Less traction after switching to track suspension?

[MNDZA]

Put the front bar on it's stiffest setting and the rear on it's softest setting. This will help w/ rear traction by biasing the car toward more understeer. The understeer would only be felt at 10/10s driving as in an autocross. Normal driving w/ have better rear traction.

How do I adjust the sway bar settings myself? I have the BMR links front and rear if that matters. I don't have a lift. I want to see if the bars are installed wrong and pre loaded..... How do I determine that as well?

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[Andrewg]

Good stuff in this link on setting the correct tire pressure. Towards the bottom it explains the chalk method which is probably one of the easiest ways to get the tire pressure right.

Do a bit of aggressive driving and warm the tires up first then try drawing the line of chalk and then have a short drive and see what the wear looks like.

http://www.nitrogentiremachine.com/proper_tire_inflation.htm

 

[VTECSAUCE]

FWIW, if your tires are brand new, they probably need about 100 miles on them or so to get broken in. My car also periodically pulls left or right coming to a stop following the crown of the road and my car is bone stock. Lowered on wider tires could amplify that. I noticed my old Honda used to pull left and right from trucks creating a foot print in the tarmac from continuous use on that particular road.

 

[MNDZA]

Tire pressures I reduced a bit so they're fine and I have well over a thousand miles on the new tires. My car gives me almost zero confidence in a sharp turn. The car almost forces itself out of control without me pushing it much at all. Pre suspension was nothing like this. Can anyone give me a suggestion of what I can do to check this myself before I have to drop it off and wait for a fix?

 

[MtnBiker]

So I recently had my dealer install the Ford Racing track suspension along with BMR links front and rear. I then changed my stock 18's to 20's and put 275's on them. It seems like it is easier now to lose the rear. The dealer was instructed to put the sway bar settings on the softer end for front and rear. Any ideas?

The track pack alone has had good reviews. You've introduced several variables into the mix.

New tire size (both width and sidewall height)
Sway bar settings (bias front to rear). The FR sways only have two holes so pretty simple to adjust.
Possible unclocked bushings?

Some ideas to try:

Agree with the suggestion to stiffen the front sway (use the hole further away from the end of the bar).
Any way you can put the old tires on and test this out? One less variable.

When you say lose the rear - are you giving the car throttle (as in throttle induced oversteer) or is this a constant speed thing...like circling a skid pad and the rear lets go? The 20's with thinner side-walls may break more abruptly. The 18's would give you a better basis of comparison with the rest of the track pack.

Make sure the dealer "clocked" the bushings. This can cause general weirdness in handling.

Finally, I'd search around for a more performance oriented alignment - perhaps from a shop that does such things. And get a printout of the final numbers.

 

[MNDZA]

Ok after searching I just realized there is a shop just a few minutes from my house that specializes in domestic sports cars. I don't know how I didn't see that when I did this initial install. So I stopped by there and it looks like a cool place....lots of awesome cars being worked on. I have an appointment coming up soon to check out my suspension and alignment and to discuss supercharger options.....can't wait!

 

[amknoat]

Ok after searching I just realized there is a shop just a few minutes from my house that specializes in domestic sports cars. I don't know how I didn't see that when I did this initial install. So I stopped by there and it looks like a cool place....lots of awesome cars being worked on. I have an appointment coming up soon to check out my suspension and alignment and to discuss supercharger options.....can't wait!

So did you figure out what was the cause?

 

[MNDZA]

So did you figure out what was the cause?

No couldn't figure it out unfortunately. Also, got rid of the car already. Not because of that issue. Just wanted something different.

 

[Eritas]

I run 40psi on the street with no problem. Report back after a couple hundred miles when you scrub off the tire mold release agent.

 

[keltymd]

I have noticed with my 555G2s that well for lateral grip they are worse in the 285 front and 205 rears than the 255/275 DWS06 all seasons. Could not figure why until i noticed on nittos site all the pictures are of people drifting them they have crap lateral grip.

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