stew9812

Hey im getting into touring cars and im wondering what the essential setup tools are and maybee what the better types or brands for them are?

Thanks!

trerc

iTrader: (89)

Ride height and a camber gauge is a minimum. The rest is just nice to have, it you do decide to get set-up stands then I recommend Hudy. You can find the plastic ones used for fairly cheap if you watch the boards and they work just as well as the aluminum set. Integy makes a cheap set but you get what you pay for too, the Integy are sloppy but if your car's sloppy then go ahead and save yourself some $ and buy Integy.

fullout

I would recommend ride height gauge, a droop gauge and a camber gauge. Sometimes the first two are combined into one tool. I happen to have a nice blue alu. tamiya ride height/slash droop gauge and i also use a hudy camber gauge. I wouldn't worry so much about the brand it's more about the material it's made from. Try and stick with alu or carbon as opposed to plastic.

Team Speedy

iTrader: (55)

I'd say perhaps an setup board maybe beneficial as well. Nothing fancy, I mean I used a marble counter top piece at one point in my life to measure ride height and drop. Anything flat and level can also do the job, be creative but remember an uneven surface will effect your values. I'd also say a decent set of calipers maybe beneficially in measuring such things as shocks, camber links, etc.

I can go on with other necessities here and there but I will say the Hudy setup system was worth the purchase for me. The Plexiglas Hudy setup works just as fine, I've used one up till this year before I "splurged" on a used Hudy Aluminum setup.

Just my $.02 cents worth..

COLD AS ICE

iTrader: (19)

I would recommend the integy setup boards and tools. works great and not to high in price

Foxxrocket

I would also add calipers to the list of tools one might need. It's great for checking toe, measuring turn-buckles and shock preload. It's even more valuable when building kits.

COLD AS ICE

iTrader: (19)

+1

stew9812

thanks for the info

jjfo80

iTrader: (1)

www.genesisrcp.com. Brandon is the man as he makes all his own tools.
The only thing he doesnt have is a setup station but with all the tools he makes you can setup up your car no worries.
Just remember once you buy tools if no one else likes then better than you (stealling them) you will have them for the rest of your life.

Money well worth spent as car setup it the secret to going fast besides the driver
goodluck

Buckaroo

iTrader: (3)

Flat set up board
Ride height gauge
Droop gauge
Camber gauge
Tweak station (later you'll want the whole set up station)
Digital scale
Digital calipers
Hand help IR temp gauge
Various hand tools


For a set up board, the $8 glass cutting board from WalMart works wonders. You don't need no fancy sticker! A good digital scale can be had for under $20. Camber gauge, ride height and droop gauge as plain or fancy as you want. Digital calipers from Harbor Freight work just fine. Same with the IR temp gauge (same one sells as an RC product for twice the $$).

My Integy tweak station and 1/10th set up station stuff has always shown the same numbers as my friends Hudy, at less than half the price.

trerc

iTrader: (89)

No disrespect to the cheaper Integy equipment but when you assemble the Integy stuff there's quite a bit of slop unlike the Hudy which has none.So I wouldn't go as far as to say they are on par. Of course the stands are only as good as the car, if the car is sloppy then you will never have accurate numbers anyway...

Foxxrocket

You know what? The Integy setup board is not at all that bad. It dose what it's supposed to, and that's all that mattes.

trerc

iTrader: (89)

I never said it was bad, In fact I started out by saying "no disrespect to the cheaper Integy equipment". I merely stating the fact that it isn't on par with the Hudy, and that if your car has a bunch of wore out parts on it then you can save yourself a bunch of money and basically use your eyeballs because no matter what set-up system one chooses to use it's only as good as the car sitting in it.

Foxxrocket

My bad, I took the post in the wrong context. but you are right. No tool can replace a good eye, and a knowledge of your car.

Owen RaCing

iTrader: (17)

You can be like some professional set up guys and use a good metal millimeter ruler and a set of calipers with a good set up board.