Front suspension settings and upgrades

Jim,
Although I am hoping that things remain relatively constant when I change tires, I can accept that I will have to make some alterations as part of the learning process.

I guess I just want to maximise what I have in the first instance. As they say, spending a little on better handling can (sometimes) be worth a lot more than spending more on increasing power.
 
Sorry, been a bit lax here.
My car (mostly from memory):-

Current basic static suspension settings:-
Front:-
Camber: -2.5 degrees
Caster: 3.5 degrees
0 toe.

Rear:-
Camber: -3.25 degrees
Caster: not enough yet
Toe: set for 0 at maximum effective bump steer "toe out".

Springs:-
Front: 550 lb
Rear: 400 lb

Shocks: Koni, can't remember settings offhand

Sway bars: adjustable - Can't tell you rates.
Front: Currently full hard
Rear: Currently off car

Tyres:
Kuhmo VictoRacer V700 race tyres
225 x 50 x 16 front
265 x 45 x 16 rear

I am fairly happy with the front suspension and the front end characteristics in general. I have never had an understeer problem.
My work on the steering (mentioned on other threads) is solely to relieve a problem particular to myself (shoulder injury) and is a work in progress. I will post photo's of what I've done so far when I get a chance to take some.
Rear suspension is also a work in progress. I am MUCH happier with it now than at delivery.

I repeat (from other threads):
My setup is track oriented and the car is on racing tyres. My "criticisms" of the car are track biased. As a street car it was pretty damn good at delivery. At slower track speeds the car was reasonably well behaved, it was only as I pushed it faster that problems started to arise. How things would have gone on street tyres I don't know.
Characteristics of my car seem at odds with the experience of some eg Chris L (I suspect that the tyres play a MAJOR part in this), and closer perhaps to Ross', although he's running slicks.
I have no problem believing any of the stated experiences of contributors to these discussions in the past and don't want to be seen as holding some sort of contrary position to people like Chris, our cars are quite different in many respects.
I also repeat that development on my car is currently almost stalled as I have been concentrating on other things. It will be, at best, slow from now on.
The settings etc above have IMO improved the car dramatically but I believe I have some way to go to get it close enough to "right" for me to stop playing with it and to be really comfortable passing on settings etc to others.
I will probably change to 17" rims as there are no real tyre alternatives in the 16" range.
Did I mention my opinion of the tyre situation? :)

Lastly, once again, my changes/experiences with my car are not supposed to be criticisms of RF vehicles. It's a great car. If yours isn't perfect then some time spent on the setup and some minor component changes will bring out it's true character and potential, whatever purpose you have in mind for it.

Tim.
 
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