Build A Faster Car - helping drivers engineer

I think after two years of tinkering, I've finally figured out how to make this car exactly to my liking. It's taken a lot of work, trial-and-error, and going counter to popular opinion to get this far. So, I feel obliged to share what I've learned.

In general, the most important improvements on this car are related to geometry. This means getting some good dynamic camber curves (more caster), reducing deformation from bushings, and installing larger sway bars to control body roll. In addition, it's amazing how much the stock struts can be improved with just a little tweaking- they actually work quite well if maintained.

Step 1: do the free stuff!

• Max out your front camber bolts. This usually gets you about a degree of negative camber. Once doing this, you'll need to get the car's toe aligned on the front tires. I recommend a very, very small amount of toe-out.
• Do the "free caster mod", which means unbolting your lower control arms from the rear mount and turning the bracket 180 degrees. This gives you another degree of caster.
• Rebuild your stock struts. The stock lubrication dries up very quickly. Remove your inverted struts, take off the springs, and undo the single bolt at the bottom of each. This will allow you to get inside the sleeve of your inverted struts. Clean out the old grease as best you can and replace it with good synthetic grease.
• Replace your front bump stops with Prodrive or Racecomp bump stops. (OK, this isn't free, but it's very cheap.) The stock front bump stops engage too early and are too stiff initially, resulting in poor ride quality.

The above setup will increase grip from the front tires quite a bit while also increasing ride quality. It's all good stuff!

Step 2: getting the handling right.

• GT Spec anti-lift kit. Increases caster another 0.6 degrees. Uses rubber bushing.
• Group-N bushings for rear lateral links.
• Install sway bars. I recommend the following combinations:
  • Guy who just wants less understeer: Cusco 22mm rear, stock front.
  • Daily Driver, all-season: Cusco 22mm front and rear (maintenance free rubber bushings). Put rear on stiffest setting.
  • Dance Partner: Cusco 22mm front, Whiteline 24mm rear.
  • Daily Driver, smooth roads: Whiteline 24mm front and rear.
  • Aggressive Daily Driver / Track car: Racecomp Engineering 25.4mm front and rear
• Camber plates. I recommend the following combinations:
  • Stock Struts: Racecomp Engineering's lowering plates installed for increased caster
  • Coilovers: Vorshlag
• Alignment. Now that you have camber plates, go for -1.5 to -2.5 degrees negative camber up front. Leave rear as-is. You should have about 8 degrees of caster.

The above configuration drastically decreases understeer under any circumstance but especially under corner entry. The car will be very lively and neutral. The additional caster will give the car much heavier steering and greatly improve your dynamic camber curve of the front tires.

Step 3: getting expensive

• Coilovers. I am fond of Turn-In Concepts' AST-built coilovers. Other good brands are KW (including Racecomp's version) and Zzyzx's Koni double-adjustable.
• Vorshlag rear camber plates. Slant them fully inward. They help improve the suspension geometry this way.
• CarLab X-Brace.
• Consider lightweight parts. This includes a smaller battery, replacement bumper beams, lighter wing, aftermarket wheels, and other parts.

The above items are all very good products, but do not represent the amazing value of steps 1 and 2. Step 3 takes the car from good to telepathic.