = more traction Vs more bounce/compression with 19" sidewall... ?

[(Locky)]

the internal diamiter of the rim has no impact on the contact area area if the correct profile tyre is on

But the smaller profile (ala 25 profile on a R20) will have a adverse affect as it is less compliant so the suspension has to do more work to keep contact... In no situation when your running a tinyt profile will a 20 have more traction than a 19.. Why do you think drag cars have huge profile tyres. But too high and there is adverse lateral handling effects due to sidewall flex. Its about a blalance, But for a V chassis in no way is a 20in tyre with 25 profile going to be better than the same in a 19 with more sidewall on a V chassis IMO

Idealy im guessing a 18in wheel with a 45 profile (or 40 is its like a 265 to keep a similar rolling diamiter as the profile is a percentage of the width) would be optimal for a V35

Edited January 2, 2013 by (Locky)

[rs88]

Thanks Locky. I forgot about the correctly profiled tyres doesn't change the contact area.

Can anyone shed some light on VLSD? I'm trying to figure out if my auto 2003 V has it. Other than the orange stitching on the steering wheel, I have no other way to tell visually.

I read with VLSD, both rears would spin? W/o VLSD .. only the right will?

[PN-Mad]

Jack up rear of car under diff. Car in neutral, handbrake off (do it somewhere the car won't move obviously).

Turn a wheel (by hand), if the other rear spins the opposite way = open diff. Spins the same way when your friend puts some pressure slowing down the wheel, VLSD.

At this stage it doesn't matter too much. There are a lot of people out there with good handling cars that don't have VLSDs.

[(Locky)]

Lsd does stop it single pegging out of the corner so you can get on the power earlier

Probably the best mod I did on my old n.a. s13

[Seano350GT]

rs88 you have an open diff, from what i have read in the 03-04's ONLY the manuals had a VLSD. Do a bit more research though i could have read some lies.

[sonicii]

Thanks Guys... Looks like I'm a noob at this. Only starting to learn about performance/handling .. Hypothetical situation ... Same Good Tyres all round.. which one better? 20" has more surface contact = more traction Vs more bounce/compression with 19" sidewall... ?

Only tyre pressure and weight on the wheel impact contact patch area.. tyre width, diameter or profile have no impact on contact patch size.

[rs88]

Thanks Guys.. only way to find out if my V has VLSD is to jack it up. Looks like I should get better tyres. I'm so used to 17"s with Goodyear F1 with my old Maxima/Subarus.. and the V's handling is shocking .. I initially thought the ATRs was decent .. not great or good.. but decent..

If I persist with 20"s.. what tyres suggestions? Falken Fk452s? Kumko Ku13 or others?

[t5iv]

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