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Coilover track day setup


philw99

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ABP don't seem to have any expertise on the Zed from their website, they look more like CTR experts to me. That doesn't mean they don't know what they're doing, but be aware that just because somewhere has a Hunter machine it doesn't mean they're any good. It will help them get the numbers in the right place, but if you want a track setup then you DON'T want the numbers simply in the right place!

 

You need to tell them how you want the car to handle, and what your priorities are. They will ask you the right questions hopefully to give them the info they need, and then they'll work an alignment out for you based on that. No good people giving you their numbers as everyone like their cars to handle differently: For example, I like mine with plenty of toe out at the front and not a lot of camber in the rear, which makes it very twitchy and easy to provoke but for most people that would feel very unstable and awkward to control. Most prefer a lot of camber on the rear and toe-in to give stability, but that feels horrible to me.

 

Without knowing how you drive and how you want the car to feel, giving you a set of numbers is ultimately pointless. You need to have a lot of trust in the garage and make sure you go back if what they give you isn't right: I'd be amazed if they got it bang-on first time, very rarely can people do that and when they do you pay through the nose for it. I've done that once with Center Gravity and it cost me £300, was well worth it though. DMS were great with me when I had my Zed, we had a few issues and managed to get the exact setup I wanted after a good few attempts, and I appreciated their efforts more than if they'd just said "Oh yeah, that'll be fine" and sent me on my way.

 

 

Take your time, tell them what you want and let us know the results. :)

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from what I've heard about the bmw (not sure if this applies to a zed though) is that the standard set up is very conservative with regards to tyre wear and handling... too much toe in at the front to encourage understeer. when I get mine aligned this weekend will be going for zero toe at the front (straight ahead) to encourage front turn in, and a little bit more toe in at the rear (0.4 total, or 0.2 toe in per side) for greater rear stability.

 

as for camber, I have heard as much as you can on the front, and then a maximum of 3degrees at the rear, although this is a full track setup and will eat through tyres very quickly. however if you run zero toe you can run greater camber as its the combination of toe and camber that drags the tyre, zero toe means the wheel is free to just roll.

 

but generally, toe in encourages stability, vehicle reluctant to turn. toe out makes car eager to turn, but can be unstable and squirrelly under braking. so depending on how you drive, tune the front and rear accordingly - our car pushes under gentle application of power, but can be snappy at the rear if you chuck it around to much or trail brake into corners, hence why we're going for a bit less toe in at the front, and a bit more toe in at the rear.

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well yeah lol... I'm quite happy with a car that's quite loose at the back end as I've no problem going sideways and gathering it up again, but in the interests of car longevity I think some more rear end stability is probably a good thing... besides, I can always provoke a slide with a dab of trail braking or a hefty dose of throttle...

 

However we've all noticed the understeer, so want to dial that out with some toe out and camber if we can - although its also quite likely that we're overheating the tyres - after 5-6 laps they fall off a cliff in terms of grip, which caught ken out at rockingham, as it can affect either end of the car.

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20140808_172851.jpg ok alignment and the noise sorted. Well happy with the results, can't wait to test it out now! B)

The noise at the front was caused by the metal piece that's to deflect brake dust, scraping the back of the disk.

Easy to see when its on a ramp, took him 2 seconds.

Abp motorsport were really good, can't fault them. Set the ride height and did alignment, were good at removing seized bolts :lol: blow torch 2 second job.

Clutch to sort now and I'm happy, going to order a new slave cylinder, uprated lines and fluid.

Thanks for everyones help

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