help with understeer on mk1

Have you had your arches folded over gillm?

 

There's your first problem. You should be running 28- 30psi on the rear. You need to get your tyre pressure right before adjusting the damping. Gradually increase the rear tyre pressures and see how it improves.

Also make sure you get your tracking and camber sorted as has been said above.

 

i was told to run the rear at less then the front

 

i think the problem isvery simple and is that the front has been lowered and the wishbone is now parallel with the road [or worse] . so now when cornering the front outside wheel as the suspension now compresses is going into positive camber. on a purely track car you could have lots of neg camber or really stiff springs to try and combat this. i think a way to help is a pair of those spacers that fit between wishbone and front hub assy as recently discussed on here.

 

Why?

On the road in the wet for a road car, yes I can see why, but otherwise no.

 

this is what a mate told me who has had mk1's for a few years .

 

gillm

There`s some good advice in this thread, suggest you find out exactly what you have in the way of settings and equipment ... then see how it applies.

Let us know how you get on.

 

yeh im going to get new tyres on the car on friday . found some avs's so i will have 4 again , then going out to my mates garage and gona do some checks and with a bit of luck take it round the track to see how it all fairs up .

 

I've just re-read the thread again and noticed this. Yes it will make your understeer problem worse. If you raise the front of the car then more weight will be transferred to the rear tyres, giving them more grip and the front less.

There's lots of different ways of combating understeer without going out and buying new suspension, or an ATB. You need to get the fundamentals of the car right with your current tyres, suspension and ARB's before you go upgrading things. Otherwise your mods will only mask your handling problems.

As Pete (8vvw) suggested, do some reading on the net or get a book out from the library so that you understand vehicle dynamics. Then when you change something you know why you're doing it and what the affect should be.

Sean

 

I've just done a quick google and found these sites:-

http://www.geocities.com/g_wellwood/automotive/handling.html

http://www.se-r.net/car_info/suspension_tuning.html

They're American sites so use some different terminology but still a good read and will help you understand how your car handles and why.

 

thanks guys