dialing out some understeer

had the car on the track last week.. my car is a 99 with stock suspension will some neg chamber up front dial out some of the understeer.. any thoughts ? thanks v-tach

Yes it will...But with the stock suspension you'd have to evaluate if your money is better spent elsewhere first. A couple of companies make so-called "camber plates" for the 996 but from what I see they offer little to no adjustment range and with the 996 design it's required that you take the entire suspension assembly out of the car to get to the top spring hat to make any adjustments. My personal opinion is that they don't offer enough gain to be worth it. The best way to gain more negative camber is to use GT3 lower control arms and the available shims for the control arms. But for that much money you could probably spend slightly more and buy coilovers that will do just as much and more for you and then consider the GT3 arms down the road. Andy

Yes, try to get as much negative camber up front and that will help. Unfortunately the stock suspension will not allow you to get the camber that you will ultimately need to fix the issue. For street cars that go to the track for DE's this is not a problem as the extreme negative camber settings needed for competition would not be tolerable on the street. You can also try decreasing the tire pressure stagger between the front and rear tires and modifying your lines through the corners. Ultimately, you have to live with this handling trait as it has been designed into the 996 unless you want to spend some money and this is not worth the effort for most people.

Cheapest to most expensive options. 1) learn to drive with a little understeer. It's really not a problem on road courses. The 996 is very fast right off the showroom floor. 2) adjust air pressures as suggested by EA. 3) wear out rear tires and/or drive hard enough to over heat the rear tires. You'll have plenty of oversteer at the end of a hard session. 4) switch to larger front tires (235 or 245) or smaller rear tires (265). 5) add adjustable sway bars and soften the front and/or stiffen the rear. 6) add coilovers. Lowering the car will allow more camber. 7) add coilovers that allow separate compression/rebound adjustment. 8) add monoballs/adjustable lower control arms as suggested by Audi. 9) all of the above

Jim...do you get a price break if you opt for number 9??? I'm on-call the weekend of the Mid-Ohio club race but I might just have to bring the pager with me as I'd love to see all of the little tricks that go into a REAL track car. Andy

Jim hit it when he said it.....seat time.... However, the 996 from the factory has a "safe" disposition for those that bought it for the looks to keep them from getting into trouble. It does understeer a lot with the factory setup once speeds build a little. While tire preasures will help a bit...the major fix is wider tires in the front. That is the low dollar simple answer.....and MORE SEAT TIME...... Not sure how much track exp you have v-tach so forgive me I might be telling a bunch a stuff you already know. Alignment will be the next thing you want to do...little more camber (I have mine toed-out 1/32 but that is just personal pref....makes for very good turn-in's) This was my first step before I went to full race suspension.... (JRZ's, 450/650 Springs f/r, All metal bushings, Cup Car bars and Control arms(f), Slicks) Best Of Luck Armando

Andy, Hope to see you there. I'd be glad to give you the nickel tour of my car. I'm pretty sure it has the most advanced suspension you'll find in a 996. Jim

thanks guys - right now i am trying to stay stock..so i think i will do the alignment with canber as i need one anyway..as far as tires.. can i get wider than a 225/40/18 on the front with the 7.5 rim ? thanks again v-tach

Probably shouldn't go any wider on that rim. The car loves trailbraking. That is the absolute cheapest fix even though it won't fix the problem. I bought take off wheels for the front at 8.5 and run 245's up there. That did very well with camber plates running around -2.5 degrees in front and -2 in the rear. I am installing PSS9's as we speak so I will find out how that works out.

Mitch...what camber plates were you running that got you -2.5 camber on the stock suspension...and was there room for any more adjustment? This gives me hope that with a lower hight the plates might be able to give values in the -3.5 range. Andy