I started there with stiff bars (Gendron 1.375") and oem CR rear matched with softer than normal springs (700/500) and went much softer. I ended up at 900/700 springs and the smallest Gendron front and the small Gendron rear, both on full soft. As I posted elsewhere, I raised my ride height significantly for better suspension travel, communication F/R, etc. My only issue is the AP1 power!

-Marc
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I guess I am the odd man out with 950F/750R firm setup. An extremely stiff front sway bar is definitely not needed for STR IMO. I'm running the Comptech at full stiff which is about 900 lb/in.

From and old post of mine (still holds)... "I am liking the miata bar on the rear. With the current setup (rear bar on) it is very neutral on most surfaces and course features. It can push a bit on slow tight turns, but adapted to via driving change (new... or reducing front rebound). If the back end is loose at all I just disconnect one end of the bar to get back to neutral. It's a nice balance overall currently.

I'm sure the adjustable rear bar can achieve this and more. I just feel the difference between the miata bar on and off is very subtle and useable."
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I agree with Rob regarding the Miata bar. I don't really take it off a lot, but I bring tools with me just in case I need to at large events. My setup is 850/650 with the 1.25" hollow Gendron bar. I don't feel that the car is too stiff. I wouldn't go up in spring rates anymore, however. Not sure how some people can get away with stock bars on the rear. Seems like it would be very loose that way.
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Geoff Walker's car is apparently stock CR bars front and rear (!!). Those who have driven it have nothing but positive things to say about it (Jason Collett, Berry Langley), so I'm curious what he's going going on to make that work. He didn't seem thrilled with the car at Lincoln, but unsure whether that was the car or his driving. He *kills* on most east coast sites.
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Don't read into Geoff's setup too much, he makes up for the bar imbalance with very different spring rates than what everyone else is running.

 

He's also on the stock diff

 

Which should make it looser! I know what rates he runs too but I don't know if it is common knowledge so I don't want to post it here unless he wanted it here. I don't think it's that far off what some of us run though.

 

Yeah I don't think he'd want it posted.

The difference in rate from stock bars to the bars most of us run actually isn't all that huge either...you add a couple hundred pounds of spring split and that takes care of it.

Laura drove our car at spring nats and if I remember right she said it rolls less and is a little less loose than Geoff's but isn't a major difference. She preferred our car. I'm on 800/700 with the thin wall Ankeny bar most of the way stiff (maybe 700-750 lb/in broad guess) and Ankeny rear usually full soft but sometimes half soft (full soft is like miata bar, half soft adds another 50 lb/in or so), and I have a Giken.

 

I know Geoff has it down to a science. He will swap out springs depending on the course/site. His setup isn't that far outside the norm, but keep in mind he uses RS3s which like odd settings.

-Marc

 

Stock diff here, just could not justify dumping the cash and investing the potential effort needed to re-setup the car. Other then the Mugen intake (no re-tune) my car had the same exact setup and settings as last year.

 

Could you clarify this? Not the first time I've heard this vague reference, and would appreciate a bit more info. Thanks!

 

This topic is interesting and depending on who you listen to different people believe in opposite ways to set up a car.


A) "soft springs" and big bars
- good mechanical grip
- use bars to speed up transitioning speeds and speed up loading up the tires

B) stiff springs and little bars
- use of stiff springs and low speed compression to speed up transitioning speeds and speed up loading up the tires
- meh mechanical grip (lateral) (right?)


to start, I'm not anyone special in the autox world so take what I say with a grain of salt. On my ap1 I really liked the 900F/800R setup with a big front bar, the car felt good on every surface I ran on. On my CR I copied the same setting, changed to rivals and it was fail city. I think the tire change and rear geometry made a difference. With the ap1 it benefited from having stiff rear springs to minimize the rear toe change during bumps. With the CR I ended up going half the compression and changed the rear toe to about half also. The car felt good on local none concrete sites and did well. The bad came into play when the car touched concrete, it was way loose.


For me, I think I'm going to revamp my setup and start "fresh." The reason for this is I honestly think I can drive the RTR CR just as fast or almost just as fast as I can my STR car. Ive tested this a couple times. The softer sprung RTR car is so forgiving and easy to drive relative to the STR car. In the STR car it's fast (locally) but one mistake and your done.

- over the winter I'm going to put my 800 rear springs on the front, put 600 springs on the rear. (or maybe go 900F/700R or 600R?) input?
- set all my shocks to the middle settings on both compression/rebound
- set my camber to -2.5 all the way around
- solid bar on the front to full soft and .095 rear bar to middle setting (want a easy go to fix if surface makes the car loose/pushy)

then just test and make changes depending on how it feels. That way I'm going softer or atleast going softer in the rear to help with the car being loose and improve lateral grip. Changing to softer bar setting (and springs) to help with the cars "nervousness."

input?



As for Walker, not sure why everyone is so secretive about his setup, when the greats of B-stock figured out the "magical" setup they shared to everyone to level the playing field. Clearly Jesus is fast, that dude kills it. Just wish I knew the exact setup for a starting place with this car.

 

Josh, stock springs work pretty well


All kidding aside, it sucks that your setup didn't quite carry over from your black car. I think your plan will give you a good starting point for next season.

 

Thanks man! Yea the black car was on point besides gearing. Gotta figure this ap2 thing out. I haven't drove the RTR car since last OCT and hopped in it and crushed pax for the day by .4 seconds on my very first run with cold tires and a passenger. I really believe a softer sprung car is just easier to drive. Oo well, I'll figure it out next season