Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Ok guys, basically, I know very little in terms of suspension. I've got a 33GTR with the usual coilovers and Whiteline front and rear adjustable swaybars. Also I have the Whiteline front and rear camber bush kits and castor kit. I'm hitting the track more and more regularly (Mallala) and want to throw a few dollars into the suspension department as I'm putting out pretty decent power (~320kw) Trouble is I have no idea where to start, what to buy and why to buy it. Obviously I want the car set up for grip, not drift, I already have semi slicks but just want that little bit better handling; just not sure how to get it. Any suggestions?

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/310353-help-me-set-up-my-gtr/
Share on other sites

Yes. Start by learning more about how suspension works. That isn't a smart arsed answer & probably not the one you are after but I would seriously suggest you try & learn about car/suspension behaviour as a start point

It will help you get more out of what you have & better guide you on what to buy in future.

what are your wheel alignment settings (toe, camber, castor, ride height - front and rear) and what is it specifically about the handling that you want to improve (ie does it understeer, oversteer, and where: corner entry, mid corner or corner exit)? Also what tyres are you running, how new, and what pressures do you run them at?

I know, lots of questions but it can help narrow things down.

Also, have you had much driver training/advice? Its funny how often approach to a corner makes a difference to the problems you are having

what are your wheel alignment settings (toe, camber, castor, ride height - front and rear) and what is it specifically about the handling that you want to improve (ie does it understeer, oversteer, and where: corner entry, mid corner or corner exit)? Also what tyres are you running, how new, and what pressures do you run them at?

I know, lots of questions but it can help narrow things down.

Also, have you had much driver training/advice? Its funny how often approach to a corner makes a difference to the problems you are having

Cheers for the replies guys...

As for alignment settings, I've set the car up to match the numbers given by SydneyKid in his Whiteline group buy. I'm running Toyo R888's front and rear also. I fitted front and rear swaybars to the car this week and took it for a little drive in the hills. It definitely feels a lot 'sharper' in turn in and I think was a good investment.

As for what I want to improve, there's no 'bad' areas really, I just want to maximise what I can get out of the car by messing around with the suspension. Just like there's nothing wrong with a car at 280kw but pushing for 300 if you know what I mean.

As for the driver training. I've now participated in 4 John Bowe training days so while I'm not Schumacher, I'm a fairly competent driver and understand lines and apexes and the effects of not taking them correctly

Hi Luke,

A bit off topic but what brakes are you running? First thing I did after GTR purchase was to put better brakes, first trying better pads & fluid on stock rotors & calipers, then big brake kit as per avatar pic

<-----

Also would be interested to know what approx times you are lapping with the semis & 320 at the wheels. Last time out I ran 205kw + street rubber, next time will be on semis plus 285kw so am expecting 2-3 seconds off.

As for alignment settings, I've set the car up to match the numbers given by SydneyKid in his Whiteline group buy. I'm running Toyo R888's front and rear also.

better tyres will help. I've run a few different types of semis over the years, and my current R888s have been the least impressive of the lot. RE55S are very popular on GTRs for a reason. Dunlop DZ03 are faster, but also more expensive.

you will also benefit from more aggressive alignment settings than those recommended for street cars in the group buy.

Cheers guys!

semislickR32, running standard calipers, slotted rotors DS2500 pads and Motul RBF 660 fluid. Will be looking into a brake upgrade soon though...

hrd-hr30, thanks for the advice, I'll take a look into the RE55s :laugh:

  • 4 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
semislick what brakes are you running, they look brilliant.

They are a project mu billet racing kit - 4pot on 345mm 2piece rotors ( just fit under my 17s). good on track but noisy on the street.

Still running stocks on the rear.

In retrospect they are total performance overkill and an r34/33 brembo set would've been adequate. But for looks yeah I reckon they are tough. Also 10/10 aussieness with green calipers + gold rims ;)

As said by duncan before, get the wheel alignment sorted. This will make huge differences in handeling characteristics.

If the alignment is as SydneyKid recomends, who am I to argue?

If you can invest in a tyre pressure gauge and tyre pyrometer this will help too.

Basic wheel alignments are a good place to start but they are very dependent of driver characterists (i.e, how you drive the car)

Find out what tyre pressure the tyres work best and aim for that pressure when the tyres are hot.

A big tip I have found is start off with the simple basics, ie tyre pressures, and get more complex if you have more problems.

If the car feels under/over steery, adjust tyre press first by adding or lowering pressures in the tyres to add or reduce grip at one end of the car (its not quite THAT simple, as adjustments at one end of the car will change characteristics at the other end too, but its a good place to start).

From there you can use a tyre pyrometer to see how effectivly the tyres contact patch is to the road. In other words, are you getting as much tyre contacting the road as possible or could you increase grip further?

But if you dont have any problems with the characteristics of the car, why change them? Work bettering yourself as a driver and extracting the most from the car. Once you reach the limit, you will start encountering problems. From there, you'll have to identify where the problem is (as Duncan said). Under or over steer? Corner entry/mid corner/corner exit etc, under brakes? Acceleration?

It it aint broke, dont fix it.Once you have problems, let us know and im sure we can help with something

Edited by GTS4WD

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Thanks for that, I'll check it all out. I can always do the brakes last anyway if its a problem.  The 16's are super cool, if they do fit I'll cruise around with them for a bit.  
    • Well, that's kinda the point. The calipers might interfere with the inside of the barrels 16" rims are only about 14" inside the barrels, which is ~350mm, and 334mm rotors only leave about 8mm outboard for the caliper before you get to 350, And.... that;s not gunna be enough. If the rims have a larger ID than that, you might sneak it in. I'd be putting a measuring stick inside the wheel and eyeballing the extra required for the caliper outboard of the rotor before committing to bolting it all on.
    • OK, so again it has been a bit of a break but it was around researching what had been done since I didn't have access to Neil's records and not everything is obvious without pulling stuff apart. Happily the guy who assembled the engine had kept reasonable records, so we now know the final spec is: Bottom end: Standard block and crank Ross 86.5mm forgies, 9:1 compression Spool forged rods Standard main bolts Oil pump Spool billet gears in standard housing Aeroflow extended and baffled sump Head Freshly rebuilt standard head with new 80lb valve springs Mild porting/port match Head oil feed restrictor VCT disabled Tighe 805C reground cams (255 duration, 8.93 lift)  Adjustable cam gears on inlet/exhaust Standard head bolts, gasket not confirmed but assumed MLS External 555cc Nismo injectors Z32 AFM Bosch 023 Intank fuel pump Garret 2871 (factory housings and manifold) Hypertune FFP plenum with standard throttle   Time to book in a trip to Unigroup
    • I forgot about my shiny new plates!
    • Well, apparently they do fit, however this wont be a problem if not because the car will be stationary while i do the suspension work. I was just going to use the 16's to roll the old girl around if I needed to. I just need to get the E90 back on the road first. Yes! I'm a believer! 🙌 So, I contacted them because the site kinda sucks and I was really confused about what I'd need. They put together a package for me and because I was spraying all the seat surfaces and not doing spot fixes I decided not to send them a headrest to colour match, I just used their colour on file (and it was spot on).  I got some heavy duty cleaner, 1L of colour, a small bottle of dye hardener and a small bottle of the dye top coat. I also got a spray gun as I needed a larger nozzle than the gun I had and it was only $40 extra. From memory the total was ~$450 ish. Its not cheap but the result is awesome. They did add repair bits and pieces to the quote originally and the cost came down significantly when I said I didn't need any repair products. I did it over a weekend. The only issues I had were my own; I forgot to mix the hardener into the dye two coats but I had enough dye for 2 more coats with the hardener. I also just used up all the dye because why not and i rushed the last coat which gave me some runs. Thankfully the runs are under the headrests. The gun pattern wasn't great, very round and would have been better if it was a line. It made it a little tricky to get consistent coverage and I think having done the extra coats probably helped conceal any coverage issues. I contacted them again a few months later so I could get our X5 done (who the f**k thought white leather was a good idea for a family car?!) and they said they had some training to do in Sydney and I could get a reduced rate on the leather fix in the X5 if I let them demo their product on our car. So I agreed. When I took Bec in the E39 to pick it up, I showed them the job I'd done in my car and they were all (students included) really impressed. Note that they said the runs I created could be fixed easily at the time with a brush or an air compressor gun. So, now with the two cars done I can absolutely recommend Colourlock.  I'll take pics of both interiors and create a new thread.
×
×
  • Create New...