understeer, how do you fix understeer Options

[bernbomb914]

the car does not want to turn in around 60 to 70 MPH. have ft & rear sway bars, 140 lb spgs, yellow konis in rear kybs in ft. what to do. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/confused24.gif)

[SirAndy]

if the front bar is adjustable, losen up the bar (move droplinks towards the front of the car) ...

if not, tighten up the rear. in your case, that would be heavier springs in the rear.

or, you can also drop the front a bit lower, that'll help moving weight to the front.

make sure your alignement is good and the tires are not worn unevenly ...
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/cool.gif) Andy

[john rogers]

Hi Bernie, haven't seen you in a while. Several questions: What are front and rear tire pressures when running, how much gas is in the car, how much is the car leaning and is the inside wheel off the ground? How is the weight balanced, by that I mean is there a slight forward rake to the body when sitting level? The leaning and front wheel may be hard for you to know, maybe someone has seen the car in action? Next, how old are the tires, have they gotten glazed badly and are just not gripping any longer? Last of all, what are the alignment settings? On Julia's stock 914 we used front neg 2 degrees camber, straight ahead toe and rear 1 degree negative camber and 1/4 inch toe in. My race car is much different as it runs Goodyear slicks.

[Trekkor]

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/agree.gif)
I'll loosen my front bar today to correct my slight understeer. My car only pushes in 180 degree turns at the top of 2nd gear.
My bar is set at nearly full firm, so I'll back it off to 1/3 from full soft.
I'll put the 200# rear springs on if I *have* to.

Lowering tire preesure can help, too.
Just keep an eye on sidewall scuff, which translates too rollover and overall speed loss.

KT

[Joe Bob]

More horsepower...or do the above.... (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)

[fiid]

Make sure you tap the brakes before you turn in - to shift the weight forward a little.

[SirAndy]

QUOTE (fiid @ Mar 11 2005, 01:11 PM)

Make sure you tap the brakes before you turn in - to shift the weight forward a little.

and if you're in a sweeper, this would be a good time to practice left-foot-braking ...

while sweeping through the sweeper, gently tap the brake with your left foot while you stay on the throttle with your right.
this will transfer weight to the front, helping the car to turn and counteract the understeer without losing to much speed ...

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/beerchug.gif) Andy

[Mueller]

do you have access to anyone that'll let you borrow some wheel spacers to move the front wheels outboard an 1/2" or so??

with the track being smaller in the front, the car will have a natural tendancy to understeer

[SirAndy]

QUOTE (Mueller @ Mar 11 2005, 01:51 PM)

with the track being smaller in the front, the car will have a natural tendancy to understeer

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/agree.gif)

on the tube-frame car, the front track is wider than the rear. that really helps with the turn-in ...

wider is better, in this case!
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/cool.gif) Andy

[J P Stein]

Spend a bunch of time at AXs and experiment (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)

I would check your alignment first. Excessive F&R toe in will cause resistance to turn in. Stock settings are very good for a sometimes AX car.

You didn't mention your tires. Tall, limp sidewall tires are not condusive to rapid changes in direction....they ride nice, tho. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)

Tire pressure is black magic. First you have to know what pressure gives the most grip. Willy nilly changes in pressure are absurd. You have to experiment is a logical manner to find what effect these have. Changing pressures off the ideal for fine handling adjustments are OK for a given specific reason *after* you know that all else is well.

Thses are my opinions and they are mine (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wacko.gif)

[SirAndy]

QUOTE (J P Stein @ Mar 11 2005, 02:00 PM)

Changing pressures off the ideal for fine handling adjustments are OK for a given specific reason *after* you know that all else is well.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/agree.gif) changing tire pressure should only be a last resort and only if you are 100% sure everything else is in perfect working order.

you don't want the tire to jump off the rim at 70mph ...
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/icon8.gif) Andy

[bernbomb914]

thanks for all the replies guys. I think when we get to willow that will be a good time to adjust the car. the tires are nitto NT 450 s v rated

Bernie

[drew365]

You might want to do a little adjusting before you get to Willow. The Streets is a pretty tight track and understeer is really felt. Adjusting at the track can be a little hectic.

[Downunderman]

Screw the rear shocks up half a turn. The yellow Konis increase spring rate as you increase the damping.

[Andyrew]

Its a tight track? Danget..... (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/sad.gif)

Now I need to get some serious rear springs... grrr..


Put some stiffer rear springs on it.. and all the other stuff they said should give ya less understeer (my car understeers like a pig... lol)

If it were tire pressure, I'd say check current tire pressure and set the fronts to 25, and rears to 30. That should (on a well balanced car) give you some oversteer.