ITA CRX Springs

[jermjerm12]

1990 ITA Crx with 500F and 700R eibachs,koni adjustables. Car is oversteering a bit. I know this NOT a usual problem with front wheel drive, hence the reason I need help. I have tried shock setting, tire pressure and caster/camber settings. I have stock front/rear sway bars, 15x7 205/50-15 V710's all around. Car is 2250 lbs. Should I maybe go up 100lbs. with front springs or go 100lbs. down in rear? Any help is appreciated.....Thank you ........Jeremy

[R2 Racing]

I have an opinion but I've never driven or prepared an ITA CRX, so I should probably keep it to myself. Maybe think about going over to www.roadrace-autox.com and asking the question. There's several ITA CRX guys over there who would probably be willing to help.

[jermjerm12]

Thanks R2, I'll give them a try.....your opinion is still welcomed?

[Tom Blaney]

That car is not normally prone to oversteer.

Send me a list of your suspension and tire pressure setting and I'll take a look.

[John Herman]

Check the toe setting on the rear wheels. Some people add a small amount of toe out to help the car turn, but it can lead to oversteer. I always preferred straight ahead to slightly in (Note, on another FWD. I've never raced a CRX). Also, something could have gotten bent in the rear (curbing, worn parts, etc.) which has caused too much toe out. Is it worse in one direction or the other. The best way to check to make sure everything is square, and the thrust angle of the rear wheels is correct (i.e. so the car won't crab) is to "string" the car. Copied from Hoosier Tires web site "Stringing: A procedure for checking the toe of the front wheels. Basically, it consists of running a string down the side of the car; with the steering wheel pointed straight ahead, the distance between the front edge of the wheel and the string, and the rear edge of the wheel and the string, is then measured; the difference between the two distances gives the toe angle." This is also done for the rear wheels. You should be able to find a detailed procedure with a little more searching.

[Domino]

It's not a design characteristic to OS in a FWD car but it's sort of where you want to be. Getting the CRX to rotate well is the key. I run 600F and 800R. After a few adjustments I have it very balanced. Remember though, what may seem twitchy to you may be just right for someone else. PM your settings to me.

[Joe Moser]

You're right in neighborhood of where you want to be! You should be so lucky that your car is already set-up to Oversteer, takes some guys a long time to get there.

Perhaps your driving style does not fit FWD yet (not comfortable with Oversteer)? The key is to "induce a spin" when entering a corner and steer out of the spin with throttle. You are essentially steering with your rear wheels and powering out of the corner with your fronts. This method of driving will get a FWD car out of a corner quite a bit quicker than a RWD (up to a certain HP range of vehicles) car.

Once you get it, you'll probably soften your rear rebound, go full hard on rear jounce and bump your springs to 800 lbs. to try and get more oversteer

Good luck!

- Joe Moser

[Bob Roth]

You may want to contemplate how and when your car is ovesteering. Something else to consider is perhaps you have tire rub. You should look at your wheel arches for evidence that the tires are hitting at full compression. If it does, its like stepping on the brakes with that wheel only; hello oversteer.