Hey, I haven't been here for awhile since I sold my Civic and got a WRX instead. I appreciate this place for all it's done for me... however, since I've been studying a lot (I'm currently reading the Milliken book!), doing autox, rallyx, and HDPE. There's a conclusion I've come to looking back now: There are a lot of myths and misinformation in the "civic" realm.
This is pretty sad because I used to be there and it took me a LONG time to figure out I was "lost". I'm NOT saying I know everything now, but I've enough to know some of what was wrong before.
I still like Civics. One day I'm hoping to rebuilt a track monster of one. So I'm posting this in the hopes of dispelling a few fallacies I've discovered.
1) Understeer is not a bad word
"I want to dial out the horrible understeer of my civic!"
I think this one came from real track guys who know their stuff saying the Civic FWD platform suffers from understeer. Except, most Civic drivers on on the street, not dedicated to the track. Sure the car understeers. But so what? So does almost every street car sold. That shouldn't be a surprise. The factory tunes the suspension that way because no matter who you are, understeer is always safer. Even for someone like Michael Schumacher (not verified), I think he would prefer a bias towards understeer in his family van (especially with his family in it)
I'm guessing anyone who prefers oversteer on the street has never experienced snap oversteer. And I'd like to see you guys drive in the rain/snow.
2) Understeer/oversteer bias changes dynamically as the weight shifts
Do you know how to control car weight transfer to do what you want? No? Then you need to learn more car control before you worry about tuning your suspension and "dialing out understeer"
You should know and be able to:
- lift throttle turn in
- trail brake
- hold a set
- throttle on understeer (FWD)
- use bump steer to your advantage
- use throttle steer in turns
- ....?
Really, you want a more neutral balance with a slight bias towards understeer,
depending upon the application. That's a key idea. It's all different for dry street, wet street, snow street, tight track, fast track, autox, drag, etc etc. No one setting is optimal for everything.
3) Tune your static under/oversteer bias with sway bars, alignments, and DAMPERS; not chassis bracing
One common method the car manufacturers "tune" a car for understeer bias is to align the wheels this way: front camber 0, rear camber negative something (like -1). By changing your front alignment to -1 or so, you can significantly increase the front traction of the tires in the curves. FWD are kind of stuck because non-0 camber in the front means reduced straight line acceleration (=bad for drag racing).
For the Civic, a bigger rear sway bar (as you all know) is good. But there is such thing as too big. On my EX, I put an Si 13mm rear sway and in the rain that was enough (along with too firm a rear damper setting on my AGX) to cause lift throttle snap oversteer.
KYB AGX are nice affordable dampers. Damper adjustments are not just for matching spring rates and definitely not just for "avoiding blown stock struts on lowered cars". They can be used to control rate of weight transfer and traction at that wheel. (go research)
Lastly... ALL BRACING THAT STIFFENS THE CHASSIS IS GOOD (except the weight it adds). Translation: don't pull off that front strut tower bar in the name of "reducing understeer". A stiff chassis is easier and more responsive to control weight transfer. If the stiffness is worth the weight, always brace when you can.
4) tune with tire pressure
If you don't have an inherent feeling for how your tire pressure is affecting your under/oversteer bias, you aren't familiar enough with the dynamics.
Tire pressure tuning should be the first step before doing any mods. Actually, the second step after learning to control weight transfer. Which brings me to #5...
5) When you experience understeer, it's probably YOUR DRIVING FAULT; not the car's setup
This is probably the most important point I learned. You're probably inducing understeer by:
- going in too hot / steering to sharp for your speed
- steering to jerky
- throttle on understeer
- transferring the weight forward too fast
- not know how to control weight transfer at all
Sorry if this is sounding so negative... but I am trying to dispell a school of thought.
So on the positive... here's the next major mod I think all Civic (or any car) owners should do if they haven't already:
Mod the nut behind the wheel.
Here are two good books to get started.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/083...503903-7932761
http://www.amazon.com/Speed-Secrets-...e=UTF8&s=books
And if you really want to learn the science of it, read this:
http://www.amazon.com/Race-Car-Vehic...e=UTF8&s=books
Go to any track or autox. Drive your modded car vs someone with a totally stock verson of your car who knows how to drive well; 90%+ of the time they will win. This was the most convincing argument for me to fix this nut.
Good luck, be safe, learn to drive, have fun.