Starlet GT Turbo handling set up..........

Tony Harrison

Tony Harrison

Member +
Ok guys and guyesess, make of this what you will.

From what i can gather after reading the pages on here for almost 3 years is that people, more often than not, chuck on some coilovers and have done with the handling, thinking "thats that sorted", not really thinking about the rest of your geometry settings.

Now when i owned a Swift GTi (for the second homecoming, renovate a wreck and live my youth out again) i gathered some quite decent info, one of which was a handling review by Whiteline.

So if you compare some stats:

Swift GTi weight- 885kg ~ Starlet GT Turbo weight (circa)- 860kg?

Wheelbase lenght- 2265mm ~ 2300mm

Width front track 1365mm ~ 1620mm*
rear track 1340mm ~ 1590mm*

Height 1330mm ~ 1395mm

We can deduce they are of similar ilk.

This guide recommends that that a Toe reading of 0, Camber -1.75deg and Caster at 4 degrees with an uprated or in our case, a, rear anti roll bar would be a damn good handling setup.

Would this be wise direction to settle into, being as the cars are quite chassily similar?

Opinions please.

Tyler

*some info is of Wiki and other sources.
 
MeisterR

MeisterR

Lifer
Every car is different, and every suspension are different.
It is very hard to use data from another chassis because once a car move... thing changes.

With that said, alignment is also a very personal things.
Some people want the car to be twitchy while other like it to understeer and remain controllable.
So what one person think is good might not be good for another person... let alone a different car.
 
Captain Starlet

Captain Starlet

Member +
The correct setting for front toe (which on starlets is the only toe adjustable) is +0,5

Now most people run between -1 camber to -2

like jerrick said its done to preference. Trial and error tho i would start with your camber at -1 and then work from there progressing through untill you find opt.
 
H

hardcoreep

Member +
The problem with the guide is that suspension's main aim is ensure full tyre contact patch for maximum grip + manage the weight transfer that happens during cornering. Lowering a car reduces the perception of body roll, but does not change over or understeer. The rule of thumb is that ride height its for acceleration/braking stability, while under/oversteer is handled by anti-roll/sway bars.

There is also the element of driver feel, therefore ultimately one setting that's the best for the car, may not be what the driver wants. For example my car is set up for a progressive four wheel break away, while my rally friend likes his car with more rear rotation. He hates the way my car drives. I don't like his squirmy set-up.

I'd go with a rear sway bar to kill understeer. Height and dampening are user preference. Camber/castor is based on tyres. Get a some sort of heat reading apparatus and measure the tyre temps across the tyre to optimize those settings. Or ghetto it like me with some mud and a clean piece of paper. Drive the dirty tyre over the paper and measure the contact patch. The camber setting that gives you the most tyre wins.

Castor is also fixed on a Starlet. That's why you need the anti-lift kit from whiteline. There is the small trick of changing around the way the shocks are bolted in, but that only removes castor.
 
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matt walters

matt walters

Member +
i had my camber set at 0, i lowered the car all round more on my coilovers and adjusted front camber to -1, then to -2. at -2 it handles like a completely different car to what it used to. no end better than it was

good info hardcoreep :) repped
 
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