WR1 Owners Club

Hi there

i need help with the handling of my wr1, only had the car for a few weeks but took her out for a blast and found the front end awful.

it did smoke everything out there including a new gtr, but the front end gave no confidence. i know the rear shocks were changed before i got the car, so if anyone has a solution i would be very greatful

cheers No221

Rear Whiteline 24mm Arb.

Is a good place to start.

Then have the geo checked.

Thanks

but what does that mean, its a bit technical for me.

cheers

Did you switch the diff to put most of the power to the rear? Or was it on auto.

Apparently the Stig didn't do this and had a shite power lap because of it...

Hi, Yeah left it on auto, which could be part of the problem as after your message i found the top gear test on u tube which is just what mine was doing.

i did think about changing but in the heat of battle i completly forgot, but then i did not think you can change it on the move.

i have been recomended that i should have a chat with roger clark, as aparently he knows a thing or two

[quote=i have been recomended that i should have a chat with roger clark, as aparently he knows a thing or two[/quote]

You will be doing well to chat to him mate.....you might want to chat with some of his family members though, do a search for RCM...

Key question is how you drive it.

If you drive any 4WD car like a 2WD car, you will struggle with the understeer. To get the best of a 4WD, you need to drive it totally differently, generally more brutal.

The Impreza does have issues with understeer though and is known for it.

I was struggling with the handling of my STi on the snow and Prodrive supplied me with slightly softer springs for the front. This gave way better grip and turn-in, but the car felt less 'planted' in long corners.

In your case, you already have slightly softer springs than on a standard STi as you got the Prodrive suspension.
Maybe check what you can do with tyre pressure. I would slightly raise the pressure at the rear and ensure the front is 2 bar, not more.

Then play with the diff and see how you feel most confident.

Personally, I always like it completely closed as I find the nose way to lively when it's set on open.

i found the same but changed the anti role bars and droplinks front and back made it loads better got them from gp motorsport on hear

he is very helpfull and reasonably priced

Cheers Guys

had a chat with the guys at roger clarks who mentioned it could be many lots of things including the 4 wheel alinement, roll bars and drop links, tyres suspension etc.

plan of action is to work through the list and see if we can improve it, but thanks again guys for your help

cheers No221

madogp wrote:Cheers Guys

had a chat with the guys at roger clarks who mentioned it could be many lots of things including the 4 wheel alinement, roll bars and drop links, tyres suspension etc.

plan of action is to work through the list and see if we can improve it, but thanks again guys for your help

cheers No221

Make sure you start by the easy ones:

1. Are the front shocks damaged?

2. Try tyre pressure

3. Check and redo geometry

Only afterwards move to actually change parts on the car.

In my view, if you use a scoob how you're supposed to drive a 4wd, you'll find a simple good geometry set-up will do.

Issue is that I haven't found anyone in the UK who can set up a car properly.

My Evo was set up by the driver of Mitsubishi Finland when it was there. Here Steve Hill did it and said I needed a different geometry... sure, but the car handled WAY better after the rallydriver set it up

I am really keen to know if you get a significant improvement by adjusting the diff to the rear.

If there is a marked improvement, it would be interesting to know what the time would have been had the stig have set it...

MaverickUK82 wrote:I am really keen to know if you get a significant improvement by adjusting the diff to the rear.

If there is a marked improvement, it would be interesting to know what the time would have been had the stig have set it...

That diff doesn't do much, except make your scoob feel like a Beemer with a light nose when it's open

And let's be realistic, that Stig wouldn't have gone much faster suddenly because of a diff setting. The scoob is just way too understeered to set a fast time on a track.

my wr1 spends most of its time side ways regardless of what i do with dccd with little or no understeer at all ,and totaly standard but has had 4 wheel geo done just before i bought it

You can do a lot with geometry only indeed.

My scoob was defo not set up well before it went to Finland and the Evo wasn't any better. Got the driver of Mitsi's team in Northern Finland to set it up and the car handled completely differently... that was until it came back and a 'specialist' at Steve Hill Motorsport put his hands on it

My tips would be to avoid the cheque book solution.

- look at your driving style first and foremost. Slow in fast out and you will get the best from the subaru. Going in aggressive will just make it understeer.
- set DCCD more towards the rear will help the front turn
- understand how using the weight transfer under braking and accelerating affects which end of the car has the most grip
- set the tyre pressures right. I would go higher pressure on the front than the rear. This will increase the grip of the front tyres.

.... then look at cost options:

- 3d geometry settings will transform the way the car handles. Do this step on its own and if you start bolting other bought bits at this time you may attribute the improvement to them (wrongly). A good set up will solve your problem without spending any more than £100 (if it wasnt already solved by the 4 steps above)

IF the above hasnt done it:
- 22mm rear adjustable arb set to medium will make the front turn in nicer. (leave front std)

You should not need to do any more than this to dramatically improve the handling.