I have a 2 day event coming up and would like to get the most out of my setup. I dont have whole a lot of experience and seat time.


My setup:
Ohlins DFV 10k/10k 16 clicks from soft in the front and 14 clicks in the rear.
19x10.5 +12 CE28s with 275/30 Hankook Evos
Camber: -2.5f and -2r
Whiteline Rear sway in middle setting (will be installed on friday)

My questions:
-What should I set my tire pressures to?
-What stiffness setting should I run on the coils?


Any recommendations or suggestions will be appreciated.


2/27/2012 Little update:

In novice school, Saturday, I started with 51 seconds and I was able to bring my time all the way down to 36.7 at the end of the day which placed me in 12th place out of 36 drivers. Fastest time was 34.7 seconds.

On sunday, main auto x event, they placed me in novice class since this was going to be my first offical event.

I was able to get the first place out of 26 drivers Started the day with 26.4 seconds and was able to brought it down to 24.7 but I snagged a cone
At the end of the day my cleanest, second best lab was 25.5

Thanks everybody here posted on my thread and my instructor Michael Vaughan

 

With your setup. I'd probably run somewhere around 33-35 in front and 37-39 in the rear. The best way to check is to mark your tires with chalk and then see what's left after you run. In general, I like to have the front tires wearing around the triangle and use the rears to help control oversteer/understeer.

I'm assuming that these are 1-way adjustable rebound dampening shocks right? I like to actually soften the rear up so that you try to avoid tripoding. When turning at speed, your outside front is going to dig-in and your inside rear will want to lift up. By leaving that soft the shock will be more prone to extend quicker. For the front shocks, I would start at 50% stiff and just play with it from there.

Also make sure your ASC is FULL-OFF (hold down ASC button until it beeps and shows your car with skidmarks). If you don't do that you'll be severely held back.

 

Yeah, they are 1-way adjustable.

One question tho, I never understood what is the reason for putting more air in the tires? I always thought air should be taken out in order to maximize the grip?


I did leave ASC on last time since it was my first but it will be off this weekend

 

less air will cause the tire to roll onto the sidewall, not good, more air in the rear will decrease the grip some and allow the car to rotate.

 

Thanks for the explanation

Since I am going to have thicker sway bar should I still set the tire pressure higher than front?

 

Yes, you should. AWD cars come with a lot of built in understeer. You can always lower the pressure if you think it's too loose.

 

For an experienced autocrosser, I agree, but a newbie - and I'm inferring this from the OP's questions - might actually be better off with the ASC still on. I'd the suggest taking the first run at least with the ASC completely on. If you find that the nannies are getting in your way, then turn them off, but if they are adding a needed layer of smoothness to your stomping and yanking, then maybe leave it on all day.

Similarly, while an experienced autocrosser can start with low pressure in the front and go up if they have to (which isn't often needed, given the added heat from the first run), I've seen some crazy-unsmooth newbies do quite a bit of damage on their first run when the fronts are too low, almost to the point of grinding a wheel-lip in one case. I'd suggest 40 all around for the first run and bleed off using the chalk.

I completely agree on on more front rebound than rear.

Note: if I have misjudged the OP's experience level, then please accept my apologies and go back to ignoring me.

 

One serious quibble.

It's not the AWD; it's the weight distribution. Ever driven a 959? It doesn't understeer, even with rear tires about 1.5 times as wide as the fronts.

 

You are dead on spot. I am a newbie and have no experience in autocross Thanks for the suggestions.

 

Iowa's advice is pretty much spot-on. if you want to read, feel free to check my sig (was on another forum, decided to post here since a lot more people than I thought don't check both)

definitely recommend ASC off for beginners. OFF/OFF on stock suspension (which is a bit soft and roll-sensitive with AYC) can be too much for some. I ran single off for a few events, but run fully off now with GTWorx springs

 

tee hee

I don't know if that was on purpose, a typo, or what, but you gave me a thumbs up in your first paragraph and then said the exact opposite of what I suggested in your second paragraph.

 

I say leave it full off even if you're a newbie. Leaving ASC half-on will just give you a false sense of how the car actually works. It's better to push too hard, spin out, and realize what too hard feels like.

 

If you don't at least do single off the car will cut the throttle when coming out of turns. You don't even have to be pushing hard to feel this. I feel it on the street and it's annoying. I like to drive and race with single off. You still get the ayc without the throttle cut. Just my humble opinion.

 

Again, while I completely agree about turning the ASC off/off when you have experience, if the OP is like most newbies that I've worked with, he could end destroying his tires in five runs if he doesn't leave it on. This is especially true if he has the original alignment, which includes a ton of rear toe-in. He'll have a blast drifting, but then see cord on the outer half of his rear tires.

Put another way, in my experience, newbies end up faster if they first learn to drive the right line way under the limit and then speed up. Having the Staqe One TC (throttle-cut) annoy the crap out of him during every corner exit will slow him down and straighten out the car so that he can focus on line. When he's nailing the line consistently, turn off the ASC and drive that same line faster.

But, again, everyone learns differently and all teachers have their own approach. I'm not arguing, really. I'm just giving the logic behind how I approach this.

 

I guess I will start with

40psi all around, chalk up the tires, ASC off (not off/off) but I really cant mess with the dampening setting on my coils as the front ones are inverted and cant adjust without lifting the car...

So, I was thinking about use the most common settings and leave it for rest of the day.