You may also notice we are running on the stock wheels and tires and not the stickier Bridgestone RE-71Rs we normally use. A week before we went cone dodging, one of our 30 year old metal valve stems developed a severe leak and we were not able to source a replacement in time (Watanabe uses a skinny valve stem and the wait time for parts from Japan was 3 weeks). So we slapped on our dry rotted, ultra skinny commuter tires just so we could go play. I’m glad I did. The traction was terrible and so were my lap times, but my GOD was the Capp way more predictable! I could hold four wheel slides easily. The steering feel with the new bushings was night and day, even with the squirmy, extra tall stock tires. It was shocking how much of a difference the bushings in particular made.
Once we fixed the leaking Watanabes we were better able to better gauge the real improvement. We picked up around 2 seconds on the local class leaders just with these parts and another 1.5 seconds when we adjusted the damping and alignment further. It turned out the Cappuccino was happier with about 3° of rear camber, 1/8” of front toe in, and 3/16” of rear toe in. Check out how much flatter the Capp is through this fast slalom compared to our first photo. A big thanks to Perry Aidelbaum for snapping this sweet photo. He runs AutoX4U which hosts live timing for a number of East Coast SCCA chapters and auto clubs and he takes tons of awesome photos. Go support his site. Source
When we first installed the Silver’s coilovers we thought they were especially rough and jarring, but this turned out to be the Monster Sport bushings breaking in but once things settled in a bit we were very happy with them. The ride over the old lowering springs and worn out struts is greatly improved. The old lowering springs would bottom out easily while the new coilovers have much more compression travel. The coilovers are still a bit rough over road seams and potholes but overall we are satisfied with them.
Stay tuned for lots of updates from our little Suzuki roadster!
1 comment
Any way to use an eccentric bolt in the front of the front LCA to get some camber adjustment? Miatas, RX-8, etc do that and it works “OK”