Bigpower

hey guys ,can anyone recomend like a base set up for geometry for a front drive hot hatch (zs 180 to be specific),i know it will be different for different cars and driver preferance will also play its part but i just want a starting point to use and then i will evolve it with time and testing.
Im thinking something like
front
2 or 2.5 degrees negative camber with a small amount of toe out maybe 1 or 2 degrees
rear
1 degree negative camber ,neutral toe .
What you guys reckon ,please dont go too deep into science ,just plain easy to understand english :lol:
Thanks
Dave

You are right, set ups vary so much, not just car to car but driver to driver also. A real potential can of worms :lol:

Do you know if your car shares the suspension with the MGF? There is a tonne of info for them as they had their own race series.........sure you knew that, so forgive if I'm teacing you to suck eggs.

Info here

http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/group2/su ... acking.htm

It depends on the tyres that you wat to run. Toyos need around 2.5 deg neg camber at the front to get them to work I am told.

Toe out is an debatable point - i would stick with parallel as toe out can be a bit twitchy but as you say it is personal preference.

have you uprated the suspension / arb's?

MGF= metro setup , I doubt they are the same.

Why not try some toe out at the back? Probably was going for that the next time I was going to have my geometry done.

hmmmm,its knowing were to start isnt it :lol:
cars got coilovers on ,height and damping adjustable and im looking at getting front and rear top arms for camber adjustment.
I guess ill just start just going on my instincts and take it from there ,the rear of the car is absolutely planted ,doesnt move unless i provoke it ,but i feel car could turn in a nadger sharper (hence a bit of toe out) and as with most front drivers it understeers at the limits first ,so i thought some neg camber at the front could help a little there .Maybe just that bit of neg camber at the rear to try and make it more neutral??
Any thoughts?
Dave

Can you get adjustable bottom arms?

This would give you the added advantage of increasing the effective track.

Front Caster would also help with the turn in. - is there any play to move the strut top mount back to gain this?

that would be a no on both counts.
do you think my ideas are sound ?

I found that toe out gave a good initial bite to turn in from my own experience. but i found that it did cause a loss of grip mid way round or on exit compared to the slight toe in I have now.

Negative camber will help at the front.

Are you able to reduce the ride height at the front to slope the roll axis down towards the front?

have now fitted adjustable top arms and dialled in 2.5 degrees negative camber on front ,neutral caster and neutral toe ,feels good and im on track this weekend so will see what does.Rear has 1 degree negative camber and neutral toe .
I had to get tracking(toe) sorted after fitting arms as steering went very light and car very unstable at speed ,turns out i had massive toe in so i had it dialled to neutral and i got all the weight back in the steering wheel ,all the stability back and car feels excellent through corners on the power ,i think the negative camber is helping.

just for referenec you want 1-2mm toe out MAX not Degrees as the wheels will be pointing at 45deg to each other.............. 8)