Ideal S14 suspension/alignment
Ideal S14 suspension/alignment
My goals for my s14 are to have nice neutral to slightly rear-biased handling, for use with street driving, mountain roads, autocross, and perhaps road courses later on. I want to get rid of most body roll without making the ride ridiculously harsh, and I want good balance and grip. Most of the talk on this forum focuses on wheels, tires, and coilovers, with little about sway bars, bushings, and alignment specs. So far, I'm planning to get 17x8 +28 with 225/45/17 Kumho MX all around, either Megan Racing or KTS coilovers, SPL tension rods, and probably Cusco/SPL RUCAs. I already have SPL aluminum subframe bushigns to firm up the rear, adn the stock SE sways. I think I will go with a relatively mild drop to retain travel, especially in the front, and shoot for around 1.5-2.5 degrees camber front, 1-1.5 degrees rear, 0 toe all around. Is this a good setup? Will I need other adjustable arms (traction, toe) to achieve this with a moderate drop? Are there any control arm bushings that I should replace with poly or nismo bushings for better response? I know the subframe and tension rod bushigns are really squishy..how are the others? I'm also curious about sway bars. I was thinking that the adjustable whitelines would be a good way to fine tune balance and also keep body roll down with softer damper settings, which should help the dampers absorb bumps better, correct? Next, what can caster do for handling? I remember reading somewhere that altering caster in one direction reduces toe changes (bumpsteer?) under compression, which seems like a good thing. Yay or nay? Wow, this post got out of hand, but I haven't found much on these topics even with searching. Any pointers/tips appreciated
i have thw adj. whiteline sways, whiteline springs, AGX struts, and pretty much all the bushings replaced to poly. overall, i am happy with my setup. a lot stiffer than stock but very bareable for a daily driver. the adj sways and struts provide plenty of adjustment. i started out with some conservative settings but after feeling the understeer i tightened up the rear sway and increased rear damper and the car is alot more balanced (actually a little too tail-happy as of now, but thats fun) if i had to do it over again i think i might have gone for a mild coilover rather than the spring/strut combo just for the fact that the springs and struts would be tuned to work together. but i wont complain with the setup i have. its a lot of fun and still bareable to be a daily driver on the horrible pennsylvania roads. i also have 17x8 +35mm FN01R-C wheels with pirelli pzero neros if you were wondering.
also i forgot to add that i used the alignment settings found in an article on whiteline's web page:1.5* front camber1.1* rearzero toe on front2mm toe in on both rear sides3.5* positive casterthese settings a pretty good, you can make the camber more agressive if you like but i can tell i'm wearing on the inner tire with these settings. not too bad of an uneven wear but noticable
Re: (TurboKA37)
err, SPL coils >>>>>>>>> megan racing coils
spl coils megan racing coils
spl coils megan racing coils
Re: Ideal S14 suspension/alignment (turtl631)
read the FAq. most of your questions about over/understeer is answered there.
for the alignment settings, you're way off (no offense)
-1.2 to -1.5 front camber.02-.08 front positive toe (each, total should be .04 to .16)
swing the caster a bit forward from stock, so it'll feel better and high speeds, esspecially with a nearly-neutral toe setting.
for the rear, toe sohuld be like wise, between .01 and .06, preferably about .03 each...(like the front)..just enough to give you a bit of stability
rear camber should be -1.5 to -2 depending on if you're understerring/oversteering under power and hard cornering at the given time, and how you want the butt end to feel.
if you find that you want better steering response, you can reduce the caster a bit, or lower the toe setting, but I would never...ever reccomend negative toe settings unless you were planning on running a short autocross course (no more than mid 3rd gear) and then returning to normal alignment.
slignment setting can do a lot for how a car feels under certain circumstances...when in doubt, start with close-to-stock and progress from there, chaning one thing at time until you find what you want.-Chet
for the alignment settings, you're way off (no offense)
-1.2 to -1.5 front camber.02-.08 front positive toe (each, total should be .04 to .16)
swing the caster a bit forward from stock, so it'll feel better and high speeds, esspecially with a nearly-neutral toe setting.
for the rear, toe sohuld be like wise, between .01 and .06, preferably about .03 each...(like the front)..just enough to give you a bit of stability
rear camber should be -1.5 to -2 depending on if you're understerring/oversteering under power and hard cornering at the given time, and how you want the butt end to feel.
if you find that you want better steering response, you can reduce the caster a bit, or lower the toe setting, but I would never...ever reccomend negative toe settings unless you were planning on running a short autocross course (no more than mid 3rd gear) and then returning to normal alignment.
slignment setting can do a lot for how a car feels under certain circumstances...when in doubt, start with close-to-stock and progress from there, chaning one thing at time until you find what you want.-Chet
Re: (chmercer)
SPL coils also keep getting more expensive, and the MR ones are made by a supposedly reputable company and sold by MR. Nobody knew about KTS a year ago either, so there's no reason to badmouth the MR coils yet. And why do you plug SPL coilovers so much? Everytime i search for info about coilovers on any nissan forum, you always pitch in a random post about how SPL is the best.chmercer wrote:err, SPL coils >>>>>>>>> megan racing coils
spl coils megan racing coils
Exar, thanks for the info. Is positive toe the same as toe in? Also, i noticed that tirerack has pirelli pzero rossos on sale...235/40/17 for like $109 each or something. Think thats a good buy?
Re: (chmercer)
hmmm do
does SPL pay you or something? Or do you just like being someone's *****?lol j/kchmercer wrote:err, SPL coils >>>>>>>>> megan racing coils
spl coils megan racing coils
Re: (turtl631)
positive toe=toe innegative toe=toe out
yes, that's a good deal on Pzeros. Be warned, they need heat to work, temps under 50 degrees ambient and they're like bricks until they warm up to at least 70....
on the plus side, its very herd to "overheat" a Pzero (and a pilot sport) I managed to 'blue' the edges of my Pzero only after 30 minutes of repeated max cornering (almost no straights) and they still stuck quite well....most tires would ahve gotten slick and slid around after 10 minutes or less of what I was putting them through haha.
just be very cautious during winter driving for the first 10 minutes or so....
-Chet
yes, that's a good deal on Pzeros. Be warned, they need heat to work, temps under 50 degrees ambient and they're like bricks until they warm up to at least 70....
on the plus side, its very herd to "overheat" a Pzero (and a pilot sport) I managed to 'blue' the edges of my Pzero only after 30 minutes of repeated max cornering (almost no straights) and they still stuck quite well....most tires would ahve gotten slick and slid around after 10 minutes or less of what I was putting them through haha.
just be very cautious during winter driving for the first 10 minutes or so....
-Chet
I might grab those tires then if I find some 17x8 pretty soon. I was set on MB motorsports weapon because they fit and they're cheap and a few people had drifted in them without breaking or bending them, but now I think they might be kinda heavy for their size...20.5 lbs for 17x9..wonder how much for 17x8. Maybe I'll find some used FN01s or K1s soon. Anyways, tires sound good. Its them or Kumho MX which get really good reviews as well.
Re: (turtl631)
20lbs is pretty heavy, IMO..but then again, I'm a bit anal about that stuff...
the mor you know about unsprung versus sprung weight relationships..the less you wish your suspension componenets, wheels and tires weigh...
lol-chet
the mor you know about unsprung versus sprung weight relationships..the less you wish your suspension componenets, wheels and tires weigh...
lol-chet