[haasSTI]

My car is stock right now except for Cobb Stage 1 flash. I'm looking for mods that will improve autocross handling and times.

However, since my car ('07 LTD) is my daily driver, I don't want to put serious suspension mods into it to make the ride even harsher than it already is. So, I'd like to find some low cost mods that will improve my autox while not affecting my daily driving too much.

Yes, I know taking an Autox class is better than any mod.. I'm getting to that.

[LightWerkz]

Honestly, dont waste your time on mods to help with auto-x.

You said it yourself (basically) seat time is the only and best mod.

Right after that, r compound tires, if you cant swing a second set of wheels and take the time to swap them, well then use your stockers, they are great.

Again, you dont need performance or handling mods, get the driver mod!

Oh and if you must, get a front sway bar.

[snorky]

Originally Posted by LightWerkz

Honestly, dont waste your time on mods to help with auto-x.

You said it yourself (basically) seat time is the only and best mod.

Right after that, r compound tires, if you cant swing a second set of wheels and take the time to swap them, well then use your stockers, they are great.

Again, you dont need performance or handling mods, get the driver mod!

Oh and if you must, get a front sway bar.

+1
except r compounds will change your class, if you're worried about that.
*if you're in scca

[EROCK11]

Get a performance alignment with stock equipment and get as many runs as possible this season. Autox is a blast!

[gOt_rally?]

Not that I want to sound like an ass but I think your both wrong. The most crucial cheap mod you need for auto-x is camber bolt and a aligment. Our cars are very camber challenged stock some STi's even come with positive camber. Without some camber in the front you will understeer like crazy and kill your tires outside edges fast. Obviosly seat time is number one priority but you need the camber to allow you the seat ttime because without camber your tires will just not last. I recomend you buy whiteline bolts and get a good aligment shop to to a aligment for you. Use the bolts up front and tell them you want the most amount of camber you can get evenly (both left/right tire same amount of camber. With bolt you will be able to achieve around -2 camber up front. Do not worry about tire wear your tires will wear evenly as long as you go to a auto-x or two each month.

As for the back the STI has plenty of camber stock even too much I would say(around -1.5 / -1.6) If you only plan on only auto-xing then get the shop to reduce the camber a bit in the rear (to around -1.3) If you plan on tracking the car leave the rear camber stock as -1.3 may be a bit too tailhappy for the track.

Now once you got that done its time to play around wu=ith your tire pressures. I find 43 psi cold pressure and 35 psi cold pressure in the rear works best with just camber bolt. Remeber to check your pressures everytime your about to line up as the pressures will go up after your runs. So bring them back to 43 psi/ 35 psi before u run again.

Now onto other mods to consider AFTER bolts and aligment sways are best bang for but suspension you can do after bolts. There are many sways out there but for auto-x whitelines 27mm adjustable front / 24mm adjustable rear seem to be the fan favourite. If you can only afford one bar buy the front one first as it will keep your camber curve in check and give you awesome turn in. If and when you buy the rear bar make sure you also buy endlinks as the stock rear STI endlinks are very prone to breaking with a aftermarket bar. Front aftermarket endlinks are nice to have if you can afford it but not a neccesaty. If you have a bit more money R-comps are basicaly the best suspension mod you can do but I wouldnt recomend r-comps to someone that doesnt have a very good feel of how the STI handles at its limits. R-comps break traction very fast and you go from insane grip to absolutly no grip in a split second. I recomend for the first year you stay on stock tires as they are one of the stickiest road worthy tires on the market and they break traction much more progressivly.

Frankly though I think you should just get the bolts/aligment work and on the driver. I have got several fastest time on street tires at auto-x's with just the bolts and I am more than content with how the car handles.

[EROCK11]

^^Right on but...

The only reason I didn't include bolts in my recomendation was because the slipped for me after 4 events. Nothing is more annoying than spending $100 on an alignment with bolts only to have them slip after 25 runs and spend another $100 to realign...see where I am going with this? I just bought camber plates and called it a day.

Good point too with the tire pressures, they are super important.

Front neg. camber and lots of seat time are your best friend.

[crand002]

Advan A048's

[snorky]

Originally Posted by gOt_rally?

Not that I want to sound like an ass but I think your both wrong. The most crucial cheap mod you need for auto-x is camber bolt and a aligment. Our cars are very camber challenged stock some STi's even come with positive camber. Without some camber in the front you will understeer like crazy and kill your tires outside edges fast. Obviosly seat time is number one priority but you need the camber to allow you the seat ttime because without camber your tires will just not last. I recomend you buy whiteline bolts and get a good aligment shop to to a aligment for you. Use the bolts up front and tell them you want the most amount of camber you can get evenly (both left/right tire same amount of camber. With bolt you will be able to achieve around -2 camber up front. Do not worry about tire wear your tires will wear evenly as long as you go to a auto-x or two each month.

As for the back the STI has plenty of camber stock even too much I would say(around -1.5 / -1.6) If you only plan on only auto-xing then get the shop to reduce the camber a bit in the rear (to around -1.3) If you plan on tracking the car leave the rear camber stock as -1.3 may be a bit too tailhappy for the track.

Now once you got that done its time to play around wu=ith your tire pressures. I find 43 psi cold pressure and 35 psi cold pressure in the rear works best with just camber bolt. Remeber to check your pressures everytime your about to line up as the pressures will go up after your runs. So bring them back to 43 psi/ 35 psi before u run again.

Now onto other mods to consider AFTER bolts and aligment sways are best bang for but suspension you can do after bolts. There are many sways out there but for auto-x whitelines 27mm adjustable front / 24mm adjustable rear seem to be the fan favourite. If you can only afford one bar buy the front one first as it will keep your camber curve in check and give you awesome turn in. If and when you buy the rear bar make sure you also buy endlinks as the stock rear STI endlinks are very prone to breaking with a aftermarket bar. Front aftermarket endlinks are nice to have if you can afford it but not a neccesaty. If you have a bit more money R-comps are basicaly the best suspension mod you can do but I wouldnt recomend r-comps to someone that doesnt have a very good feel of how the STI handles at its limits. R-comps break traction very fast and you go from insane grip to absolutly no grip in a split second. I recomend for the first year you stay on stock tires as they are one of the stickiest road worthy tires on the market and they break traction much more progressivly.

Frankly though I think you should just get the bolts/aligment work and on the driver. I have got several fastest time on street tires at auto-x's with just the bolts and I am more than content with how the car handles.

i agree. a performance alignment is a great dollar for dollar mod. if you can find a place to do a competent alignment.

[gOt_rally?]

Originally Posted by EROCK11

^^Right on but...

The only reason I didn't include bolts in my recomendation was because the slipped for me after 4 events. Nothing is more annoying than spending $100 on an alignment with bolts only to have them slip after 25 runs and spend another $100 to realign...see where I am going with this? I just bought camber plates and called it a day.

Good point too with the tire pressures, they are super important.

Front neg. camber and lots of seat time are your best friend.

Man that sucks. So far my bolts havnt slipped and I drive HARD. I have even heard of people using r-comps with bolts with no issues. Maybe the aligment shop didnt torque your bolts to spec?

[EROCK11]

Jack at XXTuning does all my suspension work and he advised against the bolts up front as a permanent solution because he said they would eventually slip. I did them anyway and they slipped after a few events (torque specs were checked but anythings possible). Sorry for the hijack OP/

Maybe I am alone in the bolts slipping and if that is so...do them with an alignment and drive. Best bang for buck by far and you will be a better autoxer in the future for learning how to drive a "stock" STi fast. Lots of great info from Lightwerkz, got rally and others here...use it.

[mxpop]

Alignment-tires-seat time and ride-alongs! What is your budget and goals?

Top camber plates alone wont get you the neg camber you want without proper camber bolts as well. You need to do both.

My CBs havent slipped but some straight bolts mistakenly installed with my COs did slip initially. Smacking rumble strips dont help (but makes for great pics! )

[Tortfeasor STi]

Seat time, good tires, an alignment, and then sways. Just like everyone else has said. But seat time is the most important. Driver mod is worth more then the others combined.

[haasSTI]

Another question.. kind of off topic, but autox related. So.. I tried launching a couple times off the time. Both times it bogged, and one time I burnt the clutch a decent amount.

I'm launching at about 5k RPMs. Once the clutch starts grabbing, I started to slip it, but maybe I wasn't giving it enough throttle? Do you just basically put the throttle to the floor after the clutch grips?

[EROCK11]

I just rev it to around 5k and let the clutch out quickly while flooring the gas pedal. I love the feeling of all that torque at the launch!

[AcidRatRacing]

I've been auto crossing since the mid 1980's so I guess you could say I know what I'm talking about. I currently race a 05 STi. Our local region has a "street tire" class for cars wanting to stay stock but not run against the race tire guy’s head to head. The only mods I have are Yoko Advan Neovas, a harness and I recently added a Whiteline adjustable front bar. For the last two years I have been consistently the fastest street tired car. This year, with the addition of the Whiteline bar, I really noticed a difference, I was slower…much slower. The first event I was nearly beaten by someone I typically have a 2 second plus advantage on. At yesterdays event I ran my typical tire pressures for the first three runs then decreased them for the second three. I dropped my times by 1.7 seconds in the second heat. What I’m trying to say is until you have learned how your car reacts and how you react you are just pissing in the wind if you make mods. Good tires are a must but I typically beat many of the racing tired cars with my Yoko’s. Spend your money going to as many events as you can. Travel out of your area and ask for help from the older guys. Many of the younger guys (none on IWSTI of course) will feed you a line of bull that they got from some vendor or read on the internet. Let an experienced driver take you for a ride in your car. They will most likely beat you on their first run. Hope this helps.