Don't forget that a good alignment can do wonders helping that turn in. I have a Perrin rear sway bar and kartboy endlinks and with the bar set to full stiff the car rotates on command. Of course this good for auotcross sessions, but can be alittle twitchy during normal driving.
-xom

 

I've found a softer setting on the rear bar and a bit of toe out in the rear is better than a slam stiff rear bar. I run 2mm total.

 

Uncle Scotty, does that toe out at the rear work okay for street driving, or would you recommend that setting for autocross, only?

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

24/7 on my car.......believe it or not...some of the real serious autocrossers use....get ready for this....

1/2 INCH TOTAL toe out...1/4 INCH/side at the track:O :O

NO SHIP...

 

do find that the 2mm of toe out in the rear caues your rear tires to wear faster/oddly? i'm thinking of changing the alignment on my car a bit -- right now i'm running 1 degree of camber in the front, and .5 in the rear, with zero toe all arround. i haven't found that the fronts wear too badly, and i'm thinking of going with 1.5 in front, and keeing the rear the same except for a bit of toe (as long as i can get that with the stock hardware, i can't get anymore rear camber as its set right now).

 

I think I'd better get some track and autocross time before I get even a 1/4 inch of rear toe-out. I had to back off on my rear sway bar setting because the rear would get too loose under braking in corners for my driving ability. That's good to know that toe-out can work on the street, thanks.

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

I grew up driving V-8, front engine, rear drive cars and I can handle a bit of oversteer...
I have my rear 20-24mm bar set to 23mm and a bit of toe out in the rear seems to be nice for me. I had the bar at full stiff, but it was too much so I backed off one hole on the passengers side and it's all good now. I wouldn't recomend this combination for someone not experienced with a 'lively' handling vehicle.
Care in the wet is a must, and this type of set up must not be used in any winter conditions unless you are adept at driving sideways....

 

Are you using camber plates up front (and which brand)? I tried getting my car alingned w/ some negative camber up front using the stock bolts, the alignment place said -0.4 was the most they could get.

-Soren

P.S. Sorry for the thread hijack

 

I've been running a bit of toe-out in the rear for about a month Al, and I really like it. It didn't change the character of the car all that much, just made it rotate a tad bit better under steady state cornering, and maybe slightly easier to rotate on turn-in. It reinforced my decision to stick to a 20mm RSB instead of getting a whiteline adjustable, although I will still be going to get one before I run autocross this season. I'll be chasing the SM2 title in Reno.

 

The place I went to got 1.2 and 1.3 degrees up front on my RS, but it was a good tech who knows some tricks. The easiest way is to get some camber bolts up front to replace the stock ones. For one, the won't carry an NVH penalty like strut tops will, plus they are much cheaper and easier to install.

 

I have the Noltec camber/caster front tops, they make 'street' and 'race' versions, and I have the 'street' ones. The 'street' ones have the bearing in hard plastic in the mount and the race ones are metal on metal...I have heard they are pretty harsh
I noticed only a slight increase in NVH, which surprised me. I greased the bearings well on installation and they have been silent since I installed them.
They made a HUGE difference in overall handling with the extra caster and camber which I run maxed(and use the bolts to zero cross camber...caster is real close )

 

Roy, if you want to come for a little drive with me one night while I am following Ya in the miata, I'll show you how the WRX handles.

 

Do not confuse 'understeer' with 'slower'. Managed properly, slight understeer is no slower than slight oversteer, and on some racetracks, it can be faster. It's just not as much fun.

 

i'm running STi group-n strut tops, and the car is lowered just a hair. i was able to get -1 without changing out the camber bolts. the rear was limited to -.5 though. in the near future, i'm hoping to get a bit more camber in the rear through adjustable rear lateral links, and i think i still have some room up front for more camber -- my last alignment was a bit conservative due to concerns about tire wear.