Understeer!

[slow95tsi]

I just installed Billie sports and IE3 springs,
rides great! High speed handleing is awesome,
but low speed sharp turns understeers like crazy!!!
Same turns at same speeds with stock 325e springs and blown shocks would oversteer ( I prefer oversteer to understeer)

only othe mods ar 21mm cabbie swawbar,

any ideas? What can I do to improve this?

[whysimon]

I'm running the same setup. Really impressed with everything except..... the same under steer problem I'm going to jack the car up and look @ the springs. I think I'm going to have to get some adjustable strut mounts

[87e30]

I've read the driving technique with progressive springs is a bit different... but I doo'nt know how to drive (no track time) so I dunno.

I do know that a fat front sway is supposed to help with understeer on our cars. I don't know if the cabbie sway you have is front or rear.

[jlevie]

The car is understeering because; the front sway is too big w/respect to the rear, you have insufficient front camber, the rear tires have too little pressure relative to the fronts. The solution can be to use a 22/19mm sway bar set, add adjustable camber plates to the front and increase camber to 2.5-3.5deg, or increase rear tire pressure relative to the fronts.

Personally, I'd start by playing with tire pressures while I waited for an IE/UUC/ST sway bar set and a set of GC camber plates to be delivered.

[jlevie]

The car is understeering because; the front sway is too big w/respect to the rear, you have insufficient front camber, the rear tires have too little pressure relative to the fronts. The solution can be to use a 22/19mm sway bar set, add adjustable camber plates to the front and increase camber to 2.5-3.5deg, or increase rear tire pressure relative to the fronts.

Personally, I'd start by playing with tire pressures while I waited for an IE/UUC/ST sway bar set and a set of GC camber plates to be delivered. It will also help to take weight off the nose of the car. Deleting the PS pump and A/C helps.

[slow95tsi]

I do have IE camber plates but havnt played around with them any,
why would it be good to go with the 22/19 swaybar over the 25/22 swaybars?

[rThor432]

why would it be good to go with the 22/19 swaybar over the 25/22 swaybars?

25/22 limits the independence of the suspension too much for some peoples taste; they dont give much. You also have to reinforce the swaybar mounting locations, or you will tear them out. That's not as big of an issue with the 22/19 bars.

[slow95tsi]

http://store.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=ireland&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=647503077&Count2=564643502

The 25/22 bars come with the reinforcements I mean how bad would it be? If u go over a speed bump with one side of the car is it gonna pick up the other?

[BraveUlysses]

Adding a big rear bar won't magically fix your understeer.

You are either understeering because of a lack of camber, lack of grip (tire type) and/or soft springs.

[jlevie]

I do have IE camber plates but havnt played around with them any,
why would it be good to go with the 22/19 swaybar over the 25/22 swaybars?

I'd say that the spring rates of the IE Stage 3 or H&R Race springs are too low for 25/22mm sways. Sways, springs, and shocks should be considered as an interrelated package if handling is the goal.

[jlevie]

http://store.nexternal.com/shared/St...unt2=564643502
The 25/22 bars come with the reinforcements I mean how bad would it be? If u go over a speed bump with one side of the car is it gonna pick up the other?

Whether you use 22/19 or 25/22 sways, the rear sway bar pickup point on the trailing arms must be reinforced. The best reinforcement is the type that Turner sells that triangulate the loads onto the trailing arm. The flat plate types furnished with sways are barely adequate.

[funcrew]

Anther point of view on what changed:

When you installed the lowering springs, it increased the rear negative camber, giving the rear tires more grip. The front camber was not affected nearly as much. So now the back end is not breaking loose at the same speeds.

The fixed "street" camber plates from Turner are roughly $150 - the one degree or so of extra negative camber will make a dramatic improvement in front-end grip and restore balance to your cornering.

[slow95tsi]

Well I have IE adjustable camber plates on there now, just havnt played with them, I should just crank the camber in the front as far in as they will go and drive it just to see.

[HarryPotter]

Well I have IE adjustable camber plates on there now, just havnt played with them, I should just crank the camber in the front as far in as they will go and drive it just to see.

Might as well give it a shot.

[funcrew]

Well I have IE adjustable camber plates on there now, just havnt played with them, I should just crank the camber in the front as far in as they will go and drive it just to see.

It will be like night and day. If you then set your toe-in to roughly 1/16" to 1/8" IN, your tire wear will be just fine for up to 2 degrees negative camber. You can buy a set of Longacre toe plates if you want to DIY the alignment. Having a set of those around is handy, since you can set your toe to whatever you want in 15 minutes. No batteries, no electronics to fail, real analog technology (2 tape measures). Good luck with it.