In AutoX they are not allowed in A-Stock but they are allowed in ESP, SM, and STU. Most people go with a coil-over set up but changing just the springs will help as long as it's a reputable company and the spring rate is increased.

 

Springs are allowed in almost all classes except stock (and any related showroom stock categories if your region uses them)

 

Just curious, what are the stock alignment settings for the Evo?

 

Answered my own question:

Stock
Front Toe 0 +/- .08”
Front Camber -1 +/- 30’ or -2 +/-30’
Rear Toe .12 +/- .07” (3mm +/-2mm)
Rear Camber -1 +/- 30’

 

I went with jbrennen's recommendations and am pretty pleased with them at my first autocross today. The car was pretty neutral with a tendency to understeer and oversteer depending on the throttle. It handled amazingly, but I never tried it with the stock settings at an autocross to compare. The technician showed me my stock front camber was only -.4 degrees in the front! No wonder why it was pushing when aggressively driving on the road.

 

You do realize that being able to induce understeer or oversteer at will is the best kind of neutral handling, right?

I'll likely be running my last autoX with that alignment (on Hoosier tires) tomorrow. I should be upgrading from stock suspension to a custom JIC FLT-A2 coilover setup probably within the next week. Then I get to dial in "an entirely new car" ...

 

I love the neutral handling jbrennan!

We had our first actual race today. The Evo did not dissapoint. I beat the only other Sti there in ESP by .4seconds. We are both bone stock and he and his codriver are very good. Was it the Evo? Well for some more proof... of about 75 cars on street tires at the event, I had second fastest raw time of the day. That includes Z06's and many of them. The only car to beat me was a fully preped STS civic that was driven by a Pro.

 

I've been thinking about putting Hoosiers on the front and leaving the OEM tires on the rear. I'm plowing a bit now and I think the extra grip will help. Has anyone tried this?

 

Bad idea. Get an alignment instead per the previous suggestions. I fixed my plowing that way very easily. Mixing tires will provide inconsistent results depending on the temperature and weather conditions. The Hoosiers will be very cold at first and you will still plow until they warm up. Your car will behave very strangly. Plus, you won't be able to run in any street tire class if your local SCCA chapter has one.

I would suggest the alignment first, tire pressure modifications second and finally stiffening up the rear with a sway bar or strut tower or both.

Hope this helps. Anyone want to back me up?

 

I'll back you up that going with Hoosiers front and street tires rear is no way to deal with understeer. I'd hate to think about the steady-state cornering behavior of such a car.

First get a performance alignment. The keys to reducing understeer are front camber and rear toe. You want maximum negative front camber to maintain the greatest contact patch on the outside front tire, and you want rear toe close to zero (I ran 1mm rear toe-in on the stock suspension).

Once you have the proper alignment, a stock Evo on properly inflated A046 tires has very little inherent understeer. Whatever understeer you are still experiencing is probably driver-induced. Learn about the traction circle, about trail braking, and how to feed in throttle as you unwind the wheel. Practice.

As for stiffening the rear with a sway bar or strut bar, not allowed under the subject of this thread (autox stock class).

 

I agree with that. This guy in my region said he was getting too much understeer in his 67 Mustang (you know that's driver error). He tried to put small tires in teh rear and big fat tires in the front, -4 degrees camber up front, but he failed to realize one thing about a 300-400 horsepower RWD car: you step on the gas and you get oversteer. He was floating through corners with no throttle to help him through.

Moral of the story, learn some cool techniques before you try to change the car's characteristics. The top national drivers have matched tires, and are kicking @$$ in ESP.

 

Yah, work on the nut behind the wheel first and always start small. tire pressures and alignment.

 

I just got home from a Watkins Glen track day. I had very neutral handling with understeer at or near the limit. I was very happy with the way the Evo ran. I have not checked alignment since new. I currently have 11k miles on original stock tires. I am considering an alignment as a routine maintenence. Are these suggested alignment settings also for normal driving and road race track days?

Thanks

Flybyevo...

 

Anyone have some recommendations for a stock car with the additions of:
RRE 25mm rear sway bar
Cusco Rear stut tower bar
Cusco V-Bar
Cusco Trunk bar
Tein S-Techs

 

We finished 6 45 minute sessions this weekend, running on Apexi N1 Pros ( I think - I'm the owners brother and 10/10ths no holds barred driver ) on 230-650-18 Yoks S02. Front Dmapers were full stiff with no sway stock sway bar, and larger rear sway bar with rear dampers 6 turns out. We need much more negative camber for the very technical Motorsport Ranch circuit, but the car was nuetral to power on over steer. Very well balanced. Only a well sorted and modded 911 Turbo was quicker. We have some a couple of changes to make and then we're gonna be back out. -3F, 0T, -1.75R, 0T is what we're shooting for next. We had to lower the rear 1/2 inch at the track to help reduce some initial oversteer the first session. We burned through 7/8 a tank each session and as the session went the would continue to get more loose. plus lack of rear camber was shredding the rear tires in no time.

Track Temps were ~130'F, ambiant ~96'F, strong 20-35mph wind from the south.

This is an autoX thread, but this mayu be of use to someone...