DB9 Volante Project Elise Phase 1...

[WildBob]

I haven't yet formally introduced myself here, so what better way than to introduce my first mods to my '06 DB9 Volante...her name is Elise after Jane Seymour's character in Somewhere in Time.

I followed the advice of more than one person and changed the springs from the very soft stock units to H&R 29148 Sport Springs...WOW, what a difference! I ran some of my favorite spots to compare the handling and the car is so much more planted and where it wanted to leap from the ground before, it now stays in much better contact with the road.

On smooth roads the firmer ride is not at all harsh...and on rougher roads while feeling considerably stiffer over bumps and of course grounding easier (1" lower) but that's what the skid plate is for. I am thoroughly pleased with the way the car takes a set into corners and stays planted once I've chosen my line. It doesn't wander on uneven surfaces like it did before.

For those of you who pay attention to alignment, for the front I went -.7 degrees of camber which is slightly more aggresive than spec to keep it within 1 degree of the stock rear setting which is -1.7 degrees. To compensate for the extra camber, the caster was set to the lower end at 5 degrees. The toe-in is .05 left and right with a total of .15.

On the rear we went spec camber of -1.7 degrees as mentioned above, 0 degrees of toe, right in the middle of spec.

I have yet to install the rear bar, but I did put the Sport Pack front on to take a little understeer out of the car...the early Volantes don't have a rear bar, but it is standard on later years.

I did put on a fresh new set of Michelin Pilot Super Sports as well, which I prefer over the Bridgestones, while also saving a few pounds of weight at each corner...less unsprung weight is always a good thing.

Here are some before pics of her at Laguna Seca...I won't have after pics until early 2014, but you can clearly see the suspension at both ends of travel in stock form...

Diving into the corkscrew...


Heading for bottom of corkscrew and suspension travel...



7 stories of drop nearly complete...



Elise and Hilda together for the first time...that day I picked her up..
.

[V8V Pete]

Welcome Bob. Lovely looking car. You need to get her posted up on "The non-black-non-grey-non-silver thread"

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Please tell me that's not your garage

[mikey k]

Excellent work and a great post !
Some well thought out mods there!
That geo set up and the tyres compliment the springs and ARB very well
Cool pic of Laguna Seca corkscrew as well

[8Tech]

You may find this of interest?

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[PiloteAM]

Lovely. Laguna Seca is an amazing looking track, must be a blast to go through the corkscrew.

[WildBob]

PiloteAM said:

Lovely. Laguna Seca is an amazing looking track, must be a blast to go through the corkscrew.

The entry to the top is blind, the left turn down is totally blind, and it's so steep on the downhill before the right you can barely see the exit... get it right and it's a blast, get it wrong on exit and it could end in tears.

[MaverickV12]

WildBob said:

For those of you who pay attention to alignment, for the front I went -

May I ask why you changed the alignment? I find the front tyres are always wearing out on the outside edge, and I wonder if changing the camber will stop this.... but how much is too much?

The last thing I want is for it to look like a F1 car (what you Americans would think was an Indie car ) I also don't want it wearing out on the inside.

If I were to consider track days, then I assume that I could change the camber quite radically, but for day to day driving, defo no.....

.... have you looked into this at all? If so can you enlighten us/me

...love the fact you use the V12 for what it was designed (hitting the rev limiter on dry tarmac [legally] ) ...

[8Tech]

MaverickV12 said:

May I ask why you changed the alignment? I find the front tyres are always wearing out on the outside edge, and I wonder if changing the camber will stop this.... but how much is too much?

The last thing I want is for it to look like a F1 car (what you Americans would think was an Indie car ) I also don't want it wearing out on the inside.

If I were to consider track days, then I assume that I could change the camber quite radically, but for day to day driving, defo no.....

.... have you looked into this at all? If so can you enlighten us/me

...love the fact you use the V12 for what it was designed (hitting the rev limiter on dry tarmac [legally] ) ...

The front tyres wearing on the outer edge is due to too little front camber with the car designed to have understeer on the limit rather than oversteer. Understeer is far safer than oversteer for the handling on the car and more forgiving. The understeer is wearing the outside of the tyres as the body rolls in corners, the tyre is trying to tuck under the wheel and thats what causes the wear on the outer edge. If you increase the camber, then as the car rolls in a corner, the tyre footprint flattens onto the road surface, increasing grip.

The understeer can be reduced, or neutralised in a number of ways, but having the camber adjustable makes increasing the front easy and experimentation will find the setting that you find best to give neutral steer. if you go too far, then you will begin to wear the inner edges on the tyres first, not an issue on a track car but rather expensive on a road car where you will probably never benefit from the extra camber..

[MaverickV12]

8Tech said:

if you go too far, then you will begin to wear the inner edges on the tyres first

.... if too much will cause this, do you have any figures as to what is enough? Or is this what you are talking about regarding experimentation?

[Neil1300R]

WildBob said:

PiloteAM said:

Lovely. Laguna Seca is an amazing looking track, must be a blast to go through the corkscrew.

The entry to the top is blind, the left turn down is totally blind, and it's so steep on the downhill before the right you can barely see the exit... get it right and it's a blast, get it wrong on exit and it could end in tears.

Marquez and Rossi on the 'perfect' line!

[mikey k]

MaverickV12 said:

8Tech said:

if you go too far, then you will begin to wear the inner edges on the tyres first

.... if too much will cause this, do you have any figures as to what is enough? Or is this what you are talking about regarding experimentation?

8Ttech put it very well
I'd suggest putting it back to the factory set up as it was developed to give the best compromise between handling and tyre wear.
Then tweak that once you get used to it suit your tastes

[WildBob]

mikey k said:

8Ttech put it very well
I'd suggest putting it back to the factory set up as it was developed to give the best compromise between handling and tyre wear.
Then tweak that once you get used to it suit your tastes

As 8Tech noted, the factory settings are set to understeer which gives the front outer edge wear and keeps you out of trouble for the most part, but I like a more neutral setup, hence the Sport Pack bars and more negative camber on the front, but I am an aggressive driver who also likes his fronts to last longer under the higher stresses I deliver with my driving style.

If you are wearing the outer edges and you only drive on the street, you can go a little more negative up front like my moderate -.7, but if you hit the track, more is better, or technically more negative camber. I would set my Corvette race car to -2.5 degrees.

Edited by WildBob on Saturday 28th December 18:52

[8Tech]

mikey k said:

MaverickV12 said:

8Tech said:

if you go too far, then you will begin to wear the inner edges on the tyres first

.... if too much will cause this, do you have any figures as to what is enough? Or is this what you are talking about regarding experimentation?

8Ttech put it very well
I'd suggest putting it back to the factory set up as it was developed to give the best compromise between handling and tyre wear.
Then tweak that once you get used to it suit your tastes

Thank you Mikey k,

I agree with the factory set-up suggestion, and then try adding 0.5 degree negative camber to the standard setting and see how the tyres wear. The factory setting will be the best and safest setting to cover all drivers and driving habits, but this does not mean it cannot be improved upon for you specifically.

There is no perfect setting for everybody as driving habits and styles vary.

As the OP has posted, he added 0.7 degrees negative camber to the setting which still brought it withing the factory specs, although far closer to the negative limit than the middle setting. This would be perfect, and an ideal starting point for a sporting setting or occasional track day car. Then development begins from there, and that takes a long time on the road as you cannot safely drive the car to its limits on the road so will need to monitor tyre wear as your judge.

On the track, its much quicker to go hairing into a corner and see which end breaks away first, the front or the rear. If the front ploughs straight on in a corner, add more negative camber, if the rear overtakes the front, reduce the front camber.

This is a huge simplification because the shocks, springs, roll bars and tyres all make a huge difference, but it gives you the idea, and a starting point.

The most visual factory example of negative is how BMW control the roll and handling on the X5. Take a look at one of them from behind and look at the rear camber. The complete opposite, is to look at the extraordinary camber on the front of a "Drift" car where they require massive, controllable oversteer to swing the rear out.

NOTE:
I think the OP has a typo in "The toe-in is .05 left and right with a total of .15." .05 both sides would give a total toe of .10. This is a good setting for the front of a rear wheel drive car.

Edited by 8Tech on Saturday 28th December 19:10