Do you have confidence with 4 wheel steering when driving quick?

[burnsey]

Gday guys,

I've just purchased another r33 gtst after a good 3 year hiatus.

In just the week or 2 that I've been driving this car I've noticed when on a ..."spirited" drive that i find I have no confidence in the car cornering well and holding it's line when on faster (90kmh++ corners).

I guess I'm worried about a couple of things. The car feels like that back is moving around a lot (obviously the 4ws) and i'm always worried of the fronts washing out and understeering me into the foliage.

I was driving with some mates last night up and over wisemans ferry and they left me for dead. I didn't even get to a stage where i was feeling any lateral Gs I was that uncomfortable...

The car has unknown brand coilovers, 17's with what at low speeds feel like ok tyres.

I also have pretty crappy night vision which never helps...

I guess my question is, you guys with r33's that still have your 4ws, are you used to it and feel confident when driving at a more performance based speed?

I can happily take turn 1 at eastern creek at over 180kms on my bike, so it's not so much the speed that i'm worried about... I guess it's a lot about confidence with the car and having more seat time in it...

Any input will be much appreciated.

Burnsey

[MC033]

I think you just need to get some more confidence in it, i throw mine around pretty hard and living in canberra i just love round-a-bouts some times it gets a bit loose in the tail but that adds to the excitment to driving quick!! if your feeling edgy in it enroll in a driver course probably end up being the best $200 you spent on it.. hope that helps a bit!

[Sydneykid]

HICAS is not your friend, but I would be getting the wheel alignment checked first. It sounds like you may have other issues that are exacerbating the problem:cheers:

[burnsey]

yeah i've got the car booked in for a few things you do when you buy a new car and a wheel allignment should probably be moved up higher in the list.

MC033, Its not so much at round about type speed even the bigger faster round abouts that I have a problem with. I'm quite happy to throw it around at those kinda of speeds as i know that should something go awrye, there's generally a fair bit of time to correct it. Also i thoroughly enjoy large 2nd gear slides on private roads. It's more so at the higherspeed stuff like old princess/pacific hwy's that i loose that confidence...

I'm sure a wheel alignment will be a valuable excercise tho.

Do people really notice the 4ws a lot?

It seems to make the car hug a corner a bit better when your floating along mid-envelope, but when you start to get to the higher ends of that darn envelope, it seems to hurt you a lot more... imho.

Burnsey

[kasanoff]

yeah i'm with you burnsey - that's why i just got one of skylinegeoff's (GTRgeoff's?) HICAS lock bars. going to be fitting it shortly...

turn in is pretty good with HICAS - nice and sharp...but like you said, 90+kph corners and it just wriggle around too much for my liking. i think i prefer a more stable feeling that's for sure...

[Sydneykid]

It seems to make the car hug a corner a bit better when your floating along mid-envelope, but when you start to get to the higher ends of that darn envelope, it seems to hurt you a lot more...  imho.

Burnsey

That's why none of the race GTR's ever ran HICAS, 7/8 tenths no problem but 9/10 tenths and it does not inpsire confidence. None of our Skylines (or Stagea) has HICAS:cheers:

[burnsey]

yeah i'm with you burnsey - that's why i just got one of skylinegeoff's (GTRgeoff's?) HICAS lock bars. going to be fitting it shortly...

turn in is pretty good with HICAS - nice and sharp...but like you said, 90+kph corners and it just wriggle around too much for my liking. i think i prefer a more stable feeling that's for sure...

that's exactly what i'm talking about!

those faster corners just feel like the car is no where...

i'm thinking of taking the car to a whiteline dealer and getting their handling package + hicas lock.

prolly around $1000 with labour and locking...

*sigh*

[Duncan]

I used to run my 33 gtst with HICAS on at the track all the time. While it may not be perfect it isn't a problem with properly sorted suspension, eg 180 in turn 1 at Eastern Creek.....1.52 for a lap on semi slicks isnt bad

[predator]

i think you have further issues than the HICAS.. you should be able to take corners with confidence. Depends how sharp the corners are you're trying to do at 90km/hr+ though really?? A badly setup R33 can feel a bit touch and go though.

HICAS I am sure doesn't help, but its never felt really unsafe to me in itself :confused:

[burnsey]

Wel by 90++ corners i was kinda reffering to corners that you usually can take at well over the speed limit.

At any rate, I'm going to head to wakefield and see how it goes, I feel a lot more confident on a track and knowing where the road will take me over the next rise.

This should give me a good idea if it's all in my head or if there really is some stability issues. Thanks all for your input...

(please say it's all in my head, please say it's all in my head) :chairshot

Thanks again,

Burnsey

[twoquik]

i quiet the opposite i love the feel of the back helping to steer it around, i feel i can go quicker with it. It used to scare me as i thought i was drifting sideways but now i realise im not loosing traction i love it.

[Abo Bob]

Yeah I agree with that. I go to the track all the time and mine is still connected.

[Snowman]

I used to have mine connected and found especially when I was still learning to drive fast that it probably helped me out a little bit.

But then eventually on some places it became a little un-predicatable and scared the crap outta me once or twice. Especially on long sweepers such as found at Phillip Island where you can be travelling at serious speeds and have the car "twitch" a little on you. Brown undies stuff.

So my HICAS is locked now and it's much more predictable.

[burnsey]

Yes, I think predictabilty is the key!

If you are driving at those kinds of speeds, you want to know your car is going to do what you want it to do and what your asking it to do... not throw you a curve ball mid corner and say "here, try and guess what the car is doing now".

To the HICAS locking establishment!

Btw, I'm sure there are some good threads, but any quick recommendations for good suspension places in and around either alexandria or hurstville??

Thanks heaps,

Burnsey

[Sydneykid]

Yes, I think predictabilty is the key!

If you are driving at those kinds of speeds, you want to know your car is going to do what you want it to do and what your asking it to do... not throw you a curve ball mid corner and say "here, try and guess what the car is doing now".

To the HICAS locking establishment!

Btw, I'm sure there are some good threads, but any quick recommendations for good suspension places in and around either alexandria or hurstville??

Thanks heaps,

Burnsey

#1 Heasmans at Sydneham, talk to Doug Heasman

#2 StGeorge Steering at Punchbowl, John Leffler is the man

#3 East Coast Suspension at Kirrawee