Advice for Lime Rock Park Setup

[Metal2You]

Here is what I have :

• Megan Racing Coilovers
  
• RalliTek Sway Bars
  
• Groupe A Endlinks
  
• Enkei RPF1 Light Weight 17X7.5 Wheels
  
• Bridgestone RE01 225/45/17 Tires
  
• 4BoxParts Adjustable Rear Links
  
• Stainless Steel Brake Lines
  
• Stage 2 w/Perrin TMIC
  
• Cobb Transmission Mount
  
• SuperPro Front LCA Bushings
  

 

Here is what I will do or install before the track day :

• 10W40 Motor Oil
  
• ATE Super Blue Brake Fluid
  
• Turned Stock Rotors
  
• Carbotech XP8 Brake Pads
  
• Whiteline Rear Diff Bushings
  

 

Here is what I may install beforehand if it would help :

• Whiteline RollCenter Kit
  
• Whiteline Steering Rack Bushings
  

 

How should I setup my alignment? Should I get corner balanced (I do several auto-x events each year as well)?

 

I am slightly lower than stock. Should I install the roll-center kit and/or steering rack bushings before I go?

 

I just recently did my 30K service. Any other tips or advice?

[AZP Installs]

Well having run limerock for over 10 years in Subarus....

 

Anytime you have coilovers you want them corner balanced. Without that they are pretty much useless. The roll center kit and steering rack bushings are real good things to install, it will enhance the experience. If you haven't done so you probably need the front lower control arm rear bushings replaced. They are a wear item on the LGTs. Put in the Whiteline LCA bushing kit (there is a front and rear bushing kit for the front control arms) and put the whiteline positive caster setting on them.

 

Water Wetter is also good to add before a track day as well.

 

You also may want to start looking a Group N motor and trans mounts, and some of the AVO braces that are out there for the front and rear as well.

 

Also depending on how much power you have or are planning to add, you will want to go to brembo brakes as well.

 

When are you going to LRP? Which club are you running with?

 

-mike

[AZP Installs]

Oh and if you just did your 30k, why didn't you flush your brakes with ATE then? That is part of your 30k service.

 

-mike

[Underdog]

Man, I would love to race at Lime Rock... what a beautiful track. for club details.

 

I live right next to Devens, MA and I've been thinking about trying my hand at autoX. You've inspired me to dig into it!

[Metal2You]

Thanks for the Input AZP. I will try to find the time to install the roll center kit and steering rack bushings. I forgot to mention that I did have front LCA bushings replaced with SuperPro bushings, not the ones that give a caster increase though.

 

I did add Water Wetter when I flushed my coolant. It is a 50/50 mix so I'm not sure how much difference it will make, but I had it left over from the Red Line power pack and figured it couldn't hurt.

 

I also forgot to mention I have the Cobb transmission mount installed.

 

I'm making 18 PSI at stage 2 with a Perrin TMIC.

 

The track day is being organized by the Connecticut Autocross and Rally Team. http://www.cartct.com/time_trial.shtml

[Metal2You]

Brake fluid is the only thing I haven't done yet from the 30K list of service items. Just have to make the time and do it.

[robinlsb]

Well having run limerock for over 10 years in Subarus....

 

Anytime you have coilovers you want them corner balanced. Without that they are pretty much useless. The roll center kit and steering rack bushings are real good things to install, it will enhance the experience. If you haven't done so you probably need the front lower control arm rear bushings replaced. They are a wear item on the LGTs. Put in the Whiteline LCA bushing kit (there is a front and rear bushing kit for the front control arms) and put the whiteline positive caster setting on them.

 

Water Wetter is also good to add before a track day as well.

 

You also may want to start looking a Group N motor and trans mounts, and some of the AVO braces that are out there for the front and rear as well.

 

Also depending on how much power you have or are planning to add, you will want to go to brembo brakes as well.

 

When are you going to LRP? Which club are you running with?

 

-mike

 

+1 on the above. I haven't raced there since they repaved it, but it used to be a bumpy motha, particularly at the entrances to turns.

 

You should flush the brake system and replace with Motul racing fluid, but you will still cook the brakes if you do enough laps.

 

Have fun!

[Th3Franz]

ATE brake fluid is better to run on a street car, unless you plan to do a complete brake fluid flush for every event.

 

STI take-off Brembos aren't so great for the track. They still have rubber seals that melt and they turn a brown color when they get hot from track use. They used more expensive rotors and don't offer much more brake torque than a proper 4-pot caliper kit. You can read my thread about my impressions of Wilwood calipers.

 

Put on the steering rack bushings and roll center kit. They should help steering feel and track out. Get at least a good performance alignment, and since you have coilovers, a corner balance is nice to get too. Run a lot of negative camber with the camber plates (I shoot for at least 2 degrees).

 

I like to run a few gallons of race gas mixed with pump gas to get a little more safety to prevent knock, especially if you are on an off the shelf stage 2 map.

[Metal2You]

OK, I see the boiling point specs are higher with the Motul RBF 600 than the ATE Super Blue "Racing" fluid, so maybe I'll go with the Motul.

 

At least 2 degrees negative camber front and rear sounds like something I should be able to get to. Would -3 be too much, is there such a thing? Should the front have more negative camber than the rear, if so where should I set the rear?

 

What about toe, 0 all around?

[Th3Franz]

Motul's dry point is higher than the ATE, but factor in water absorption and the ATE wins, which is why it's better on a street car. I recently made the switch to Amsoil and it held up great after 2 track days already.

http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/bf4.aspx

 

Too much camber will hurt your braking performance a lot. I would start with -2 and check the wear of the outside of your tires. Front needs more negative camber because of the MacPherson strut setup. The rear gains camber as the suspension compresses, so not as much is needed.

 

I like to run a little toe out up front, and 0 out back.

[AZP Installs]

STI take-off Brembos aren't so great for the track. They still have rubber seals that melt and they turn a brown color when they get hot from track use. They used more expensive rotors and don't offer much more brake torque than a proper 4-pot caliper kit. You can read my thread about my impressions of Wilwood calipers.

 

Other than the rubber boots, they've served me pretty well. If you street your car then you'll want those rubber boots for the times of the year you aren't tracking it. As far as rotors, I track a lot and don't go through that many rotors on my legacy and I use the inexpensive centrics!

 

There is also something to be said for being able to pickup pads just about anywhere for the brembos, not sure if you can get an emergency set of pads for the wilwoods at autozone in a pinch.

 

For me personally my CTSV and the Legacy STi fronts take the same pads so that makes it easy for me to swap pads between the 2 car. I have turned my silver brembos on the front of my CTSV to almost a Gold color of the STi brembos!

 

I also agree on the Amsoil Brake Fluid. We stock the ATE and the Amsoil so we can alternate when flushing.

 

-mike

[Metal2You]

I just had my stock rotors turned. They said one of the rears is a bit warped, so I'm thinking about buying a set of OE style blank rear rotors from BrakeSwap.com. Will it be OK to run turned fronts with new rears, or would that mess with the bias? How about new slotted rears ($10 cheaper) with the turned front blanks? I didn't notice any issues with the warped rear when I had them on the car originally, but I don't want to have any issues at the track.

 

I have a set of drilled and slotted OE style rotors on the car now that I use for daily driving and an auto-x every now and then. I figured I would keep the stockers to chew up on the track, and the drilled/slotted set for everything else and not have to re-bed each time I change to and from track pads since I could keep each set of rotors matched with each set of pads.

[Th3Franz]

I wouldn't run turned rotors for track use. Just replace them with new, quality cheap rotors. New rears wouldn't affect the bias.

 

I run separate rotors for street and track now (fronts anyway) and it is handy for making it easier to bed in pads.

[Metal2You]

What is the disadvantage with running turned front rotors, less performance or just less life? I figured I could make sure the track pads get bedded better this way. As long as they'll make it through one track day I'm fine with that.

[Th3Franz]

Less material in the rotor, so they will not dissipate heat as well and may be more prone to cracking. A lot depends on how hot you get your brakes

[AZP Installs]

What Franz said...

 

Less material is less heat dissipation.

 

-mike

[Metal2You]

I installed some offset LCA bushings. I went with the Perrin PSRS, which adds about 1.5 degrees caster. Based on old alignment readings I should be at about 7.5 degrees caster up front now. Should I still get aligned with -2 degrees camber up front, or should I tone it down to -1.5. I figure -2 should still be good, but I just want to make sure.

[Metal2You]

Well tomorrow is the big day. In addition to the Perrin PSRS I got my new rotors, Carbotech XP8 pads, and Amsoil brake fluid in, as well as the Whiteline ball joints and tie rod ends. The only things I didn't get done that I wanted to are the steering rack bushings and rear diff bushing inserts.

 

I got aligned at EFI Logics. The technician could only get -1.8 for the front camber because one of the bolt heads on my camber plates is broken off, preventing the full range of adjustment from being accessible while still keeping four bolts in the camber plate. I don't think that will be too bad since I've got the extra caster from the PSRS.

 

He actually gave me -2 camber in the rear because the bushings in my adjustable camber links (4BoxParts) are kind of shot. He said the bushings will give a bit as the car loads up on cornering, yielding less negative camber when in the corners. I'll have to watch out and see how loose the rear end is. He suggested I get the Perrin camber bars for the rear, as their heim joint is preferable to a bushing.

 

He gave me some toe in, both front and rear. He said that is what he usually does as it gives better stability, toe goes out a bit under load and if you've got 0 toe or toe out your handling and tire wear can suffer as the toe works out.

 

I think I should be in pretty good shape, I just hope my rear end doesn't get too squirly.

 

Oh yeah, he also recommended against corner balancing so I didn't get that done. He referred to it as "corner weighting" (same thing?) and said it is specific to each track you want to setup for (IE right hand turns at Lime Rock, so weight the rear right to get the car flat through turns), only gains you a bit of time, and isn't worth it for daily drivers. I understand what he's saying but I though corner balancing was to reduce the amount weight transfer and it would be beneficial for any car with coilovers. Are corner balancing and corner weighting different techniques for different purposes?

[Th3Franz]

Cool. Those sound like good settings to start with. I like to run a little toe out up front and 0 toe in the rear, but I understand the point he makes.

 

I would still recommend that you should still get the car corner weighted. It's the same as corner balancing. It's one big advantage for coilovers for the same predictability for both left-hand and right-hand turns.

 

Make sure you perform an aggressive bed-in for the XP8 pads. You'll get the best performance and wear from them. It takes quite a few hard stops to get them up to temperature for bedding, much more than a street pad.

[Metal2You]

Yeah, all the articles I read online about corner balancing explain that it will give more even handling characteristics, so you don't under-steer in one direction and over-steer in the other. Maybe next year.

 

I still have to bed in the pads, not sure how I'm going to do that. Highway off-ramps I suppose.