Adjustable Arms for track?

[Ry-B]

Hi All,

 

I've been searching through the forum lately doing some research about suspension setup, there is a lot of topics surrounding the need for adjustable camber arms etc when lowering your car. However, is it still worth getting the adjustable arms if you don't plan to lower your car but are going to use it on track? I assume the additional adjustability is a benefit and will allow you to dial in the alignment especially on the front? 

Edited December 1, 2020 by Ry-B

[G1en]

All depends how “competitive” you want to track it. The zed will understeer a fair amount at the limit with factory spec camber/toe. You can dial a lot of this out with adjustable arms, you will want adjustable anti roll bars as well then you can really taylor the setup to understeer/nuetral/oversteer bias to suit your style, at that point you will want uprated suspension/bushes so it goes on...tyre/wheel sizes and widths etc. 

basically have a go as it is now and see if its good enough for you and your natural driving style/speed/risk. If you decide to start tinkering you may well keep buying more parts and altering setups to get that perfect feeling. 

[Ry-B]

Thanks for your feedback, I have taken the car to Bedford this year and plan to do a handful of track days next year so really just looking to have some fun and enjoy it on open pitlanes not really looking to go crazy just address the stuff that will aid this.

 

I have some parts coming to address where I thought the car lacked on the day which was mainly the stock suspension with body roll and diving into corners. But I think you have given me some good info regarding adjustability and hit the nail on the head with I can always see if its good enough then change more parts if needed instead of feeling like I need to do it all at once and get it perfect first time 

 

 

[Ekona]

What’s your geo settings atm? Who did the alignment for you? 
 

You’re right, adjustable arms can be very useful for dialling in a more aggressive setting but you may then find the car diving for every rut on the road, which isn’t much fun. There’s an awful lot more places you can spend your money on first IMHO. 

[ZMANALEX]

I would scratch your track itch next year with what you have at the minute as one event at Bedford is not enough to make informed decisions.

 

I would get a proper 4 wheel alignment done by a specialist who will talk through what you want to achieve and what your driving style is and see if that makes any difference.

 

Without lowering, there will be enough adjustment on the OEM snail cams on the rear for Camber and Toe.

There will also be enough adjustment on the front for Toe.

 

You may get some benefit from adjustable fronttop arms depending on what you are trying to achieve.

 

Decent adjustable sway bars would be  a good move.

 

If you are on a budget and not to serious then it will be a case of suck and see.

 

[Ry-B]

Thank you both for the advice!

 

sounds like adjustable arms probably aren’t as high as priority as I first thought especially as I don’t plan to lower the car, potentially some to replace the upper front arms if I do find I’m struggling with the lack of adjustability there. But I will look to put my money towards ARBs for now.

 

Car current just has a factory spec alignment I guess it’s best described as I.e. a local tyre shop made sure it was within spec on their Hunter 4 wheel alignment machine. I do plan to take it to most likely H-Dev in the early part of next year to get a more specialist alignment  

 

 

Edited December 2, 2020 by Ry-B

[Ekona]

That will make a massive difference, just make sure you take notes on how the car handles now and what you want it to do before you go to tell them, you’ll come out with the car you want rather than just a generic ‘fast road’ setup. 
 

I assume you’ve done brakes and tyres too?

[Ry-B]

1 hour ago, Ekona said:

I assume you’ve done brakes and tyres too?

Brakes and tyres were done for the first track day I did, as I had read a lot of reports of people suffering with stock brakes plus I was a bit worried about the weight and eating consumables compared to my last car (MX5 NC)
 

I ended up swapping the fluid for RBF600 and putting PBS ProRace in the front. For my current level/experience I am quite happy with this setup as didn’t experience any brake fade, pad transfer etc but granted was only doing short sessions on the day