It’s been raining more often and longer/more lately. When it’s wet i have little to no grip at all (depending the amount of rain). Even when it’s dry i lose a little bit of grip sometimes.
I’m considering getting wider wheels, but i’m curious to what you guys would recommend to increase grip.
I’d love to hear your ideas!
What tyres are you using?
Vredestein all-seasons
first suggestion would be better tyres
Increase rear spring rate. Keep front rate std. This will keep more weight on the front wheels. Cheapest way to get the max grip from the tires on the car (which should not be more than two years old and not cheapies).
Straight up tyres
I’d love to play around with that. Could you give me some indication of what springs to start with.
I’ll have to use springs from other makes/models cause there’s nothing readily available for daihatsu’s here.
The age of the tyres i’ll have to check but i now these are not cheap.
Tire manufacture date is a stamped four digit number. First two numbers will be between 01 and 52 to denote the week of manufacture. Second two numbers are year of manufacture.
For testing spring rate you can aim to get the same effect as in this image.
By making some hard wood chocks that go through the spring/coils. Secure firmly. I’ve used jumbo zip times through holes I drill. Take great care and on a liability note I would not suggest testing on public roads. Leave the fronts std and untouched and chock the rear. Test, a short drive will reveal much. This is not a permanent solution. There are online spring calcs that will help you figure out the rate of the spring without the chock and then just redo the calc subtracting the number of coils you think were blocked out. I’d say you prob started with a 200lb spring as std and 400lb - 500lb will work best. I’ve used https://www.dfaulknersprings.com/ in England for custom springs and Kings in Australia. I’ve not played with L700 springs but I have done so with M100 3cyl front springs which from a casual glance seem about the same and were about 140-150lb per inch. Cost wise you may, as you are aware, need to find springs from something else with the same diameter and end types.
For tires, in comp stuff or semi slicks I am using Nitto NT01. They are mid range price wise and are really well manufactured. The last set I fitted balanced up with one needing no weights and 20gm total being the most on the heaviest. I also use Nankang AR1s which are the best value semi slick for short club events. Not as well made as the Nitto and took 50gm of weight at least per wheel. The treadwear value for these are 100 and 80 respectively. They are not road tires really. For the road a TW of 180 is not going to last long enough for most people’s expectation. On my WRX I run Kumho V720 which are a TW of 200. My preferred road tires are Nitto 820 with a TW of 300. They are quite, well made and in my sizes reasonably priced. Other brands I’ve had success with are Hankook, Yokohama, BFG, the Kumhos and some of the other older established brands. Check reviews on https://www.tirerack.com/content/tirerack/desktop/en/homepage.html to get an idea.
I found a set of 6 spring blocks for 15,- euro. So i won’t bother making them myself.
Tomorrow i’ll contact my parts supplier to see if they can get them for a similar price.
Cause i’m pretty sure they’re a bit quicker with delivery.
I’ll keep you guys posted.
Picked up 2 sets of spring rubbers. My parts supplier had them on hand and were even a little cheaper.
Put 2 blocks per side for now. Didn’t get to drive much with it today, but it does seem to help a bit.
I keep forgetting to look at the tyres. But that will give me the chance to see if it improves without other tyres.
Hi aaron, im running cheap lowering springs front and back(35mm). For tyres im running 165/55/14 kuhmo ecstas on e30 rims. Great handling and huge amounts of grip. Close to 0.9 G.
Had to roll the rear fenders a bit and very slightly on the front.
Very happy with the setup. Im looking for coilovers since the shocks cant handle the springs, also comfort is absent.
Sounds great, but i don’t want to lower it. Cause i still want to take speed bumps without scraping and i plan on traveling with it so i want to retain as much of the ride comfort.
I see your point. I never scrape and we have some nasty speedbumps here in the Netherlands.
Comfort is an issue though. Both the springs and the lower tyrewall contribute to this. But im sure with some quality coilovers you could lower it slightly and improve handling allot.
Problem solved!
After putting in the spring rubbers it increased the grip a little. The alignment i got done recently did help a bit too.
But the after replacing the front right shock and front tyres grip dramatically increased.
For now i went with Delinte tyres, I know they’re not a quality tyre. But we have very good experience with them on small and medium cars.
Thanks for all the help and suggestions!
Well… I celebrated too early.
Earlier this week i did two 180s. That has never happened, i’ve never done anything over 90 degrees.
It wasn’t as wet as normal and i was driving very carefully.
After the first 180 (i didn’t hit anything) the steering wheel was a little off center again.
I’m sure it’s not due to the tyres. A previous owner must’ve properly wrecked something i must’ve overlooked (just like the shock).
I’ll try to get it up on the hoist to check for more damage. But i’m afraid i’ll have to buy another L7, cause i’m sure it can’t be normal.
Have you had a 4 wheel proper wheel alignment? And if so what are the numbers?
A proper 4 wheel alignment, twice.
From what i could find in the service manual everything is in spec.
Numbers are in the pics below. If you need translating please let me know.
Each sheet has pre-alignment and post-alignment
First alignment
I got her on the hoist yesterday. Everything seemed fine. All the bushes, suspension and steering front AND back.
I also put the new tyres on the rear. It did seem to have some effect.
Right now i’m thinking of putting a couple of bags of sand in the back to get more weight in the back.
How fast where you going into the corner in the wet? Was it continuous acceleration through the corner or was there any sudden backing off?
About 30km/h as i always do there (when it’s wet).
Continuous speed through the corner. No sudden steering.
At first when i got the car i could do that without any problem. Sometimes i felt the back go a little, but nothing i couldn’t handle. Now i have to play grandma when cornering when wet.
When it’s dry i can go through the corners as if i have a race to win.
