Z06

What's the difference between tuning with .....Double Adjustable Shocks vs. swaybars?

I have an 04 GT3 with adustable sway bars and i keep reading that to cure the turn in problem (understeer) for track use you would have to get DA Shocks...why would the sway bars not work?

How are the DA shocks better?

carreracup21

I would play with the sways to get a feel for some changes in handling before buying the DA shocks. DA shocks like Motons will be an improvement, but you will probably have a tough time getting them set up correctly unless you have already experimented with the sways and decided that you can feel a good change when it happens.

vegasgolf98

Remember that the car, out of the box, is set up to understeer a little. You can make it more neutral by using a combination of things: sway, shocks, alignment, tires, springs, ride height, aero. The key is to put all of these items in balance. Read Carol Smith's book-Tune to win to start, and/or find a good race tech in your area that has experience. Each car is a little bit different, so you need to test just like the big boys.

I would start with the alignment first, shocks and springs second and sway third to fine tune. but there is NO right answer. Only change one variable at a time then write it down. Good Luck.

For example, my car pushes with PS2's and is more neutral with PSCups!
The tires are a key component to the alignment settings.

Z06

I have tuned with DA shocks before with good results.....Porsche is new to me and i find it curious that the mags would prefer to change shocks for club racing....as the only way to improve turn in...

I am use to the Corvette........so when i dial out the understeer with the Porsche how easy is it to get the back end to step out...I am kind of scared...unsure of change here ...with all the weight over the rear end......will it become a snap over steer ....Porsche has designed allot of understeer into the GT3...inlcuding the brake bias..trail braking.........I guess what I am asking is what is the preferd setup...is it slight understeer? which i will have to relearn my aproach driving into a corner...or is it the same idea neutral with slight oversteer?

I guess it only makes sence to change one thing at a time...swaybars first.

Z06

I have 3.0 fr & 2.5 camber...changed to MPSC 265/295 x18...reduced ride height.....still slides nose first...it's slightly better with the 265 tire.

carreracup21

Z06, Try tightening the rear bar a notch at a time and or loosening up the front. I wouldn't worry too much about the rear end going crazy with gradual sway changes. Chances are you will just find it easier to get a balenced turn in with some throttle modulation.

RedlineMan

Z06 -

Sways will effect and allow a much broader and less finite range of tuning than shocks. If you have general understeer in most corners, for example, this might be curable with a sway change, perhaps in combination with a change in driving style or even alignment settings.

You need to be very specific and break down your handling issues to a much finer degree when you are talking about double or triple adjust shocks. When you say understeer, you then must winnow it down further. High speed or low speed? Tight corners or sweepers? At turn in, apex, or track out? Bumpy or smooth surfaces? THIS is where multi adjust shocks pay off bigtime. With sways you can only tune for general balance issues. With mutli-adjusters, you can tune for SINGLE turns, or fractions of a corner!

I'm going to suggest you play with what you have for a while. Sounds like to me you have enough on your plate trying to learn a new car without really muddying things up with some high tech adjustable shocks. K.I.S.S... you know?

mooty

Remember that the car, out of the box, is set up to understeer a little.
_________
vegas, you mean it pushes a LOT.

sway bar CAN make car understeer less, but DA shocks can firm things up reduce transient time, you can turn left, right, left quicker. not sure i am expressing it to make sense. but vegas is right on about the carol smith book and that everything should be done to balance things out.

FWIW, my car is very twitchy with ps2 but very neutral with mpsc using same alignment.

vegasgolf98

"Remember that the car, out of the box, is set up to understeer a little.
_________
vegas, you mean it pushes a LOT."

. . . well . . .yeah. My car was set up with MPSC in mind. So, any thing else changes things. But I'm not twitchy at all with PS2's. I loosed up the rear bar one notch and it is fine. Just pushes.

JCP911S

Swaybars just add spring rate to the car, and tend to act more in steady-state situations. Shocks tend to impact transients. So, assuming your springs are correct, you would tend to use Swaybars to manage handing in mid turn, and shocks to manage handling at entry and exit.

Now.... how you actually do that......???

Z06

How would you chose a DA Shock? the make and valving for the street/track GT3?

I would think that it would have to be someone who has competed with the GT3?
someone who has done alot of testing...in Club racing and Solo stuff.

Any ideas?

JCP911S

Also, driving style really impacts how your car handles through turns. Certainly in my case, I am much too inconsistent turn to turn and lap to lap for fine-tuning shocks to help me much.

Now for switching the car from track to steet, adjustable shocks make alot of sense as shocks tend to add most of the harshness from a track suspension on the street.

Probably best thing to start is get a basic set-up from the manufacturer and stick with that for a while until you build up experience with the car on the track. $.02....

Z06

I had Penske DA shocks on my Z06...right from Penske for the Z06 they were way off and had to have them revalved.. I found a guy who had done extensive testing with DA Penske on Speed WC cars as well as Solo stuff....it realy did not take long to dial them in from where i got them.

I would like to find someone who has done there homework already....Cargraphic and Manthey claim to have a system for the GT3 dialed in.........is there anybody around here?

Mike in Chi

I was wondering bars or shock adjustments myself just this past weekend at a club race.

A buddy who used to spend a lot of time here sent me this:

http://p081.ezboard.com/fdsrforumfrm...icID=159.topic

It's amazing what truly helpful info is out there on the web.

Professor Helmüt Tester

The Penske shock God is Joe Stimola at SRP Engineering - (516) 978-0092. Not cheap, but nobody here is doing this crap with cars to enhance their retirement fund.