Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Autocross and Open Track STS Contour Project

I would suspect binding in your suspension. I can't see how stock springs/swaybars could possibly produce a car that steady-state oversteers. What do your endlinks, bushings, and control arms look like? It could be pretty easy for the swaybar bushings to be pinching the bar and jacking the rear roll rate way up, or the endlinks to bind. What shape are your struts in? A blown rear strut could cause that as well.

heh... it's all possible. In my garage I have bradness rear HD endlinks and koni struts... ordering H&R springs and camber kits tomorrow. So that'll eliminate the possibility of those failing components. Going to see how it handles with that then consider an ADCO rear sway bar. My rear swaybar bushings are only 6 months old (might need to be re-greased), the rear control arms are bradness tubulars, and the front control arms are in good condition. The only change that I did before I started experiencing oversteer was the strut tower brace.

I autocrossed it the month prior and had 28psi in the rear tires to get slight oversteer. I've had the front/rear pressure at these levels for the last two seasons (with Azenis RT-215's). Before then... if I had more than 28psi it would plow like a minivan

sidenote: I had Kumho MX's prior to the Azenis's and they seemed to favor over-inflation on the rear, as opposed to under-inflation. Before the MX's, I had RT-215's and ran 32psi in the rear (untouched -- same as on the street). The car would oversteer.

What are your toe measurements in the rear? I have yet to experience oversteer, despite the lemmings here that state otherwise. The only time that I felt NASCAR loose is when I drove like ass. Steady state, I never had to catch the car. Ever.

Is your proported "oversteer" occurring in exit ramps too? I'm not saying that it can't happen, I'm just trying to figure out how you had that much front grip.

Grip is pretty much neutral for the long left hand sweepers onto and off the freeway. On the street I run 38psi in the front and 34psi in the rear. I don't quite have enough power to get fast enough to get too crazy entering/exiting the freeways though, not fast enough to scrub the sidewalls at those presure levels. Most of my driving is in traffic though... I don't get as many opportunities to test the grip on the street as I'd like.

I last had my alignment done about 6 months ago... I'll look for the sheet. I know I have toe out in the front... don't remember what the rear was set to.

Since I got the car, I always understeered at the autocrosses. The RT-215's helped, but still understeered. That was with about 47psi-front 38psi-rear. One of the trainers recommended under or over inflating my rears to get it to rotate a little better. Since the rear tires were ice cold after 3 runs, he recommended under inflating. At the following events I continued to drop the pressure until the tires became warm, and the rear came out if I went into a turn too fast. I also increased the front to 51psi... any less and I began to scrub the sidewalls. I hadn't understeered since then, unless I hit a dirty section of pavement, or I was in A-group (street sweepers).

Are you sure that you're not going "oh crap, I'm entering too fast so I need to lift off of the throttle"?

It's always possible. What I did and what I can recall may be different things. Difficult to be 100% sure what I was doing when I was trying to keep the car in line. Next event is a month away... I'll see what happens then, unless I have an opportunity to do some tests before then.

I guess the basic point I know is that I'm now more worried about my rear coming around... where I used to worry about my steering angle vs speed so I wouldn't plow.

If you're not having to catch the car all the time, you're probably suffering from lift-throttle oversteer. I doubt that you're having "drifting" issues in features like slaloms.

I guess I won't really be able to say for sure until the next event. In trying to playback the last events slaloms, I'm thinking that I was either neutral or rear light.

Next time I have my car on a lift, I'll reset the rear f/r control arms... incase they're stuck or not properly loaded.

My guess is you have a bit of toe out.

I've had mx's but was pretty disappointed during street driving. I found they were awesome on turn in, but I really wasn't impressed with the steady state grip. Would you more or less agree? I never had the chance to monkey with tire pressures though, I ran 38 front 34-32 rear to keep wear in control.

I would agree. I went from Azenis RT-215 205/55-16 to MX 225/50-16. I know the MX's didn't have as soft of rubber but was supposed to be close... so I was hoping the wider tire would help more. I had a pretty consistent 30 pax loss with them. Once they wore out, I went back to the RT-215's and instantly had about 30 pax more each event.

During autocross I had the MX's at about 47f/42r. On the street I ran the same pressure you stated.

Only 2 things I can say the MX's were better at. 1) Better water dispertion, 2) Didn't get as greasy when they were hot.