Re: Autox:TOO much PUSH/understeer!

[Paul Krucke <vwfan53@yahoo.com>]

- ---Shannon Fenton <sfenton@telegroup.com> wrote:
>
> I recently autoxd my car for the second time this weekend and I need
your input
> on understeer. I find the car just pushes around the turns. When I
raced in CO.
> I had 35 in the front and rear tires. At this race I have 45.
Granted Im
> running stock size Pirelli P6000 all season tires and I can chalk up
some to me being
> to forceful and abrupt with the car, but it just rolls like like
bloated whale.

Well, I just printed ( 4 PAGES!!! ) Iain's response to you, so I will
keep this short.  Listen to what he has to say though, as he helped
get me on track.

The 2 quickest ways I can think of to help get more oversteer out of
your car (I run a ES Scirocco as well) is to:

1)  (If your car is a daily driver and tire preservation is important
you will want to do this between every event, or just set it and
forget it)..... Give yourself max negative camber up front from the
factory essentric bolt.  Surprisingly, on my Scirocco full negative
works out to -2 degrees with the factory bolts.   Pull off your front
wheels.  Note the 2 bolts that hold the spindle/steering knuckel to
the strut housing.  Loosen the bolts.  The top bolt you will notice
has a essentric washer/shoulder on it.  Turn this bolt so that the
'thinnest' part of the sholder/washer is contacting the ridge/lip of
the strut assembly.  This will give you the maximum adjustable camber
on both sides. I should have mentioned you may want to mark the old
position with a scribe or punch in case you want to adjust it to where
it was.  Tighten the nuts back down to between 45 - 65 lbs of torque. 
Check a Bently for exact torque.

2.) More air in the rear, -and/or- better yet change the rear shocks
to something stiffer.  An ideal minimum would be to put adjustables
back there Koni/Tokiko, and adjust them up firm when auto-xing. 
Changing the rear shocks is easy as pie.

The above 2 examples are for the low budget racers.  Obviously if you
can afford Kumhos, and Koni's on all 4 corners, and spring for a
professional custom alignment, you will be much better off.  Step 1 is
free, and Step 2 should be under $150.00.

As for driving advice, when on street tires, turn in much earlier. 
The event I drove both my Rocco on R1's and my New Beetle on street
tires, I was turning the steering wheel a good 6 feet sooner than I
would on the Scirocco.

HTH,
==
- -Paul
http://home1.gte.net/vwfan
98 Beetle TDi
87 Scirocco 16v ES #53
87 Jetta GLi
63 Bug Sunroof

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