setting up a 7 ?

[RESOLVIWOLF]

Im a bit new to all this so bear with me. Was wondering what are the principal things that owners fiddle with to change the cars balance.. understeer to oversteer etc...

 

Camber, toe, ARBs ????

 

 

regards

 

 

Richard

[ashaughnessy]

What kind of car do you have? Live axle or de-dion? Do you have adjustable front suspension links or fixed? What engine, wheels, tyres, gearbox, etc?

Anthony

[Blatman]

Adjustable AR barsquestion.gif

What make of shocks, and what if any, adjustments are available on themquestion.gif

Does the car behave badly, or are you just itching to scrape your knucklesquestion.gif If it's the latterwink.gif then I'd drive it a bit to see if it has a trait you dislike, then go about resolving it, rather than just altering stuff willy nillyblush.gif

 

[RESOLVIWOLF]

my car is a standard factory SLR

i dont want to change it, just curious as to what can be done and what people fiddle with (and also bored at work ;-) )

 

 

cheers

 

 

 

Rich

[caterhamnut]

most people here seem to fiddle with whatever they can get there hands on...

[caterhamnut]

sorry - more seriously,I would also want to know, what part of set-up is most important for fiddlers? (no violin jokes..)

Oversteer/Understeer? Traction? etc

 

Also bored at work...

 

Edited by - angus&tessa on 15 Apr 2002 17:21:13

[Miraz]

Some pointers here.....here

 

Miraz

[stevefoster]

You could measure toe, camber, castor, corner weights first before you fiddle. I now do all this from the comfort of my own garage...

 

Once all these ok there's tyre pressures and damper ratings to change. ARB's and at the back can be changed. I like mine on 2nd hole from the front.

Not sure if the SLR has an adjustable front ARB?

 

[Alex Wong1697456877]

Rich,

 

On a standard SLR, you can adjust front camber, castor and toe. At the rear, you can change camber by using different dedion ears (the flat metal bit between the hub and de dion tube) and vary the anti rollbar setting. Rear camber is normally set to suit a certain type of tire - eg 1.5deg Neg for radials and 0.5 deg -ve for crossplys. If you have adjustable platforms on your shock absorbers you can adjust ride height and have your car "flat floored" (essentially setting the car up to be flat with you on board). I've heard this makes a big difference but I've never tried it. Apparently varying front and rear rideheight has a dramatic effect on handling balance.

 

Stiffening the rear ARB gives less understeer and more oversteer - this is adjusted by positioning the links further forwards on the bar. Front toe in makes the car more stable in a straight line, toe out makes it turn in more eagerly. Castor is adjusted by varying the position of the washers on the front lower wishbone. It effects steering feel but I've not played with it. If your car feels close to right, between the rear ARB and tire pressures, you should be able to get it pretty close to how you want it.

 

If you haven't got adjustable platforms on the shock absorbers, they can be added. That would add alot more adjustability to your car.

 

Cheers,

 

Alex

 

Edited by - Alex Wong on 15 Apr 2002 20:10:14

[Red Ticker]

Search Tech Talk for "Setting up a Superlight properly......." and you will find a thread with lots of good advice.

 

M

[ashaughnessy]

The standard superlight has a reputation for being one of the best handling sevens straight out of the box. I'd therefore be reluctant to change any settings except the most basic, which would be tyre pressures and dampers.

 

Personally, I don't drive anywhere near fast enough on public roads to notice much difference from many types of handling adjustment. I can feel things like changes in toe, but many others just don't make enough difference at speeds that are safe on the road. Maybe that's just me. I've always thought if you're at the limit of adhesion on the road then you're simply dangerous, but that might be a topic for ChitChat, not TechTalk.

 

Anthony