S13 Mad Understeer

[RPS13PILOT]

i recently bought a set or tein HE coilovers. I try to drift corners at a moderate speedS and my car understeers alot. I have the old style falken ziex in the front and cheap tires in the rear. My freind hits the same corner in his hachi, at around the same speed and he dosent undesteer, and he has a stock shocks with cut springs. i dont think this much understeer is normal. I have tryed to keep up with people running cayons but my front tires break before my backs do, and the leave me in the dust. I checked out my bushings and they look fine. does anybody have the same problem?

[spock]

Maybe the rear suspension is too hard or the front's too soft or both.

[nissanguy_24]

how do you have your coilovers set?

[RPS13PILOT]

i tried FRONT4 REAR11 FRONT7 REAR14 I didnt notice a very big difference in the understeer

[nissanguy_24]

set it the same all the way around. try the corner then began to work from there.. Also what kind of pads are you running all the way? any sway bars? you have brand new tires up front?

[RPS13PILOT]

front tires still in good shape stock pads and swaybars.

[nissanguy_24]

a worn down tire could easily produce more grip then even a higher quality tire thats not as worn down. Thats why i mention it. Also check your air pressure. And experiment with it.

[Weapon X]

What are your tire pressure and allignment settings?

[RPS13PILOT]

stock tein placement front, rear stock factory specs which i think is close to zero ========== i havent messed with the front camber yet but i think i should

[Menchi]

I have heard that the S13 likes to understeer, I think it was mentioned in the drift bible

[BENJO]

i heard from the drift bible the kei office suspensions could fix s13's understeer

[LexmarkX73]

do you have any strut braces? sometimes they mess up weight transfer. poor weight transfer = understeer

[RPS13PILOT]

I saw it in the drift bible to, but if this is a normal amount of understeer for a s13, i wasted my money and should of bought a good handeling car

[nissanguy_24]

Originally posted by RPS13PILOT
I saw it in the drift bible to, but if this is a normal amount of understeer for a s13, i wasted my money and should of bought a good handeling car

Before we go around insulting S13s how were you able to take the corner before you installed your coilovers?

[Ichi-Go]

Man all these 240s are being wasted (no offense) I would make a wonderful home. Take them out autocrossing and make sweet love to them night after night.

EDIT: Add more pressure in your rears.

[RPS13PILOT]

I curbed my car when it was stock because it understeered, i was hopind the coilovers would correct the problem ...

[Ichi-Go]

LOL Use more feint. Dont go into a turn so hot. Use smooth steering imputs and dont go into the turn on the throttle. Let off, and let the engine brake sometimes this helps.

[RPS13PILOT]

ill try it thanks

[Ichi-Go]

I hope i helped. This post was non-helpful. Delete if you feel like its needed nissanguy or whoever.

[Drift For Food]

I think there were an old post or two that covered methods to change handling to what you want. A couple quick searchs may find them.

Anyways, in the most basic sense:
To get more front grip(no additional $$$)
- Stickier tires up front, slipperier tires in rear
- Less front tire pressure, more rear tire pressure
- Remove stock front swaybar

To get more front grip(additional $$$)
- Softer front spring rates/stiffer rear spring rates
- Smaller front swaybar/bigger rear swaybar
- *Stiffer front shocks/softer rear shocks

*should really match springs for proper dampening(to keep the wheels on the ground)

The free ones can help...to a point. In reality, you really need to set up the suspension differently to really fix the problem. Once you're using the right springs and swaybars, the car will handle like you want. After that, everything else is fine tuning: tire pressures, alignment adjustments, etc...

I'm not exactly sure what you bought so I can't really say how you may change it. Looking quickly online, it looks like a full set, adjustable shocks plus springs, 448lbs/in front, 336lbs/in rear. If this is what you got, you may want to change springs a little. The big 448 to 336 difference will cause a bit of understeer. You'll either need to go softer in the front or stiffer in the rear. Also, removing the stock front swaybar will help too. You might want to invest in a nice fat rear swaybar if you plan on keeping those springs. A big rear swaybar will help offset the understeer issue created by the springs. I'd almost suggest just switching the front and rear springs around if possible to give you a bit of oversteer, just not sure how safe that would be. You may find your rear end coming out a little too easy. It might actually turn out pretty neutral with the stock front swaybar though.

[Drift For Food]

Good point actually. Technique changes can get around problems like understeer. Feint can make any car go sideways, lol. Also try some light braking into corners to get a little more weight forward and onto the front tires for grip. You could even try a quick jab on the brake just before turning to move a lot of weight forward for turning traction. With the brake released, you'll have full steering ability and the added weight transfered to the front. It's a little unlike the previous mention of more of a continuous braking. That can hold weight forward through a duration of time but it also uses up some steering ability for braking. The combination of braking and feinting can work wonders once you get used to them.

[nissanguy_24]

Originally posted by RPS13PILOT
I curbed my car when it was stock because it understeered, i was hopind the coilovers would correct the problem ...

I think i found the problem. The driver.


Buying fully adjustable coilovers will not make up for bad driving. In fact if you dont know how to set them up it could hurt performance.

[Boro86driver]

i would actually suggest setting the car up to mildy understeer unless promted to oversteer by the driver. its much more controlable that way, more so than a car that just wants to spin on you every chance it gets.

[One80sx0wnr]

As Tsuchiya-san says, when understeer occurs in s13, just hit the old e-brake.

[GRiDRaceTech]

Interesting. I've never heard of a car that understeered so heavily that it hit a curb through no fault of the driver. Methinks the driver needs to rethink his techniques and tweak his coilovers more. (Preferably with the help of someone more in the know.)

SMC, you said "a worn down tire could easily produce more grip then even a higher quality tire thats not as worn down." I disagree, as the tread compound has the biggest effect on grip, not tread squirm. (Tread squirm is the tendency of a tire's treadblocks to begin to "fold over" under lateral loading.) Also, a worn-down tire might have a higher aspect ratio and thus taller sidewalls which deflect more under loading, decreasing contact patch. (In addition, the sidewall construction might be less stiff.)
Just for fun, let's compare BFG Touring T/As (205/60/14) with Falken Azenis Sports. (195/60/14) My BFGs were MUCH less grippy with no tread than the Azenis Sports with full tread. Why? Because the Azenis Sports had stiffer sidewalls and a much more sticky tread compound. Also, both tires lost traction the balder they got, due to too many heat cycles, oxidation of the rubber, and an increase in compound hardness.