Well I literally could spend the entire weekend trying to tune one car… and sometimes I end up in the wrong direction and have to start over, so I appreciate the knowledgeable helping me out.
From what I read under the descriptions I can use springs to affect oversteer or understeer and I can also use anti roll bars. I was wondering if there’s a time that one is to be used versus the other. Maybe I’m getting oversteer when I lift or under braking vs oversteer when I’m coming out of the turn under the power.
Also, does it differ by car (engine mount/weight bias front or back) or drive type (fwd, rwd, awd) as well or is there a pretty standard use this when this happens kind of answer?
Any and all answers, opinions, and input greatly appreciated. Thanks everybody.
Anti-roll bars are for your left to right body roll. added note: if you’re losing control of your car when hitting a rumble strip it could be from your front anti-roll being too stiff.
Springs are for your acceleration and deceleration body movement.
Rear springs for acceleration and front for deceleration.
Engine mount matters because a front engine will need more front spring than a mid or rear engine because of the added weight while braking.
While a Porsche will need more rear spring than front because it’s very light in the front.
Oversteer when lifting off the gas comes from you Acceleration Differential setting.
first question to ask yourself is, is over-steer caused by the gas pedal? [yes] fix your diff.
second question to ask yourself is, does the car roll excessively? [no] soften springs and arb [yes] stiffen springs and arb.
you can also fine tune your high speed over-steer by increasing the rear rebound very small adjustments.
I’m having a tough time getting “tire scrub” or chirping out of some of my cars. But, I also think that it could be a build issue going with say…race weight reduction instead of race compound tires. On the positive side those 5.7L are no longer an option on my old mopars. I hated put the engine in instead of running the 426. If you are a mopar guy, you know what I mean
You’ll probably get your moneys worth out of the game just figuring out the best build. Then, hey, all you have to do is tune it. Lol. These guys will help you but they aint giving it all away. I’ll finish a car then post up in here and ask someone to drive it and tell me what they think. It’s not always easy watching your 3 - 4 hours worth of work get picked apart. But, its constructive criticism and you learn from it.
I was thinking of building a car and asking for feedback…but i’ll wait for now. Still trying to take in as much info as possible. With me,that’s not easy. I have a memory like a goldfish. I would not mind my 3+ hours of work getting picked at,at all. I wouldn’t want anyone to sugar-coat anything feedback wise. I wouldn’t learn the same otherwise. I can take it on the chin.
I’m working on writing a building guide and tuning guide. It probably won’t be put on this forum or any forum, because of an issue in the past. Although the issue has been taken care of, so we’ll see.
“Im working on writing a building guide and tuning guide. It probably won’t be put on this forum or any forum, because of an issue in the past. Although the issue has been taken care of, so we’ll see.”
If this is a shareable endeavor, I would greatly appreciate the read!
I know where you are coming from. This is where a lot of the confusion starts with me also. Which in the end makes you adjust too much confusing you even further.
Some great replies in this thread. Time to note these tips down.
Engine mount does make a difference as does wheelbase, weight, tire choices, power output, gearboxes (yes they do. Some cars behave better with stock other behave better with sport others behave better with the race box)
Generally if you’re having issues off the throttle and on the brakes with oversteer increase your DECEL lock not acel lock as someone wrongly pointed out above. If you try matching your acel to decel lock you’ll have a pretty stable balance on/off/balance throttle.
Use your springs to deal with lack of grip on turn in, braking and acceleration, rebound and bump to deal with grip on bumpy tracks or hilly tracks never setting the bump above 50% of the rebound or you’ll wind up with a pogo stick on wheels.
ARBs for cornering entry to exit. Stiffer front generates understeer, stiffer rear creates progressive oversteer.
Tire pressures to deal with temps and grip along side suspension. Softer front= less responsive faster heating improved front end grip.
Softer rear will push through the corner, slow oversteer thanks to extra movement in the tyre, smooth rear over bumps and generate better bite off the line and turns but may decrease acel legation slightly.
Higher caster will create a shopping trolley effect great for less responsive car not so much for the rest. Lower caster will give you a less responsive front end more along towards a skateboard.
Your shouldn’t need any toe
Camber should be set to temps are fairly even if slightly hotter inside than out as you want the biggest contact patch in the corners to produce maximum grip.
Springs = to support the car primarily in straight line acceleration, deceleration (100% springs, 0% ARB)
ARB = extra support to the car while steering is NOT straight (mid corner ~= 70% springs, 30% ARB)
The powered side needs to have slightly softer springs, about 5~10% less than default.
Front ARB is stiffer than the front in most cases.
If the front bounces off the curb when the tire touches it (understeer), then lower the front. If you have hard time touching the apex, you might have severe understeer (front ARB too stiff)
IF the rear bounces off the curb when the tire touches it (oversteer), then lower the rear. If the car oversteers badly with throttle lift, the rear ARB is too stiff (assuming rear diff is set-up perfectly).
Once stable, that’s the safe balance. Then lower/raise to your liking for slower/faster response & compliance to track irregularities.
For simplicity, I tune in increment of 1.0. I have hard time feeling +/- 1.0 so anything smaller is kind of pointless for me; especially when the ARB range is from 1.0 ~ 40.0.
