Advice on Order of Tuning for Track Conditions
#1
Hello,
I was just curious what others thought was the best way to go about tuning to track conditions.
Where do you start at?
Tires will always be #1
Shocks (oils/pistons) then shock positioning?
then
Diff Oils?
Just curious as to what others do. I feel like Im just guessing at the setup when Im at the track. Granted, ok, rear end is loose coming out of corners, here is what I can change and just try one at a time until noticeable improvement.
Or do you all just go at it on a case by case basis as well like too loose here, not enough steering there, etc.
Thanks!
I was just curious what others thought was the best way to go about tuning to track conditions.
Where do you start at?
Tires will always be #1
Shocks (oils/pistons) then shock positioning?
then
Diff Oils?
Just curious as to what others do. I feel like Im just guessing at the setup when Im at the track. Granted, ok, rear end is loose coming out of corners, here is what I can change and just try one at a time until noticeable improvement.
Or do you all just go at it on a case by case basis as well like too loose here, not enough steering there, etc.
Thanks!
#3
Depends how big of a change you want to make. Some adjustments make a big difference to handling (like diffs, shock package, etc), and some adjustments are more for fine tuning (like camber angle, toe angle, etc).
The more testing you do in various track surfaces and conditions, the better you can anticipate what a specific setup change will do. Not all changes do the same thing in all conditions. To add to that, the same adjustment made on two different brands of car may not necessarily translate to the same feel on the track.
The more testing you do in various track surfaces and conditions, the better you can anticipate what a specific setup change will do. Not all changes do the same thing in all conditions. To add to that, the same adjustment made on two different brands of car may not necessarily translate to the same feel on the track.
#8
Tech Adept
iTrader: (2)
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 165
From: CA
Any piston or shock position or other main adjustments you should get dial in on the track you practice on. This way you only have a few things to worry about mainly tire selection which can put you up front or at the back of the pack.
#9
#1 Toe links (tune for a balance between stability vs. sharp cornering)
#2 Camber links (tune for even wear across the tread based on your driving style, otherwise you're wasting the part of the tire that never gets worn-down)
#3 Tires (select a tread and compound that gives you the traction you need)
#4 Shocks (tune for a balance between soaking up bumps vs. not bottoming-out; keep in mind that too-stiff front shocks will pre-compress the rear shocks on sharp bumps)
#5 Diffs (tune to get only just enough diffing-out to maintain traction; too little will cause understeer/oversteer, too much will waste power and reduce braking)
#6 Swaybars (use rear swaybar to correct for random wandering when accelerating, use front swaybar to correct for oversteer or excessive leaning in corners)
However, just because these are numbered, you shouldn't stop before you reach the end of the list, even if you think you've solved whatever handling problem you were originally chasing. Every item needs to be optimized.
#2 Camber links (tune for even wear across the tread based on your driving style, otherwise you're wasting the part of the tire that never gets worn-down)
#3 Tires (select a tread and compound that gives you the traction you need)
#4 Shocks (tune for a balance between soaking up bumps vs. not bottoming-out; keep in mind that too-stiff front shocks will pre-compress the rear shocks on sharp bumps)
#5 Diffs (tune to get only just enough diffing-out to maintain traction; too little will cause understeer/oversteer, too much will waste power and reduce braking)
#6 Swaybars (use rear swaybar to correct for random wandering when accelerating, use front swaybar to correct for oversteer or excessive leaning in corners)
However, just because these are numbered, you shouldn't stop before you reach the end of the list, even if you think you've solved whatever handling problem you were originally chasing. Every item needs to be optimized.
#10
I guess I'll stick with "this needs improvement so I'll do this" and on test days experiment with what changes might make the car faster or not :-)
Just not enough time to test :-(
Just not enough time to test :-(
#13
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 3,569
From: My house.
Sinn1612 gave useful advice, mine is to start with tires, then you have to know how much camber and toe (tire alignment) that particular tire likes, that way you will always land at a given geometry at a given ride height(if the tire likes -2º of camber no way a geometry that makes them never stay at -2º will be good), then springs and roll bars to keep chassis movement in check, now shock oil/pistons to keep the tires on the track and diff fluid to keep them from spinning wildly different. Did I miss something?



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