Alignment Philosophy Question

[shwah]

Is that a typical quaife type diff, or some sort of racing spec clutch type?

IMO the quaife style diffs are great for street cars, and ineffective for race cars. Welded or aggressive clutch style really has a positive impact on the throttle on characteristics of the car, and can have significant braking benefits as well.

[joeg]

If the front sway bar does not provide any locating function for the front supension, try disconnecting it.

I am not familiar with the Contour rear suspension so I will ask you--where are the springs located (inboard or outboard). Your rates might not be that far off if those springs are outboard (e.g., an outboard coil over) so that they are near equal to the effective rate. If inboard, you probably could use some more rear spring.

[JLawton]

Never be satisfied with how a car handles. Try throwing more rear spring at it. Typically FWD cars like heavier springs in the rear than in the front.

[Z3_GoCar]

If it's lke you say and a custom set-up and not strictly based on the oe suspension. You might try more ackerman and less toe out. I'm basing this off of Smith's "Engineer to Win." Toe out is a way to get more ackerman, but with scrub down the straighs. Being FWD, you will need a tiny amount of toe out to compensate for bearing slack.

[Streetwise guy]

I can't imagine that much toe is a good thing on the straights- its got to scrub speed off. Its also very simple to play with between sessions. Bring the toe gradually back to a more reasonable number, and monitor lap speeds, rpm at the end of the longest straight, feel through the corners.....That much toe is definitely compensating for something if its needed to make the car rotate.

[Flyinglizard]

"Camber thrust" happens with that much camber. "Zero scrub"( or reduced camber thrust) is around 4mm toe out, at -4 camber with a 22 in tires.
To understand this concept. ride a bike. The bike makes lateral force by tilting the tire, as much as turning the tire.
To reduce the front tire wear, make the rear do more by toeing out the rear. The result of this, is the rear tire rolls outside of the front tire, reducing the dynamic loading. Lower the dynamic loading and the front tire can turn harder.
This whole concept and application is in my book. Reducing the front tire load is a large part of going faster with FWD.
Toe out the front 4mm, toe out the rear 5-15mm. try it and get back to me.
Welding th diff can reduce the front tire wear also by spreading the load , and it makes more lateral grip for some reason.MM

[23racer]

This past weekend, we pulled the front toe out back to 1/2" and left the rear toe out at 1/4". The car handled fantastically well and we had minimal tire wear after a 1 Hour Race. The tire temps were great, but the day was very cold, in the low 50's. The pressure rise in the tires was only 6 lbs in the front and 4 lbs in the rear.

I kept the advice about zero scrub in mind when I was trying to decide on the new settings and I am glad I did as things were just great once the tires got warm.

Those rear tires sure take a long time to warm up, when its that cold out. A few very high speed rear step outs in the first few laps. Like full lock at over 100 mph. Wow, I have to learn a whole new warm up lap method.

Thanks for the help. It was very valuable. About the book, which one are you talking about, Flying Lizard?

Eric

[Flyinglizard]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:L:LCA:US:1123 My FWD racingguide.
MM

[tbelicke]

Chris

can you give Thorsten a call-cell phone exploded and do not have your number

[betamotorsports]

Adjust toe to about 1/8" out and get as much front caster as you can. If you can increase Ackerman, try it. I wouldn't mess with springs, bars. or shocks just yet.