suspension setup for brands hatch

[UweM3]

I need to stop spending on building and start actually spending on track days at some point!!

track day fun is not going to happen for a while, isn't it
watch this space......

[gareth]

How was the new surface Gareth?

Heard its a bit sketchy in the wet at the mo?

Playing there this friday

the new surface suited the skyline owners with their 4wd and electronic cheats well... i was struggling for rear traction in 3rd. it seemed to take an age to dry out too. if you go wide turning into clark curve, it's pretty tricky getting back on line.
slipppppery!

[danny_duke01]

that's me! that corner where the seven cought me up was a bit sketchy, the car in front was pulling off but understeered straight across the track in front of me as he was on a wet line to turn into the pits! Missed that in the video though.

the other white E30 is danny_duke01 on here, driving mostly sideways

Haha...i like that!!

[danny_duke01]

How was the new surface Gareth?

Heard its a bit sketchy in the wet at the mo?

Playing there this friday

the new surface suited the skyline owners with their 4wd and electronic cheats well... i was struggling for rear traction in 3rd. it seemed to take an age to dry out too. if you go wide turning into clark curve, it's pretty tricky getting back on line.
slipppppery!

I completely agree with you there Gareth...it did seem to take ages for the track to dry out and yes if you did go off line it was very slippery getting back on line...(not that i noticed too much,as spent most of the day going sideways!!)

[DanThe]

What tyre temps were you getting Gareth? How did you find the tyres held up with your suspension?

[gareth]

i forgot to note them down in the afternoon but they were generally around 50 - 55°C in the morning when it was quite nippy and the track was damp in places.

interesting to note they were generally hotter on the left side on all tyres. also in the morning the insides ran hotter but when it dried out and traction levels increased they were running hotter on the outsides. which makes sense when you think about how they'll behave with the differing traction levels and hence cornering loads.

less camber needed when it's cold then i reckon, but this is probably getting excessive on a touring daily driver

the tyres held up very well. little or no migration in the morning but that picked up in the afternoon. still very little wear compared to others i saw. the migration was well comontolled too, staying relatively static rather than fat blobs hanging off the sides of each tread. Shaun's (turky) front left tyre took a hammering and he's running uprated ARB's and H&R springs and shocks AFAIK. come more camber on his wouldn't go amiss

[DanThe]

Hottest I got today at Oulton was 56, on the outside of the front left Insides were only about 2 degrees out so camber was good. Proxies however are shite when you have reasonable suspension and power



It was very annoying being limited by the screeching of tyres, up to 5 or 6 laps they were ok but once hot they seemed to turn to jelly

[gareth]

mine came off looking a whole load better than that!
the migration is all pretty much where it started with relatively little fethering of the treads too.

i think the wider and stiffer tread blocks on the zeta lineas help in this respect, also keeping temperatures down. mine should be very hard on tyres being a 1400kg fatarse (with two 100kg fatarses in it) but it did well.

i think mine are a bit harder than the proxes so a little less grippy from cold (no that they feel like it though) but as it's a daily driver, extra life isn't a bad thing. if they stay in one piece when thrown round a track rather than overheating then they suit me well!

some softer stickier tyres would be better for a tripped track car and a more 'trim' driver i reckon!

how many laps did you do to get them in that state? i think mine covered about 85 miles on track (a full tank of fuel ) and though i've not measured yet, i guess i've lost between 0.5 and 1mm of tread. maybe a little more on the shoulders

[DanThe]

Average 6 laps at a time, that was my most though, maybe 8, I started off with 30psi and after a couple of laps it was getting slippery so dropped to 26 cold, much better, lots more grip and could turn in harder, then after 4 or 5 laps the tyres were getting hot and loosing performance rapidly, I was keeping up with some good motors until hot tyre time...
This is a 2 door with an M52 alloy engine

[DanThe]

I did about 70 miles to track and 124 when I filled up, so 50 odd on track for the morning sesion, I averaged 18mpg

[gareth]

i was doing 6 - 10 laps at a go most times. started off with 35psi and kept dropping it back to 40psi hot. they would creep up to 43psi acerage after each run but the temperatures were steadily building all day.

i was doing pretty well, ahead of some skylines a lot faster than a R34 GTR and a new GTR but i suspect they just needed larger balls!! one R32 had 650bhp... this is after he fitted a smaller turbo to reduce lag! that was, err, a bit quicker than me!

the supercharged 306 GTi-6's and track prepared new minis were pretty damn quick too.

[Jhonno]

Hottest I got today at Oulton was 56, on the outside of the front left Insides were only about 2 degrees out so camber was good. Proxies however are shite when you have reasonable suspension and power



It was very annoying being limited by the screeching of tyres, up to 5 or 6 laps they were ok but once hot they seemed to turn to jelly

Try some Hankook RS2's..

[DanThe]

Your not the only one to say that today

A few others said I should use 888's as they would transform the car, I really did feel let down by the tyres, I was going as fast as E30's on track rubber (according to some guy standing at the pit wall)

[Dezzy]

We deal direct with hankook as well

[DanThe]

Send me some prices via pm then

Been offered some 888's today so may be going that way....

[billgatese30]

Hottest I got today at Oulton was 56, on the outside of the front left Insides were only about 2 degrees out so camber was good. Proxies however are shite when you have reasonable suspension and power



It was very annoying being limited by the screeching of tyres, up to 5 or 6 laps they were ok but once hot they seemed to turn to jelly

When I had the MR2 all 4 had worse beading than that (although it was pretty even across the entire width of the tire) after about 6-8 laps. I couldn't say that they were going off, I was acutally going faster, almost as if they were at prime temperature as it took another 15-20 mins before they got "greasy" and the car started feeling loose (no temps available). But having said that, as much as I hate to bow down to jap crap, a mk2 MR2 is an awesome chassis, so readable and predictable it makes an e30 feel like a Rowntree's jelly in comparison......so much so I was keeping up with an M6 driven by a pussy around croft with a shagged 150K miles 2.0 litre 1300kg MR2 with some cheap lowering springs and a set of proxes

[winx]

888s transformed my car when on track and they wear less on track than my road tyres, highly recommended!

[Dezzy]

Send me some prices via pm then

Been offered some 888's today so may be going that way....

IMO best way to go mate.
Nobody has a bad word to say about them.

[billgatese30]

Send me some prices via pm then

Been offered some 888's today so may be going that way....

IMO best way to go mate.
Nobody has a bad word to say about them.

can you get a good deal on 888's Dez?

I can get them at cost from a garage that gets them at trade price from tire spot, can you get me a better deal? we could almost do payment in kind +/-£ for your custom hubs&spacers if so

[Dezzy]

Pm me what you pay and what size you run mate. I can get them at very good prices direct but tyrespot tend to be competetive as they have bulk buying power.

[UweM3]

Send me some prices via pm then

Been offered some 888's today so may be going that way....

IMO best way to go mate.
Nobody has a bad word to say about them.

I have

I think they overheat too quick and then wear too fast.
Try some Dunlop Direzza.

[gareth]

How did you find the tyres held up with your suspension?

i had a measure of tread depths earlier (i noted them before the track day) and have go the following wear:
front left 0.3mm off
front right 0.3mm off
rear left 0.7mm off
rear right 1mm off

strange that i've worn so much on the rear right but i guess that was mostly the diff locking up and scrubbing the inside rear wheel out of every corner (mosly right handers). strangely that tyre had most wear before anyway... strange

all told though, they wear very well, perform well, don't overheat and go all jelly-like, don't squeal, wear at an average rate of under 1mm per 100 track miles (!!!!!) and cost about £100 for a set!

i'm happy with them

[Jon_Bmw]

If you didn't melt them you're obviously not trying hard enough Gareth!

Perhaps you are just mechanically sympathetic, unlike some.

[DanThe]

Right rear must be down to roundabout diffin

[gareth]

it could be all of the above! or i'm silky smooth........ no, on second thoughts, scrap that! silky smooth driving doesn't boil ATE super blue or knock the flywheel off!

i've not got a lot of track day experience to judge tyre wear but i was the fastest E30 there and about mid-field with the skylines so they were working relatively hard and they did seem to put up with the day well.

i'd like to try them back to back with proxes as i've never had proxes on track. i have had them on two road cars though but it's been a few years at least