We raced the Pardus tires in the UF1 MIDWEST series all last winter. I found that both the inside and outside of the side wall on the front tire should be completely glued up, and possibly slightly onto he tread on the outside if traction dictates. We also glued the outside of the rear sidewall.
Most of the time I ran a green or purple CRC side spring, and 200K lube in the side tube. I was kind of all over the place on the shock. Sometimes I ran it with the sliver spring off of a Tamiya F1 plastic friction shock (really soft) or a blue CRC. At one point I was up to a Tamiya black from the F104v2 which is really stiff. Towards the end stiffer seemed better on the spring.
You probably want to let the spring just touch the chassis or have a little preload, and go to a softer spring. I had been trying to let the springs "float" but as traction goes up the car will hike tires. Not as bad as traction roll, but not real fast either.
Most of the time on the front I ran CRC .45 mm springs and 50K on the kingpins with an Exotek F104 front end. The CRC Springs are shorter than Tamiya springs, so if you go back and forth you'll need a 1mm spacer I think. You can use the camber adjuster plate on the front end to get different length camber links like a sedan...higher number (2.5*) longer arm and vice versa. I omit the 2 spacers under the camber plate so I can get more adjustment on the arm angle. I think 3.5mm is the difference if you want to bring the arm back to standard height. Camber was usually around 1* and 1* or 1.5* on the camber plate for upper arm length.
Caster is a big deal. I was usually around 7*. The thing is adding caster will definitely get the steering, but it will also contribute to traction roll since you're cross weighting the rear end. IF you run a short pack, run it forward as bite comes up to help kill the traction roll. The more weight going across the pivot the worse the traction roll problems.
The battery weight is a big deal too. By the end of the season, we found that you sort of have to set the car up around the battery position. Full forward was best for carpet unless the track was really green or something like that.
A couple things maybe for the TOP people to think about:
A longer left side wheel hub would allow the car to reach 190mm with spacers easily and maintain the axle assembly's integrity. I was able to space my axle out to 190mm, but I had to put a set screw in the left side hub to keep the axle together.
A stiffer chassis for carpet racing. One problem I had was at a super tight track with less than super grip. The car would not turn in the infield, but it would traction roll the sweeper. I tried to get this car working for 2 days but it would not respond (note: I full realize that I may just be dumb). Anyway, switching to a Tamiya F104V2 car put me right back on pace. I noticed the Tamiya has a 3mm chassis, and from what I can see the TOP is 2.5mm? I have had a similar problem with an Exotek conversion that had a 2.25mm chassis. I think the standard chassis is great most of the time, but sometimes the flex at the front / servo area does weird stuff. Maybe just eliminate the triangle cutout on the front? I don't know..
One thing the car had from the first run was a ton of corner speed, that was instantly noticeable.