S3 coilovers need help setting up car to keep ass end in line

[Pimpazzberetta]

Well like the title says. I've got the S3 coilovers, front and rear strut bars, rear strut tension bushings, E.S. front LCA bushings, stock sway bars. Coilovers are set up however they came out of the box, besides being corner weighted. I got the toe set to specs but camber is not yet to specs, due to lack of time before the shop closed. (did not have time to corner weight before going to alignment shop to get toe set so I could run an auto x event the next day)


It's a major improvment over the stock struts and S1 springs but the ass end is retardly happy to drift out, especially through the sloumn (SP), the rear would drift out constantly. Tires were Toyo Proxy RA1 R compounds. What parts (swaybars maybe?) or settings would help out my happy rear end?

[stowaway]

your alignment is the biggest thing you need to get corrected. More rear toe in will add some stability, but increasing rear camber will increase the grip level out back. A stiffer front swaybar will also help balance the car toward understeer. You can also play with air pressures to fine tune it.

[Pimpazzberetta]

Ok so I want more negative camber in the rear? Also I've got a pretty decent amount of body roll.. would you maybe suggest bigger front and rear bars? Any suggestions on which bars to choose?

[stowaway]

I love my hotchkis bars, but they will tend toward neutral-oversteer compared to stock. If you are getting the back end out of shape without an upgraded rear bar, something else needs to be addressed before you start changing that part out. Also, since you have s3 coils, make sure the damping level is set right. The softer the rear is (in comparison to the front) it will produce more grip. I ran mine at 1/4-1/2 turn from full soft (2 turns from full stiff to full soft) and it produced slight understeer given -1° camber in the front and about 0.2° more camber in the rear. This was with the welfare swaybar setup. The hotchkis made things much more controlable through the corners, but outright grip didn't change a great deal.

Once you get an alignment (max out the camber in the front and rear, but keep it even on both fronts and both rears, so you might have to compromise a tad) then you can look at the damping settings, air pressures, and then go with swaybar upgrades if that's what you need. Worse comes to worse you just have to change your driving style. trailbraking with sudden steering inputs will easily upset the chassis and cause spins.