Race Tracking Your Supra - Information exchange

[Islindur]

Worth it.
I did only front, car became understeery. I added rear, it became crazy oversteery on slow corners. With both prob needs front stiffest rear softest. If U wanna do 1 do just front but prepare for understeer balance. But it will be flatter with less body roll.
I'f I was doing it again I'd do coilovers + front sway + square tire setup and see how it behaves. Correct from there.

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[Traxion]

I searched in the forum already but feel like everybody is directly switching to coilovers.
Is anybody on stock shocks/height and aftermarket sway bars? Any thoughts if this is worth it, for a track and mountain road perspective?
I know mounting the rear swaybar is a b*****, so any comment is welcome to help me take a decision

Stock suspension is fine to start out with. Front sway bar is 100% necessary IMO. Weight transfers on chicanes (or slaloms in autocross) are handled much better now. I very much like the handling characteristics of my car with only those things and an 18x10.7 square set up as a starting point. I'd put the money spent on suspension into more seat time before upgrading suspension until you really feel like you've reached the cars limit and a more experience driver agrees but if you've got unlimited funds then go for it.

 

[PaulFRDE]

Thanks for your feedbacks! Glad to hear some very positive experiences.

I like slightly oversteer, especially in slow corners, and you are both on square tire setup, which I would also like to avoid (German TÜV, etc...), so with only front bar I will definitively have an understeery pig.

My funds are definitively not unlimited, seat time, fuel, tires and brakes already makes a big hole in my pockets.

 

[FLtrackdays]

Thanks for your feedbacks! Glad to hear some very positive experiences.

I like slightly oversteer, especially in slow corners, and you are both on square tire setup, which I would also like to avoid (German TÜV, etc...), so with only front bar I will definitively have an understeery pig.

My funds are definitively not unlimited, seat time, fuel, tires and brakes already makes a big hole in my pockets.

A good friend ran his stock, with only sway bars and tires. He has lots of experience and hauled ass. A lot of people didn’t like that he was so fast with so little mods. I wasn’t the only one he‘s lifted the engine bay for - So yes, sway bars front and rear will stiffen you up quite a bit. Tires are a must. Whoops, brake pads too… He ran Hawk DTC 60/30. Fastest Supra at the Miami/Homestead track. I’m so close to beating his time and I have coilovers. Sad hahahaha… Proof you can go a long way with just that

 

[Eyelise]

Hi everyone,

Thank you very much, for this thread, lot to read and to think!

I just finished my season, this car is a beast even with the EU engine. My car is fully stock except brakes, and I want to modify it as little as possible.

That said, I have been thinking about installing aftermarket front and rear sway bars to improve the behavior in the some corners (especiqlly the chicanes), and hopefully compensate a bit for the lack of camber on stock suspension/height/geometry.
Also, it just looks stupid how much it lifts on some tracks

I searched in the forum already but feel like everybody is directly switching to coilovers.
Is anybody on stock shocks/height and aftermarket sway bars? Any thoughts if this is worth it, for a track and mountain road perspective?
I know mounting the rear swaybar is a b*****, so any comment is welcome to help me take a decision

Thanks for your feedbacks! Glad to hear some very positive experiences.

I like slightly oversteer, especially in slow corners, and you are both on square tire setup, which I would also like to avoid (German TÜV, etc...), so with only front bar I will definitively have an understeery pig.

My funds are definitively not unlimited, seat time, fuel, tires and brakes already makes a big hole in my pockets.

I have stock springs and struts and did Eibach front sway bar and later added the rear. I ran all summer on the OEM PSS tires. The car actually felt fine with just the front sway bar but as I got faster, with OEM set-up, really beat up the front left tire. I added camber (Verus) plates and the rear bar and boy the car is fantastic on the street and track. I may try a 200TW tire, the same tire size, on the OEM wheels. Sway bars and camber plates on stock suspension is great.

 

[PaulFRDE]

A good friend ran his stock, with only sway bars and tires. He has lots of experience and hauled ass. A lot of people didn’t like that he was so fast with so little mods. I wasn’t the only one he‘s lifted the engine bay for - So yes, sway bars front and rear will stiffen you up quite a bit. Tires are a must. Whoops, brake pads too… He ran Hawk DTC 60/30. Fastest Supra at the Miami/Homestead track. I’m so close to beating his time and I have coilovers. Sad hahahaha… Proof you can go a long way with just that

I have stock springs and struts and did Eibach front sway bar and later added the rear. I ran all summer on the OEM PSS tires. The car actually felt fine with just the front sway bar but as I got faster, with OEM set-up, really beat up the front left tire. I added camber (Verus) plates and the rear bar and boy the car is fantastic on the street and track. I may try a 200TW tire, the same tire size, on the OEM wheels. Sway bars and camber plates on stock suspension is great.

Thanks for your feedbacks!

I also consider the supra to be a little beast out of the box. I'm not as talented as your friend, but regularly keep up and overtake >100k€ cars that should let me in the dust.

For tires I run the Goodyear eagle f1 supersport. They are not semis or 200TW but have nice stiff sidewalls so I can deal without camber plates for now. Btw amazing tires to have fun if you are not looking for the best lap time.
With the brakes I have the stock system except added front brake duct. It's so good I can run the stock Brembo pads for "most" tracks.

Anyway I am convinced now, I need to wait for April (season plate number) to have the Eibach installed and will post here again after I burn enough tire with them

 

[Eyelise]

Yes the car is super capable out of the box.

 

[theQuaybee]

Hi all, my turn to come to you with a problem (besides ongoing cooling issues). When I brake, even a medium amount, track or street, my entire car rotates to the right, every time. It also doesn't quite seem to be EXACLTY when I press the brakes, but almost after a split second. Honestly, it's very hard to pinpoint exactly what is happening. All I know for sure is, after I press the brakes, the car rotates right after the nose dives. But, once it "settles" during the braking, after it has rotated, it doesn't keep pulling to one side. It's like it settles in at that weird angle, and I just have to countersteer at a consistent angle during the braking zone.

I've changed brake pads back to OE, still the same. I'm still slightly suspicious of a caliper issue or something, but the car had 3500 miles on it when I bought it earlier this year, and this was my 4th track day. I also would expect the car to keep pulling to one side during the entire braking period if it were related to brakes, but that isn't really the case... again, best I can tell.

I've had alignment checked like 3 times and by different shops, I can say with confidence that it isn't related to alignment. Unless there's something everyone missed.

All my bolts look torqued via paint pen marks, but I haven't checked every single one. Things suspension-related I've changed myself are:

• Nitron R1 Coilovers
• SPL Front LCAs
• SPL Front Caster Bushings
• SPL Rear Traction Arms
• SPL Rear Toe Links
• AMS Front Sway Bar

Could it be something electronic? To me, to the best of my knowledge, it feels like something is maybe loose and shifting under braking, aka dynamic alignment. Thoughts are appreciated.

 

[theQuaybee]

The best I can give you is this for now, though the video makes it not look as bad as it feels (it feels terrible and extremely unstable). I did some tests with my hands off the wheel to see what it did, and I need to export those video clips.

If you start at this timestamp and maybe slow down the playback speed you can kind of see it.

 

[garudathree]

your kinematics need to be reviewed. double check your toe curve on both ends.
asymmetrical number of spacers on the LCA? rear traction links at different lengths? asymmetrical shock settings?

When was your last alignment?

 

[theQuaybee]

your kinematics need to be reviewed. double check your toe curve on both ends.
asymmetrical number of spacers on the LCA? rear traction links at different lengths? asymmetrical shock settings?

When was your last alignment?

I had an alignment adjustment a few days before the track day and another alignment check at the track from the shop there. Neither made a difference in this issue.

 

[razorlab]

Hi all, my turn to come to you with a problem (besides ongoing cooling issues). When I brake, even a medium amount, track or street, my entire car rotates to the right, every time. It also doesn't quite seem to be EXACLTY when I press the brakes, but almost after a split second. Honestly, it's very hard to pinpoint exactly what is happening. All I know for sure is, after I press the brakes, the car rotates right after the nose dives. But, once it "settles" during the braking, after it has rotated, it doesn't keep pulling to one side. It's like it settles in at that weird angle, and I just have to countersteer at a consistent angle during the braking zone.

I've changed brake pads back to OE, still the same. I'm still slightly suspicious of a caliper issue or something, but the car had 3500 miles on it when I bought it earlier this year, and this was my 4th track day. I also would expect the car to keep pulling to one side during the entire braking period if it were related to brakes, but that isn't really the case... again, best I can tell.

I've had alignment checked like 3 times and by different shops, I can say with confidence that it isn't related to alignment. Unless there's something everyone missed.

All my bolts look torqued via paint pen marks, but I haven't checked every single one. Things suspension-related I've changed myself are:

• Nitron R1 Coilovers
• SPL Front LCAs
• SPL Front Caster Bushings
• SPL Rear Traction Arms
• SPL Rear Toe Links
• AMS Front Sway Bar

Could it be something electronic? To me, to the best of my knowledge, it feels like something is maybe loose and shifting under braking, aka dynamic alignment. Thoughts are appreciated.

I've had this exact same issue and it was when I first started doing my own alignments at home and I really sucked at first. Just on the street as soon as I braked the car would want to swap ends. What are your current alignment settings?

Are you making sure your alignment guy is making sure the suspension is properly settled before doing the alignment?

 

[ABQautoxer]

I had an alignment adjustment a few days before the track day and another alignment check at the track from the shop there. Neither made a difference in this issue.

If it were me, I'd take a close look at that traction links that they are the same length. Alignments don't get kinematics like that, just camber and toe in the back. They can make a good alignment but if one side is shorter than the other, when the car goes into squat or rise, it will be asymmetrical left and right.

 

[Todday1]

I would also suggest looking at all the control arm bushings and bolts. If you are getting on the brakes and there is play in one of them it can cause the wheel to move slightly which then could pull in that direction. This could especially be true on the rubber ones that could be worn.

 

[Islindur]

@theQuaybee how do U like Nitron R1 compared to stock? Body roll etc?

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