Hey, I was wondering what some of the big autocrossers on here are running suspension and tire wise. The big questions I have is whether coilovers are worth the extra money over springs? and is a full coilover setup, like tein ss, better than the ground control sleeve kit?
Being a 2nd gen I am somewhat more limited on options, but here is what I run..with some success
Springs: Eibach pro-kit
Struts/shocks: Koni Yellow
Sway bar: Stock front 30mm, Addco 26mm rear
Wheels: 15x7 Kosei K1 (weigh about 13lbs each)
Tires: 225/50/15 Kumho V710 (serious R-comp that can't really be driven on the street)
Polyurethane control arm, sway bar and end link bushings
Alignment: Camber -2.5deg front, -1.5 rear
Toe: neutral front and rear
If I had the option of coilovers, Tein would be a very good choice, and yes good coilovers are a much better option that just drop springs
CACC BC Region - DSP
http:www.victoriamotorsports.ca
to get more understeer or oversteer out of the setup, do you just mess with tire pressure and shock settings, or do you get your alignment re-done frequently?
what are some good sites or books to read about how to setup your car for autox?
-Front and rear Addco 1" Swaybars
-H&R Springs
-KYB AGX struts (3in front 7 in rear)
-Poly Control arm bushings
-Poly lower motor mount
-4-2-1 Arospeed (RKsport style) header
-AEM Cold Air intake
-Thermal Research Catback exhaust
-2.3 degrees negative camber in the front
-0 toe (I adjust it to toe out at the autocross, just 1/2 turn and mark with fingernail polish or paint so it gets set back correctly at the end of the day. chalk works well if its not raining)
I use RT-615 tires 205/50R15 on the stock rims for the autocross and daily drive on 215/45R17 BFG G-force sports.
Plans:
15x7 Kosei rims like oldsckoolz has you can pick them up for around 350 used.
Tein Super Streets
On a side note my car is on RAILS..... I LOVE IT.
-Chris
how is the understeer/oversteer situation? How long have you had the agx's with the h&r's? How are they holding up? If you get tein ss, i will probably buy the h&r's and agx's from ya.
slight amount of oversteer. I've autocrossed roughly 5 times this year already with the H&R's and AGX's. Daily driving with them now for about 5 months without problems.
-Chris
97redGT wrote:to get more understeer or oversteer out of the setup, do you just mess with tire pressure and shock settings, or do you get your alignment re-done frequently?
what are some good sites or books to read about how to setup your car for autox?
I mostly play with the shocks and tire pressures. Even on a stock car, tire pressures can change the handling quite a bit.
CACC BC Region - DSP
http:www.victoriamotorsports.ca
Thanks guys, this gives me some ideas when i get some cash to buy parts with.
its not only the parts.. its the driver and how you set up the car.
i have tokico d-specs .5 in front & 7 in rear... for autox only
addco 1" rear sway bar
front and rear strut tower bars
front subframe brace
engine and tranny eurthane mounts
control arm urethane bushings
and pro-kit springs
last year i was running Falken GR-B 451 tires.... they were my daily tires on my 17"s and they were great.. but even though i had all thes mods and my car was quick.. i was was still slower than any car that was using R compound tires.
IMO your first investment should be 15"rims with Rcompound tires. i have drivin my friends cav and he had them on his car... let me tell you that your whole driving feel is completely different. Lern the car with the R compounds first.. then add the suspension mods.
See, I have always heard that R-compounds hide your driving mistakes. Because of that, I was planning on going through at least 1 set of azenis before getting r's
My setup(similar to rascal):
-Front and rear Addco 1" Swaybars
-Rear tie bar
-H&R Springs
-KYB AGX struts (4/8 on race day)
-Poly Control arm bushings
-Camber Plates with -1.8 camber
-Hoosier R3S04 tires
My setup is neutral. I love it. If you are starting out, I would spend more money on driving schools than your car. A cavalier is not going to be competitive at the state or national level, no matter how much money you throw into it.
how does changing the shock settings affect handling? Also, how about changing the tire pressures?
Shock settings are tricky. Usually you want them to be as stiff as possible without causing your tires to loose traction when going over bumps. They can be used to adjust handling characteristics as well. A stiff front and a soft rear will cause your front tires to loose traction first (understeer) and a soft front and stiff rear will do the opposite(in my experience).
Tire pressures should ideally be adjusted so that you are wearing on the very edge of the wear indicator. This is the point of maximum traction. Chalk your tires if you are unsure of where your tires are wearing. If you are autocrossing a cavalier on factory suspension you will want to raise the rear tire pressure to ~50-60psi so that the rear tires are more likely to break traction and point your front end in the right direction. The stock suspenion will severly understeer and you are compensating for that by limiting your rear traction.
I noticed your post in the suspension forum about autox setups. Once again, I would highly suggest that you wait to install any parts on your car, as frustrating as it can be. If you feel you have to do something, start with your brakes. Installing a nice suspension without any driving experience will mask your driving mistakes. Racing tires will have the same effect.
brakes are done already. Powerslots with ebc green stuf. I think I have decided to get wheels and tires first, then work on completing the suspension. I am really just trying to gather as much information about setting the car up as I can so that when I do buy more suspension goodies, I will get something that will work well for me and be able to dial it in.
Spend your money on driving schools first. Racing on regular street tires is a good thing because they will let you know when you are making a mistake.
Zach how do you like 1.8degrees I'm running around 2.3 degrees negative and get even heat readings on my tires using RT-615's
-Chris
I don't have a pyrometer, but the tire wear and handling are both good. I have to rotate my street tires a lot though
Im on RK Sport Pro Street Coilovers, and 17's with fuzion zri's i am looking into some falkens after i get some 18's for daily driving.
I guess I have a similar setup to some of the other guys,
Ground control coilovers
Koni Yellows
Eibach front and rear sway bars
front and rear strut bars
BFGoodrich Gforce kdw tires (for street and track)
tire pressures ~45psi
soon to have front camber plates and poly bushings for the control arms
If I were going to do it again, I would go with the Tein setup.
The car handles pretty neutrally, just a little oversteer.
Like everyone else is saying, driving school will make you faster for less money, but if you really want to do stuff to your car, the biggest change I noticed was with tires, followed by the sway bars.
I looked into driving schools, and I'm pretty sure they are all done before I get home from school and have my car (early june). Really, this post was more informative so I could learn about car setup
rascal and oldschool - what are you guys running your tire pressures at?
On the V710's I usually run 40-42psi front, 38-36 psi rear depending on conditions
CACC BC Region - DSP
http:www.victoriamotorsports.ca
People still autocross JBodies??
Lightweight honDuhs can kiss my fat Crapalier a$$
A new autoX ride for '08.....
^^^^ i looked at that pic... you still hitting cones lol
