kbmwm3

In answer to your question about trail braking - it depends on the car and the track turn configuration whether it is a benefit or not. Like some other very fast people have said before - most people who trail brake use their brakes too much.
In tight manuevers - usually not a benefit - in open high speed turns - can work well.

First we must learn to drive the car at the limit - before we start modifying - then after we can turn laps back to back winthin a couple of tenths - then modify car to suit your driving style.

Yes - factory aligned car are set to understeer for safety. Get a performance alignment and go have fun.

Slow in - fast out is the golden rule
Do not fight the car - work with it

The biggest mistake people make driving is not using their brakes enough and early enough.
Slow in the slow sections and fast in the fast sections.
Easy to say - sometimes hard to learn.
Learn and you will be smoothe and fast.

Good luck,
Keith
JFF Racing

RoadRacer

...a lot of great information here. The only time I trailbrake is when i'm racing karts.

Here is my experience with fwd and understeer.
I ran a big rear bar on my Scirocco, no bar up front, race springs, Bilsteins, 3 deg neg camber up front, toyo ra-1's and seat time. I would not recommend that set-up on the street. The Scirocco was a track only car and I was very comfortable in that car.

In your case, I would recommend better tires, a rear anti-sway bar and seat time.

Patrick

krekavhts

Speaking from the side of an FWD guy I can say that yes tires can help, but only to a point. I have been through the whole deal of a stock car with shit tires, then good tires, then rear bar, then bigger better tires with lighter wheels then too real suspension, then to race tires. I have an Integra and that bastard understeered something fierce when I started. Granted I didn't know what I was doing, but once I learned I found that once I started understeering, even with a reinforced massive rear bar, I couldn't stop.

The wheel and tires didn't help that, I was simply over driving and the car couldn't rotate. However Springs and struts made all the difference. Understeer means you have over driven a corner and lost the capacity to decelerate and turn, however by significantly increasing the stiffness of the suspension I found that I was able to correct for this issue with a quick jab of the brakes. It would un-settle the rear end just enough to rotate. Many times this ended in a spin but once I got used to it the results were fantastic. Hell even RWD guys spun the shit out of the car, JIM, but regardlesss it made a much bigger difference in my opinion than tires.

However I would have never understood that without the long transition period of building up a car over 2.5 years. To be fair though its still not that competitive for STS. To damn heavy and not enough power.

mrf582

you mean tires are NOT the only things on the car that make a difference in handling?




i keed i keed!



of course they only help to a point. otherwise nobody would bother with the suspension. they would just get the best tire and call it a day.

krekavhts

Think that up all by yourself

Chriskory

if you got a set of azenis, you would not be restricted in entry speed
thats the most important thing you can do, it wont give the cool stance coilovers will
but if you plan on being faster, its the only thing that needs modification

the rest is driver

there is so much to learn on stock suspension, stick with it for a while
you'll appreciate the shift to a sports suspension later

perdition79

get some adjustable struts, set the front to full firmness, and pump them front tires up to 47 psi. my neon oversteers when you lift off the gas mid-corner. it can swing u-turns better than my camaro now.