Understeer.

[VooDoo]

I have a 2002 Caprice which likes to understeer pretty bad when pushed

(yes i push it very hard... its done laps of Qld raceway and had a brake fire.)

I have King Pro Coilovers up front with King lows and Bilstein shocks in the rear. Ive looked at a Nolathane 48166 kit (swaybar kit) for the front to improve braking and stiffen the bar a little. Alignment is good, none of the tyres show wear in the wrong places (maybe a little on the inside edge of the rears but thats normal for these things and i never loose rear traction unless i want to)

Any ideas for reducing this understeer?

[Peter]

G'day VooDoo, good to see you back :)

There are a number of issues to be addressed in getting a beast to stand up and go around corners when required. Diagonal weight transfer on turn in is just the beginning but a lot can be done to address these issues.

Front and rear Blade adjustable swaybars matched to allow the front to rear handling bias to be dialled in to suit your tyres and driving style is the best start point and will prove to be the best bang for your buck improvement you will make to the WH2 chassis. A front strut tower brace is needed to hold the front end alignment when the chassis is dynamically loaded and a rear camber kit will enable you get on the power a lot earlier on exit. I suggest the following:

Front Blade adjustable 30mm swaybar replacement kit BFH14Z
Rear Blade adjustable 18mm swaybar replacement kit BHR50Z
Front strut tower brace KSB618 (chassis stiffening as previously discussed)
Rear camber adjusting kit KCA384.

Fitting the above items will greatly improve your Caprice and aid in reducing those lap times :)

Cheers

Peter
peter@whiteline.com.au

[VooDoo]

Before i order these... in the other thread you quoted a differant Strut brace part number. Is there a differance??

[Peter]

Thanks for picking that up :(

The WH2 model spans two chassis groups. The 8/01-8/03 use KSB504 which is correct for your application. The 8/03-04 chassis uses KSB618.

As you had indicated that you had already attended to springs and shocks, I didn't mention that we have both Control (low) and Flatout (superlow) springs for the Caprice and also Group4 Coilovers 1K4005.

Thank you for picking up the point on the strut tower brace :)

Cheers

Peter
peter@whiteline.com.au

[VooDoo]

Now i know why the differance, the 08/03 Caprices are a WK model which is based on the VYII platform hence using the strut brace for that vehicle.

I spoke to GSA in Springwood and all organised.

[Peter]

Good luck with the project :) .
We look forward to hearing from you after your next track day ;)

Cheers
Peter

[VooDoo]

Some feedback for this old thread...

The 48166 kit was fitted and helped a LOT. Unfortunately it fell apart after 4 mths needing to be replaced :(

The strut brace has helped a lot and i went for some coilovers and increased the heights as i was hitting the bump stops under hard cornering. The car is now Turbo charged and pushes 350rwkw. I havent done the swaybar's yet as ive been doing more drags than track work (hows 11's sound in a 2000kg barge :) )

Who do you recommend i see about the 48166's kit issues?? I want someone that can take the car for a drive and get the car setup right. Many places just fit and forget and dont really understand what the car is doing. I'm in Brisbane.

btw, 3 seperate places told me not to bother with the swaybars.