I’ve been trying to wrap my tiny brain around how to tune and I’m just getting more and more confused the more I get into it. I’ve been using some of gtFOOTw’s open source tunes (pretty much all of his B class tunes) and I’ve been able to drive them pretty well. The problem is that they are no where near what I would have done so I’m just wondering what you all do for a base tune. I’ve used the Three Minute Tune formula and got some very drivable cars out of it, but nowhere near some of the other open source stuff that is getting me much better results. A prime example is the Mitsubishi Evo. I tuned it on my own a while back using some basic formulas that I found on here because I saw a lot of people using it in lobbies with great success. My tune couldn’t touch anyone. I tried FOOT’s tune on it and I won four straight races and by a considerable margin! So, either the formulas don’t work or I’m using them wrong…I guess. ??
One thing that totally eludes me is how to calculate springs. I was using some of the math that I’ve found on here with reasonable results (Weight/2 X front/back %) but I’m noticing that the numbers that I come up with are vastly different than the tunes that I’m finding.
Next thing is that I see that ARBs, Springs, Damping and maybe some other stuff all have some say in over/under steer. How do you know which to adjust when testing??
I’m pretty good at getting the tires to be around 32-33 PSI. I’m not bad with brakes. I can set the final drive of my transmission pretty close to where I want it. I’ve found that if my wheels are spinning a ton or sliding out on turns I can fix it a little with down force (not sure if this is the best way but it stabilizes the car a bit for me). So, maybe I’ve made a little progress in these areas (although I’m sure there’s a lot that I’m missing still).
There’s a ton that I just don’t know where to start, and more importantly, WHY! Camber, I’m just adding 2.0 (negative) to the default and that seems ok (not sure how to test camber). Caster, I haven’t figured out really how this effects my ride but I’m usually on the high side - 5.5 and up. Toe I usually leave at 0.0 unless I notice a specific tune that says otherwise. No idea where to begin setting ARBs. Damping I’m told stiff rebound and soft bump so I do that. Differential…yeah, no idea. Some have told me to set Accel high and Decel low. The Three Minute Tune says a flat rate of 9/27 is the way to go. What’s going on there??
I’ve read through a ton of posts about beginner tuning but I’m still not seeing it. Like I said, I can use the little formulas to get a reasonable ride but it doesn’t tell me why I’m doing this stuff. It’s just data entry. I am left with no tools to tweak these tunes because I don’t know where the problems are or the opportunities for fine tuning.
I know you’re probably sick of all the noobs on here trying to pick your brain, so I apologize for yet another “How Do I Tune” post.