Blasted soft sidewalls!!!!!

[Onizuka]

So I have this spiffy staggered wheel setup (16x7 F 16x8 R) and ordered some cheap yokohama AVS ES100's. I picked tire sizes according to the tire calculator (for correct overall diameter and all that). The rears turned out great, and the fronts are the right "size", but have horribly worse sidewall flex being 50% aspect as opposed to the rears 45%. Damnit, why doesnt falken make azines in more than just ONE size for 16 in rims. I need the falken sidewalls of goodness for my 16 inch rims.

[nismofly]

what sizes did you use?

are the front sidewalls really that much larger?

[Onizuka]

fronts are 225/50-16, rears are 245/45-16. They are about the same height which is the kicker, I dont know how to explain the extra slop in the front other than the wider tire was made with thicker sidewalls even though its the same tire model.

Should have gotten 225/45-16 front tires....

[nismofly]

hmm...an interesting thought since i was thinking of getting the same tires in 225/50 - 16s on 16x7.5 in wheels

[Onizuka]

The wider rim will probably help reduce latteral movement some.

[Exar-Kun]

a wider wheel on the same tire size decreases your effective aspect ratio, increasing turn in and stiffness, but decreasing load carrying ability and contact patch to an extent.

Jspec, check your tire pressures F/R, and keep in mind you have a setup that will force a bit of understeer (esspecially if the rear offset is lower than the front)...so it may be overloading the fronts.

Have you marked the tires sidewalls to see if the tire is rolling over and its not a setup problem? THe ES100 has a very respectibly stiff sidewall, and People are usually quite impressed with their turn-in (just not their treadwear and higher heat tollerance)...

-Chet

[Onizuka]

Understeer isnt a problem, there is just alot of movement and it makes it feel unstable. I am almost certain the tire pressures on the front are too low. I have a tire gauge, but the stupid front metal valve stems are so short and close to the rim I can't get my tire gauge or compressor on the valve. I'll grab some shoe polish or something when I get a chance to check out how much its rolling.

By the way, since I started attending autoX stuff, this is my new most favorite section on nico

[nismofly]

indeed...ive learned so much from Q45tech, smith, chet, and alan

but most of the stuff they say still confuses the **** out of me, ah ill learn

[Onizuka]

I just added about a degree of negative camber (bringing it to about negative 1.6-1.8) and my problems are solved! Its honestly 10 times better now, front end comes around like theres no tommorow.

It also helps that I completely re-adjusted my coilovers: the springs are now secure when the shocks are completely extended, evened ride height on both sides, camber as mentioned before. Feels like a whole new car. My right pillow ball is still sticking though, causeing the shock to rotate on the spring instead