Alignment for oversteer.

[Burkey]

Ok so I absolutely detest understeer, lets be clear on that.
Ideally I'd like to end up with a fairly neutral balance, but if I'm going to choose one over the other, I'll take oversteer please.
Rear has to be set at -1.8 degrees for rear tyre clearance to the guard.
Front camber and all toe settings are up for grabs.
Car is driven fairly aggressively on the street. Random track days will occur, but they aren't the primary focus.
Tyre wear isn't a huge factor, I'm far more likely to kill them with skids and slides than through pure mileage. Hint: I tend to steer it with the throttle quite a bit.
Tyres are 275/295, so a slight bias the wrong way by design.
Suggestions please :cheers:

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[Gibbo205]

I've setup quite a lot of different cars.

For induce oversteer you want more front-end grip and less rear-end grip.

As such try the easiest modification, soften the front, stiffen the rear. Best solution for this would be to set the rear swaybar on full stiffness and the front swaybar on softest setting.

If you don't have adjustable bars, next step is tire pressures, set your fronts at 32psi and rears at 36-38psi, those are cold pressures.

If you can adjust you suspension height, increase rear ride height.

Onto the suspension setup.

The quickest and easiest one to try is toe settings, just focus on the rear as its a very easy adjustment, toe in provides more rear-end grip both off the line and during lateral acceleration. Toe out will make the rear-end loose, very lose and potentially losing control lose under hard braking, so be careful how far you go but in short setting the rear toe to neutral would be a good start and see how you like the balance.

Then to improve front-end grip on a hard driven car, more camber the better, the trade off being more likely to tramline etc, but try to get front camber around -2.00 and the toe at neutral.

See how that feels.

 

[Burkey]

I've setup quite a lot of different cars.

For induce oversteer you want more front-end grip and less rear-end grip.

As such try the easiest modification, soften the front, stiffen the rear. Best solution for this would be to set the rear swaybar on full stiffness and the front swaybar on softest setting.

If you don't have adjustable bars, next step is tire pressures, set your fronts at 32psi and rears at 36-38psi, those are cold pressures.

If you can adjust you suspension height, increase rear ride height.

Onto the suspension setup.

The quickest and easiest one to try is toe settings, just focus on the rear as its a very easy adjustment, toe in provides more rear-end grip both off the line and during lateral acceleration. Toe out will make the rear-end loose, very lose and potentially losing control lose under hard braking, so be careful how far you go but in short setting the rear toe to neutral would be a good start and see how you like the balance.

Then to improve front-end grip on a hard driven car, more camber the better, the trade off being more likely to tramline etc, but try to get front camber around -2.00 and the toe at neutral.

See how that feels.

Thanks Gibbo.
Bars are already set full stiff in the rear and middle on the front.
-2.0 on the front sounds completely feasible.
Hadn't even thought about the role of tyre pressures to be honest :headbonk:
Rear toe is a strategy I will certainly pursue. :cheers:
As always, sound advice.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Well you're biased towards rear grip with your staggered tires, so that's your main issue.

Your main ways to adjust understeer/oversteer will be adjustable swaybars and adjustable shocks, if you have those. Tires pressures maybe too.

To get neutral balance w/ square tires, I like a slightly stiffer rear swaybar bias. (which you have)

If 1.8 camber in the rear, then try as much as 2.5 camber in the front.

Front toe 0 degrees or slightly toe out if you don't mind it a little darty. Go 0 toe if you don't want it darty but still want it nimble.

Slight toe-in rear for stability under acceleration and to keep the rear from stepping out too quickly while powering out of the corner. I would NOT recommend toe out in the rear. It WILL give you mad oversteer, but not in a very friendly or controllable fashion. Think cars and coffee crashes... that kind of oversteer.

 

[jasonstang]

Stiffer rear sway bar and softer front.

 

[Burkey]

Well you're biased towards rear grip with your staggered tires, so that's your main issue.

Your main ways to adjust understeer/oversteer will be adjustable swaybars and adjustable shocks, if you have those. Tires pressures maybe too.

To get neutral balance w/ square tires, I like a slightly stiffer rear swaybar bias. (which you have)

If 1.8 camber in the rear, then try as much as 2.5 camber in the front.

Front toe 0 degrees or slightly toe out if you don't mind it a little darty. Go 0 toe if you don't want it darty but still want it nimble.

Slight toe-in rear for stability under acceleration and to keep the rear from stepping out too quickly while powering out of the corner. I would NOT recommend toe out in the rear. It WILL give you mad oversteer, but not in a very friendly or controllable fashion. Think cars and coffee crashes... that kind of oversteer.

Much appreciated. A little "darty" doesn't bother me if it means more precision on turn in. :cheers:
What happens at cars n coffee? :lol:

 

[qtrracer]

I tried about 5/32" total toe-out on the front, with -2.5* camber. -2* camber on the rear and about 3/32" toe-in. Factory stager on a PP car. I also have .25" spacers on the front to help bring the track widths more in line. Skid pad indicated a very slight rear traction bias. Very hard to gauge but the front let go first more often.

So I went to stiffer rear rebound, and 1/32 total toe in on the front. All other measurements stayed the same. Well the rear was too loose and the front lost some grip too. Too many changes. Going to a new base setting and thereafter trying one change at a time. More effort and very slow but it's the only way when a one man crew.

 

[Burkey]

I tried about 5/32" total toe-out on the front, with -2.5* camber. -2* camber on the rear and about 3/32" toe-in. Factory stager on a PP car. I also have .25" spacers on the front to help bring the track widths more in line. Skid pad indicated a very slight rear traction bias. Very hard to gauge but the front let go first more often.

So I went to stiffer rear rebound, and 1/32 total toe in on the front. All other measurements stayed the same. Well the rear was too loose and the front lost some grip too. Too many changes. Going to a new base setting and thereafter trying one change at a time. More effort and very slow but it's the only way when a one man crew.

Much appreciated. I'd love to hear the results

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