Hi Guys, I thought it would be useful for guys who use there Zed's on the track to share their experiences of different Suspension Geometry / Setup's. I know John at UAS has done a lot of work in this area, knowledge which I'm sure we could all benefit from.
my setup was for street and drift. Brakes front TT calipers with big brake adapters. 324mm RDA slitted rotors EBC greenstuff pads rear RDA slotted rotors EBC greenstuff pads Fronts 17x9" +20 offets with 235/45 Federal 595's Tein flex coilovers set to full stiff Adjustable camber arms 3 degrees camber Adjustable rose jointed toe rods Strut Brace Rear 17x10.5" +25 with 255/45 Federal 595's Tein Flex Coilovers set to full stiff adjustable camber arms 0.5 degrees camber Strut Brace With Shimmed diff i found that i had a stack of understeer, after shimming the diff it was worse (duh) the back didnt have a tendance at all to swing out unless i tapped the handbrake. little to no body roll with the car responsing well to any steering movements.
Maybe you could soften up the rebound on your Tein Flex up front, having them fully wound up will increase understeer. Also you don't have adjustable Sways like Whiteline's or Stillen's? You can adjust the preload on them to make the car push to the outside a bit more on the rear with them if that's what you're looking for.
On the MR2oc.com forum they recommend 8-10 degrees of front castor to help with turn-in. New model M3's and AMG's apparently come standard with approximately that amount of positive castor. Camber will help with mid-corner stability more than turn-in, so keep that in mind.
Have a look at page 9 in the motorsport section on the UAS site, info there. http://www.uniqueautosports.com.au/
Just picked my Zed up ready for the race on Sunday Am running in the Targa Time Attack at AHG in Perth on Sunday, had my UAS front camber arms fitted today by WA Suspension so looking forward to seeing how they go. Setting are: Front Left Front Right Camber -3.8 -3.8 Caster 10.1 9.4 Toe -1.0mm -1.0mm Rear Left Rear Right Camber -1.6 -1.7 Toe 0.5mm 0.4mm Race is 3 runs of the road circuit, 1 lap is 1km+ and its 3 laps per run.
Awesome, sounds like WA Suspension did a proper job, wish you all the best, keep everyone posted on how all these changes affect the car I'm pretty curious!
Suspension settings and new UAS front camber arms worked really well. Quit Targa West Winner 2009 (GTR35 Full Race Spec + Fulltime Pro Driver) - 175 seconds (3 laps) I ran 202 seconds for my 3 laps. Worked out the GTR35 was about 9 seconds a lap quicker. At present I'm not running light weight wheels and am running medium quality semi slicks but not R comp tyres and the Zed is an N/A so all things considered I'm pretty happy with the results of the race. Light weight wheels and r comp tyres next on the list + new upgrade brake package.
Most would be faster by raising their cars as without changing roll centre geometry in the car you go backwards lowering it. Looks good and what most don't want to hear but....
My car handled far better with a clost to stock ride height. Thats not stopping me from lowering the car even more.
Exactly as it transfers weight better, and less sudden, basically more mechanical grip. Plus absorbs bumps better as it shouldn't bottom out as can do if too low. Problem is most people think it must be good as theylook at V8 Supercars, or highly modified race cars like mine, which have a very low static height, but have had major surgery done to have suspension pivot points raised. So roll centre is higher and correct height with the car lowered. My car is low yet higher than some other zeds I have seen with stock set up. It looks good and better in some ways as lower centre of gravity and better aero, although BAD for roll centre which is way too low and often bad for shocks as they can bottom out and can get damaged especially if not coil over?s with adjustable bases.
Sage words indeed John. I have been familarising myself on this topic from a manual written by Fred Puhn.
Yip low & heavy = bad Mine sits with very flat lower arms with just myself in there, add another person ~ 70Kgs and it sits just that little bit lower. The extra weight & the change in angles on the lower arms creates massive body roll in comparison to just by myself. As the fuel tank empties there is less roll also - but this is as much lack of grip in the rear as less mass etc. Examples: Start of day full gas tank two people on board: Nearing the end of the day low on gas & flying solo: Very near the same speed
Japtek lower control arms Anyone else here purchased these for their track car? Some fairly alarming things found when mine arrived, we got two full sets across knowing full well you get what you pay for & were prepared for some work to make them usable. But after disassembly & sand blasting I found: The threads are loose in the arms - enough that I am concerned they may pull out! (will test prior to use). The quality of tube used in construction is very poor, some of the tubes are porous & others look like they have been left outside for years to rust, then sand blasted & used to make the arms. The quality of the welding is well below par - one arm actually had a complete weld missing! The design of the front arms is very poor, the thread for the main rod end is welded to the main tube & then the weld is ground flush - fine except there is not enough penetration from the weld giving a very poor joint. The outer end of the tube is crushed far to much where it joins to the boss for the spherical bearing, this creates a very weak area that is likely to fold when exposed to heavy loads. I have cleaned up the welds on both sets, added some stiffening to the weak areas on the front arms & painted the arms in black & the other set silver (for my car). I am still not to certain about the threads etc & may actually load test them prior to fitting (put about 1500Kgs tension load on them & see what happens). They are NOT high quality items & we didn't expect them to be but they are bordering on being unusable. Any others got these/ Your thoughts?
Mungyz I have purchased a set of these items for our TT track car and am similarly disappointed with the quality once we had them glass-bead blasted - certainly not what I would have expected. I doubt these would pass an engineering inspection for use in a road car ... I have passed the examples I purchased to a safety engineer (VicRoads accredited) from a formal opinion. We will be inspecting the type of metal used, the weld quality and the quality of the spherical bearings. If the report comes back as I expect, I will be returning the goods for a refund or replacement based on "fit for purpose" provisions under the TPA (Aus Trade Practise Act). Should the inspection result cofirm that the parts are indeed serviceable, I will post that as well. RB
I have a set if these front arms I havent used yet. I will be keen to see what your investigations find. Mine are not to use on the road. But I dont want a wheel falling off on the track either,
Cheers BGTV8 the results would be very much appreciated. I sent an e mail to Japtek and asked: Hi I purchased two full sets of these arms a while ago via paypal. I am in the process of trying to get them certified for use on my road car & have run into a bit of a problem. Apparently our laws have changed a little & things are now a little tougher for getting these types of things approved. I have to answer these questions from the certifying engineer: Do they have any type approvals etc? Have they complied with any ISO standards or suchlike? Am I able to have a receipt to at least show the engineers I purchased these rather than made them myself. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Regards Glenn. The reply was: Hi Glen, These arms were never intended to be used on road. No they have not complied with any ISO standards. Sure, I'll email you a copy friday when i'm back in the office. Helpful enough & replied in good time so no complaint about the service but honestly even after doing pretty much all you could do to strengthen these - I'm worried the wheels are going to fall off the cart Maybe I will chop them up & use the good bits to build my own arms with high quality tube etc, increase the diameter while I'm at it. Mungyz lower arms anyone?
