I have been tracking KWv3's and staggered RS-3's (225/255) for a few events and was happy with how the car felt. I've since moved up to a non-staggered 255 NT01's all around on 17x10 wheels. I also added offset lower ball joints for more camber up front, and rear toe-arms to tame bumpsteer and also allow for more camber. I also got the car aligned with much more camber (-3 up front, -2.5 rear), and a little more rear toe (.25" total.)

Most people say to add a stiffer sway bar up front when you go square, but I didn't want to take the points for that, so I put stiffer springs on the front.

With the damper settings as they were before I changed all those things, I took the car to an abandoned parking lot for some hooning to see how it felt before I go to VIR this weekend. It felt a little more prone to oversteer, but not terrifyingly so. It felt predictable. This was all relatively low speed though, no 80 mph sweepers.

My question is, what are the general baseline changes I should make to the dampers to get the car back to where it was? I read that when adding stiffer springs you should lower the compression a bit, and increase the rebound damping. Does that sound like a good place to start?

 

Read the KW tuning thread, it has arguably the best baseline setting you could want for non-stagger. Long story short run the rear 3-5 clicks softer than the front on rebound, and 1 softer on compression. Good luck.

 

FYI you can play with rake to change over-steer tendencies. IF the car is too tail happy, lower the back 1/4-1/2 turn at a time until it feels stable. If you run out of adjustment, something else is obviously wrong.

Reducing caster also lends itself to rear stability.

Do you take tire temps?

 

Personally I would just increase the rebound a bit in front to match the higher spring rates. How much higher spring rates did you do?

You have to pay attention to when it oversteers - entry, mid corner, or exit. If it's mid corner you need to go even stiffer on the front springs or or softer on the rear springs or lower on the rake. If it's entry or exit then you can play with shocks.

 

Thanks for the excellent responses. I moved up to 11k springs on the front. I haven't taken tire temps yet, I've just been going off the terrible outside shoulder wear I got on my RS-3's to let me know that it was time for more camber.

It seems like Billj747 (Billy's) KWv3 baseline settings are highly regarded, so I went with those. Looks like I'm going to have to learn how to drive my car all over again, haha.

Old settings (which look way out of wack now)


Front
Rebound: 10 from full stiff
Compression: 4 (passenger side was way off.)

Rear
Rebound: 14 from full stiff
Compression: 5 from full stiff

New settings derived from Billy's suggestion in another thread:


Rear
Rebound: 6 from full stiff
Compression: 2 from full stiff
Front
Rebound: 3
Compression: 2

Heading to VIR tomorrow to check everything out!

TIP: I've always had trouble adjusting the driver's side rear rebound. It's wayyyy easier if you unbolt the fuel line from the top of the trunk and hold it out of the way while you adjust.

 

What were the front spring rates before? I think the spring rates/bars are going to be the biggest cause of potential oversteer issues. How do your springs and bars compare to the setup you're comparing to?

 

They were the springs marked with 80-140, which means they were around 8k I believe.

 

For autocross I ended up 5 clicks softer rebound in the rear and two clicks softer rear compression. That really tamed the corner exit oversteer nicely.

 

That sounds right for low speed. That setting on a mid/high speed track won't be fun though

How great is adjustability, amirite? lol

 

That sounds right for low speed. That setting on a mid/high speed track won't be fun though

How great is adjustability, amirite? lol
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You are most def right! I will be hitting the track in November so that should be fun...