danwhiley Posted March 13, 2002 Share Posted March 13, 2002 Newbie to batting round a track seeks advice on set-up: I've taken my lovely new shiny Caterham (1.6K, de-dion, 2002 spec) out to Bentwaters for a bit of "real driving" and when the grin died down a few days later, I decided to check out how she'd coped. Interesting to note was that the wear on the front tires was not insignificant (hurrah, at least I wasn't pitifully slow!) but was mostly concetrated at the inside (i.e. nearest to the nosecone). Now I guess that this might be because of a couple of things: 1) The tracking needs sorting - does wear on the inside indicate too much toe-in? (or toe-out? the more I try to think about it logically, the more confused I get) 2) The camber is set too high and I either need to reduce static camber so that the wheels are sitting flatter (Reduce negative camber?) or just drive a shed load faster round the corners in an attempt to roll the car more and so get the wheels perpendicular to the road. or, I suppose... 3) My driving technique is shot to pieces and I should just give up right now (hopefully not No. 3) Any experts got any thoughts / suggestions on what might be the issue, or other ways to check things out? I was running about 26psi on the front for most of the day. Cheers, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robmar Posted March 13, 2002 Share Posted March 13, 2002 Dan - what tyre size, make and model are you running 26 sounds quite high for any IMO rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danwhiley Posted March 13, 2002 Author Share Posted March 13, 2002 Tyres are unfortunately set by the Caterham Academy regs as Avon CR322s - 185/70 R13 86T I beleive. Even Derek says they're pants.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin H Posted March 13, 2002 Share Posted March 13, 2002 Tyres pressures are about right (assuming that the handling is similar to a Vauxhall Academy/Graduate car). In the dry, 26-30 is about right on tracks, in the wet, drop by 2 or 3 psi. On my car, wear is pretty even across the tyre, so sounds like could be too much toe-in (Oops - no, wrong, meant to say toe-out! See below!). One other possible to bear in mind - I find that I get disproportionate wear to the inside of the front tyres when driving in a straight line (i.e. on the road), because of the camber. If I stick to tracks, wear is even. Do you drive on the road much? The Avon tyres may not be ultra grippy, but they are fun as a result, and excellent for those of us on a very tight racing budget! Edited by - Martin H on 14 Mar 2002 17:45:50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyedwardc Posted March 13, 2002 Share Posted March 13, 2002 Dan,I think the above is a bit of a bum steer from Martin, if the tyres are wearing more on the inside edge it's too much toe OUT that could be the problem! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted March 13, 2002 Share Posted March 13, 2002 if the car is new did you build it or caterham if it was you did you take the car to get tracking done if it was caterham is it done wright i think gary is right get it all checked again the car is now settled in idea.gif fredid=blue> smile.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danwhiley Posted March 13, 2002 Author Share Posted March 13, 2002 It was built by Caterham Midlands, and I've been told it was set up with toe-out for racing. I'm planning a service & flat-floor in the near future to sort all the suspension issues out now that it's had a bit of time on the road and a shake-down on the track. Is it worth me swapping front & back tyres to get a bit more even wear all round, or even having the left and right tyres swapped from one rim to the other so that I don't run out of tread on one half of the tyre with lots left on the other side? Can anyone see any problems with handling that might emerge from this scenario? Thanks for the advice above - all very informative. Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted March 13, 2002 Share Posted March 13, 2002 DAN ITS ALL DOWN TO MILAGE if you are getting it set up soon ie next few miles thats ok if not you will bugger all the tyres up swapping around spend what £20-25 pounds and at least set the tracking fredid=blue> smile.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danwhiley Posted March 14, 2002 Author Share Posted March 14, 2002 Thanks folks - I'm going to try and get the tracking sorted asap. Now of course, the next question is: Can anyone recommend anywhere good for getting tracking set in West London (I live in Shepherds Bush)? Preferably by someone who knows what a Seven is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin H Posted March 14, 2002 Share Posted March 14, 2002 Oops blush.gif Toe out - that's what I meant!!!!! Sorry........ Will now go and write 100 times - "I must not try to give people advice on Tech Talk"......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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