mannymartinez

iTrader: (1)

besides Tien and cusco what other camber plates are there? i couldnt find any other manufactures.

im stuck on springs for a while. i had them on prior to deciding that i wanted to stick with autox. becuase i did a few events on stock setup.

with the wider tires im going with i think im going to need them to help in the alignment setup before the test and tunes start in march.

Ultimate CC

iTrader: (122)

how wide you going manny, i ran 255s all last year with no camber plates...

Warrtalon

iTrader: (6)

Yeah, you will need the camber plates to get enough camber to make good race tires useful, but then are your stock dampers good enough to handle all of that?

mannymartinez

iTrader: (1)

yea i'll be on 255s for now. 17x9

my car as you know wont be the typical SM car but im just out there to have fun anyway.

eventually i'll step it up. for now i'll do what i can to keep up.

Ultimate CC

iTrader: (122)

well then save your money and just set leave the stock suspension with springs, no need to waste money on camber plates...

mannymartinez

iTrader: (1)

i put them through hell already im hopeing to get coilovers by summer time for sure though. I'm not expecting the stock ones to last thats for sure. I'm on the Tanabe springs.

hokiruu

iTrader: (19)

Manny you are in the same boat as myself and many other evo owners. I got a few very basic things for the Evo, including 255's and a recirc. valve, but then I got hooked on AutoX. Those two mods alone put me in SM, but at the time it didn't matter what class I was in, it was my first event or two. Now I am unsure of whether to continue in SM, or to keep "de-modding" my car (still cleaning up the stupid mess from previous owner) in order to be within STU spec. SM is a very broad class IMO, with some pretty serious cars, but there seem to also be alot of people like us in SM who are only in it for a few little mods.
I would love to road race, and it is true that $100 for a full day of multiple laps is more seat time/$ than 4-6 AutoX runs of 60 sec. or less for $15- $30, but it also seems more expensive/more of a commitment in terms of how hard it is on tires, brakes, fuel, etc. in addition to higher odds of damaging your vehicle than in AutoX. that combined with the fact that I try to force myself to do things the slow, hard, but "better in the long run" way, I think that AutoX will untimately be an investment in experience/skill that hopefully will over well into road racing when I do decide to step up to it.

EVO8LTW

iTrader: (41)

If you don't have camber plates but are lowered from lowering springs, can't you dial in additional negative camber just from the ride height change?

Warrtalon

iTrader: (6)

Rich, I'm not sure - I've never done it, but maybe you can.

Manny, 255s are a good size, but the more important question is WHICH 255s? RT-615s, RA-1s, or Hoosiers? Each of those is very different from the other and will determine what's best for you to do until you get coilovers. If you have RA-1s or lesser, then I would say to just get the stock eccentric bolts pushed all the way to full negative camber in the attempt to get as close to -2.0 up front as you can, then go for -.5 or -1.0 in the rear with 0 toe all around.

kekek

iTrader: (22)

Unfortunately Mac Strut suspension doesn't have a very good camber gain under bump (compression). This is why we run lots of static neg camber. Dropping the car 1"+ will probably only get you about -1/2degree of neg camber, if your lucky. But if you use the stock camber bolts and you are only running a 255 width tire then you should be "ok". Mos def not the optimum setup, but will still be fun. The rear should be fine with the eccentric since it's a multilink and gains camber anyway.

hokiruu

iTrader: (19)

I am curious how many Evos in SM are toward the lower end of SM allowances? For example very basic upgrades like 255 17's, springs or entry level$2000> coilovers, and stock turbo, as opposed to setups that exploit SM allowances more, like dual adjustable coilovers and 285 18's, upgraded turbos , etc.
And how many of these are actually competitive in SM?

mannymartinez

iTrader: (1)

i have the falkens ordered already. just so they can get me by and still have the option to drive to the events about 20-30 mintutes away from my house pending on which i coose to go to.

once the tires get mounted i'll put them on the car and get it aligned for those settings. i had -1.5f and -.5r for a while for DD so i should expect see pretty close -2.

thanks guys!!

NJ Drive

iTrader: (6)

You'd be a perfect candidate for STU if you'd stick with 245 section width, 140 treadwear tires and make a few small changes to your car. That's the class I'm running this year as I feel it's a better class to compare drivers than SM, and it's much easier on the wallet.

Warrtalon

iTrader: (6)

Manny, hmm, well RT-615s are just street tires, so you'll definitely be at the low end of the totem pole. You can get RA-1s and Kumho V700s and still drive to the track no problem but then actually get some good grip, but the RT-615s are not even the best tire for STU, which is a street tire only class. I am a big fan of RT-615s, but only as my daily driver tires that double as my drag tires, not for twisty racing. I have used them on track (road course) multiple times and been happy, so it's not like they're dogs, but they definitely aren't very useful in SM.
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Hokiruu, to answer your question about underprepared Evos in SM, I basically fit that mold last year, which was my first season with SCCA. This is what I had:

- Stock suspension (stock springs, sways, bushings, everything)
- Stock rims with 245/45-17 V710s (very good r-comps)
- Stock turbo with bolt-ons + cams + race gas
- Stock brakes with decent pads and fluid
- No weight reduction - full interior

So, my car was powerful, and my tires were sticky (though not big), but my car was by no means setup for SM. Without the cams, I would have been in BSP and STILL way underprepared. Hell, I was even underprepared for A-STOCK in terms of suspension and tires, but I didn't get into autocross until well after getting my car down to a 12.000 at the drag strip, and I didn't care enough to de-mod the car.

The results of my setup were that I was pretty fast around the course, but my stock suspension was getting murdered by the extreme grip of the V710s. I have many, MANY pics of my extreme body roll where the outside front lip almost touches the ground while my inside rear tire is always off the ground. This slowed me down around tight turns, and my transition time on slaloms and switchbacks was very slow. In spite of this, I still drove the hell out of it, and did well locally. I finished 3rd overall in SM and 2nd overall in Novice (behind an STi), but due to blowing my 6spd trans while road racing, I had to do one auto-x event in a FWD turbo'd GTI. I didn't get a single clean run, finished 15th in class, and finished 60 points lower than my worst finish in the Evo. If I had my Evo or even a co-driven Evo for that event, then I would have finished 2nd in SM and first overall in Novice.

However, our SM class is not strong at all. The class winner blew me away even if I had finished 2nd, and he was only 18th at Nationals in his E36 M3 that is really BSP-prepped, but he runs SM for the competition.
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Now this year, I have a nice race setup on the suspension with Ohlins, bushings, end links, corner balancing, and a nice aggressive alignment that I switch to when racing. Coupled with this are 285/30-18 V710s on 18X9.5 Enkei NT03+Ms and some better brakes all around (slotted rotors, SS lines, more aggressive pads, good fluid). In the power department, I won't be much different as I'm adding a stock IX turbo and FMIC with piping, so I won't be maximizing the class allowances, but I think this will still be competitive. It should pretty easily win my local SM class unless a ringer shows up out of nowhere, and maybe I can do top 15-20 at Nats? Might just come down to whether I can drive or not.

#2 SM

iTrader: (8)

I race a BSP Evo 8 locally in SM becuase there is no competition in BSP. I co drove an uncompetitive EVO in SM at Nationals and got killed--which wasn't fun. I'm still unsure if I will step up to SM or to try and maximize the potential of the VIII in BSP this year. Either way, I'll be in Topeka in September for sure!